An actor reads script pages backstage by the mirror lights, memorizing lines before going on

20 Clever Ways Professional Actors Memorize Lines Fast

As a professional actor, one of the most challenging tasks is memorizing lines fast. Fear not, in this blog, we have compiled 20 clever memorization techniques. These tips will help you become a master at memorizing lines in no time. From rewriting your lines to utilizing the power of repetition, chunk memorization, and timing techniques, …

A performer laughs centre stage at a Dearing Acting Studio improv showcase in Phoenix

Actor Warm Ups: 8 Theater Vocal Warmups for New and Old Actors

by Matthew Dearing

Eight vocal warm ups we use before rehearsal and before a show, lip trills to vocal fry, each one explained so you can do it in the car. Ten minutes, no equipment, and a note on what to do when you’re sick and still have to perform.

Students break into laughter mid-scene at a Dearing Acting Studio showcase in Phoenix

Acting Benefits: 8 Top Reasons to Join an Acting Class

by Matthew Dearing

Confidence, teamwork, poise, conversation, empathy, memory, less stress and the ability to hear what a person is really saying. Eight things an acting class builds in people who never plan to act, from a studio that has trained doctors, lawyers and sales teams alongside working actors for twenty years.

Actor Tips for Nerves: Good Nerves vs. Bad Nerves

by Matthew Dearing

The nerves never go away, and they shouldn’t. Bad nerves come from work you didn’t do; good nerves come from caring. How to tell them apart, how to change the word you use for the feeling, and the one time I jumped out of a plane.

What to Wear to Auditions

by Matthew Dearing

Three rules for what to wear to an audition: something you feel confident in, a hint of the character without the costume, and the feeling the client is selling. Plus the time I gave my wife an acting coach’s answer when she wanted a husband’s.

Getting Work as an Actor: What’s the Secret?

by Matthew Dearing

There is one way to work as an actor, and it is to work as an actor, every day, before anyone is paying you. The 56 hours a week you already have, what to do with them, and why the audition you did last week is already over.

3 Things Actors Should Do Every Day: Diction, Breath and the Body

by Matthew Dearing

The question we hear most: what can I do at home so I stop getting the same note every week? Three things, every day. Work your diction on everyone you talk to, five minutes of breath, and find a physical life for your lines.

An Improv Exercise You Can Do Alone: 5 Things, With Three Harder Variations

by Matthew Dearing

Improv usually needs a partner. This one doesn’t. Name five things about a topic, then make it harder: the logical move, the bold move using A to C, and the question that grounds any bold move: if this is true, what else is true?

How to Slate Better: The Secret Is What You’re Thinking

by Matthew Dearing

A confident slate is a first impression, and the secret to giving one every time is thought life: replace the camera with someone you love, and for a darker character, change who you’re talking to. Two slates, one principle.

Casting Do’s and Don’ts: Three Ways Actors Lose the Room

by Matthew Dearing

From the casting side of the table: never talk down the product, never make the other actors look bad, and take direction the first time. Three habits that end an audition before the read starts, and what to do instead.

Dakota George

by Matthew Dearing

He found the studio on a whim while researching how to get an agent, and stayed for the accountability. Dakota’s Dearing Story: from script class to Masterclass to the Chaos Comedy improv troupe, a servant’s heart, and the one word he picked for the studio.

Acting for Adults