Brian Mulligan - HB Studio - Acting Teacher

TEACHING STATEMENT:

The necessity of creating Zoom classes in 2020 opened an array of experiments for teaching and learning acting in the virtual space. The ‘Exercises’ from Uta Hagen’s A Challenge For the Actor and Respect For Acting proved particularly adaptable to it. My online Acting 1 is based primarily on sharpening the actor’s ability to observe their various behaviors under particular circumstances so that they select and craft particular behaviors and apply those to one of several of Hagen’s brilliant Exercises. The actor’s home – a private space – becomes the studio in which they rehearse and present to the class their exercises through the lens of their Zoom camera. The crafting of what is (and is not) in the frame gives the actor bonus lessons they can apply to self-taped or live-on-screen home-based auditions. If time allows, Sanford Meisner’s partnered ‘Repetition’ exercises – also very conducive to the Zoom space – will be introduced and practiced in Acting 1.

BIO:
Brian Mulligan is an actor, director, and acting teacher. He also does private coaching for professional actors, and for students auditioning for college BFA and MFA acting programs. He is an Adjunct Professor of Acting at California State University, Long Beach, and in his 26th year on the Drama Faculty at Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Brian teaches both Hagen and Meisner techniques, scene study, audition technique, directing, and improvisation. He won “Best of Fringe” for his direction of EVOLUTION OF A KISS at the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Film acting credits include: WHITE OLEANDER, ARMAGEDDON, SOUL PLANE. TV acting credits include: TRUE BLOOD, CRIMINAL MINDS, SCANDAL, THE GAME, HART OF DIXIE, VEGAS, BIG LOVE, CHARMED and THE PRACTICE. Theatre: Off Broadway and numerous regional theatres in the US and Canada. Brian has done several national commercials. Training: MFA – Acting and Directing, California State University, Long Beach; Hagen technique – Uta Hagen, Carol Rosenfeld, HB Studio, New York; Meisner technique – William Alderson, Los Angeles; Acting, Studio 58, Langara College, Vancouver.