Jonathan Buckley
An actor who moved from Colorado to Phoenix in 2018 looking for a studio and found one. Jonathan’s Dearing Story, in his words: acting is not easy, there is a place for you if you work, and why he wants to be seen on screen.
Zoe Edelstein
Zoe was ten when her family read about the studio and signed her up in 2017, and she knew after one class. Her Dearing Story, in her words: gaining confidence, showing more of her personality, and realizing it doesn’t matter what people think as long as you’re having fun.
Jada Warner
A swimmer and athlete who found the studio through a search in 2018, was greeted at the door with a hug, and went on to Masterclass and then USC. Jada’s Dearing Story: being the character instead of performing it, and why the word is liberating.
Saya Luke
A homeschooled teen whose mom suggested one acting class in 2017. Saya’s Dearing Story: from performing for herself and chasing perfection to lifting up the actors around her, and her advice for anyone curious: try it no matter what.
Miley Cota
She was eight, from Buckeye, when she figured out that superheroes are actors in disguise. Miley’s Dearing Story: a shy girl who knew what she wanted, one class, and what being yourself means at ten.
Block Out the Negative: Replace It, Don’t Fight It, and a 15-Year-Old Influencer on Why the Numbers Aren’t Friends
Romans 12:21, overcome evil with good, and Philippians 4:8, think about these things. Our first guest of season two was Madison Taylor, fifteen, a competitive dancer with 13,900 followers who told teenagers the truth about the numbers. Then Brian, Joey and I on why you can’t stop a thought by fighting it, the influencer who answered a comedian’s cruelty with thanks, and the sentence I say to my kids.
Do What Is Hard and Your Life Will Be Easy: Newton’s Third Law, the Butterfly Effect, and Who Holds You Accountable
Galatians 6, a man reaps what he sows, and Newton’s third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Brian, Joey and me on the phone call to your mom that changes a stranger’s day, the rock steps Brian climbed at the cabin, my one-year-old and the DVDs, why I got up at 3:30 for a show I could have prepared over the weekend, and the three-step takeaway: be honest, adjust, track.
What Are Your Goals? Start With the Dream, Work Back to Today, and Let the Goals Pull You Out of Bed
The first show of 2021 and the launch of season two, with Brian back in the room. Philippians 3:13-14, three honest weeks where I lost my goals to worry, why you have to have a why before goals mean anything, and the framework: a dream goal, five years, this year, this month, this week, today. My three months out of the Arizona summer, Brian’s river, Joey’s voice in sports, and the rule that goals should pull you out of bed instead of making you push.
Am I Too Old to Start Acting? Bob Started at 80, Kyler Is 23, and Ageism Runs Both Ways
Brian, Joey and me on ageism in both directions: the 15-year-old who belongs in the adult class, the 20-year-old who was scared to teach, an 18-year-old rookie dominating the playoffs, my one-year-old and his basketball form, and Bob Nimlow, a Golden Gloves boxer who started acting in his eighties, beat the twenty-year-olds for a role written as a young priest, and called it one of the best things he ever did.
Little Mark’s Biodome: An Improvised Scene About a Fourth-Grade Science Project That Gets Out of Hand
No suggestion, no plan, sixteen minutes. Joey is Uncle Joey, I’m Little Mark, and the science project on the table has popsicle-stick trees, an ant colony in paper clothes, a graveyard with named headstones, a prison, and one detail Uncle Joey really should not have explained. How a scene builds itself when two people agree with everything.
The Mastery Mindset: Passion, Love, Mastery
Three words on the wall of the studio and what they mean in practice: act with passion, keep love at the center, and commit to a never-ending pursuit of mastery. Why the 10,000 hours number was never the point, and what is.
