In this industry you’re asked over and over again to conform to a type, a brand, a breakdown. You’re expected to learn 8 pages of dialogue overnight in order to show your heart into a room where a casting assistant puts you on tape for a role in a project that is not yet formed. You spend so much of your time waiting for the call to read or the call to be chosen. All of this undermines your artistry. And frankly, it’s a ridiculous way to spend your time as an actor.
The real measure of success is your relationship to your creative experience – to the personal expression of your specific, strong, unique voice. In order to keep that alive, you must be in the work when you’re not on a job.
You need to be in a sustained practice where you can take risks, go deeper, get messy, find and express human connection. You need a weekly workout that will get you in shape, make you a happier actor, and help you book work.
The Work is that deep and practical weekly practice for working actors looking to stay sharp between auditions and jobs, to stay connected to the joy of the work, and to create work out of that inspiration.
BY APPLICATION OR INVITATION ONLY.
Learn More
The Work
The Work is the work is the work. In any room, on any stage, on any set. We must keep coming back to the work, staying true to the art that called to us once upon a time, took hold of us, and never let us go. We must keep that work alive, wherever we are. And we must find success in the work for its own sake, and make that our most meaningful job.
The Work is a practical opportunity to roll up your sleeves and dig into all sorts of material, exercises, and practices. To explore ways of accessing your rich emotional life and to be able to make specific, truthful choices with ease. To create new work together and bring that work to life. To engage with each other and to take each other to deeper and higher places, under Risa’s guidance.
The Work will be off camera, occasionally on camera, and will involve different kinds of material, formats, and practices. Scene work of all kinds, Meisner work, improv, meditation, Alexander, writing, shooting, creating work, and more.
Thursdays, 6:30-9:30 pm, 4x month.
Your Teacher(s)
- RISA BRAMON GARCIATeacher/Studio Founder
For the past 35 years Risa has worked consistently as a director, producer, casting director, writer, and teacher. She’s had the great fortune to have collaborated with some of the most talented, passionate, and groundbreaking artists in the world. She’s continued to move successfully from one arena to another – from theatre to film to television and back. With two feature films in her directorial body of work – the cult classic, 200 CIGARETTES, and most recently, THE CON ARTIST, made in Canada, Risa’s also directed in television, including multiple episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE for New Line, and several shows for HBO, Lifetime, and Comedy Central.
Risa’s directed dozens of plays in New York (THE ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE, THE SECOND STAGE, MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB) and in Los Angeles. She calls THE ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE her artistic home, where she’s been a member in NY for over 35 years, producing and directing six years of the flagship festival MARATHON OF ONE-ACT PLAYS. Some of her favorite director-playwright collaborations have been with Edward Allan Baker, John Shanley, Richard Greenberg, Bill Bozzone, Alan Zweibel, and Neil Cuthbert.
In L.A. Risa founded and produced ACT ONE, a successful two-year festival of one-acts, in conjunction with Showtime Networks. And as a founding Artistic Director of ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE L.A., Risa worked with HBO, producing and directing a series of acclaimed one-acts for THE ASPEN COMEDY ARTS FESTIVAL. In her long association with HBO, starting in the early 80s as a talent scout for comedians, Risa co-produced two years of THE YOUNG COMEDIANS SHOW for the network. She was also a producer with THE CARSEY WERNER COMPANY.
Risa started casting in the New York an extension of her rich theatre life. From there she and her partner, Billy Hopkins, took their first step into feature film casting with DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. They worked as a team for 11 years. During and after their successful partnership, Risa cast some of the most memorable films of the past 30 years. Risa’s résumé includes more than 65 feature films, classics such as SOMETHING WILD, THE JOY LUCK CLUB, TRUE ROMANCE, ANGEL HEART, FATAL ATTRACTION, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, JFK, WALL STREET, TALK RADIO, THE DOORS, SPEED, JACOB’S LADDER, AT CLOSE RANGE, SNEAKERS, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT, DEAD PRESIDENTS, TWISTER, BENNY AND JOON, and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER.
She’s cast numerous television shows and pilots, including ROSEANNE , CSI:NY, and the Showtime series, MASTERS OF SEX. Risa served as a Producer on Oliver Stone’s films HEAVEN AND EARTH and NATURAL BORN KILLERS, movies she also cast.
In the past few years Risa’s passion for teaching and coaching has lead to her collaboration with Steve Braun in The BGB Studio, a place they created as an artistic home for actors, writers, directors, filmmakers, and casting directors. Here she gets to do it all!
More on Risa here.
Reviews
What Actors are Saying
- "In the 30 years I’ve known Risa, I’ve felt first hand what it is to be inspired by her energy and passion. She has always been an actor’s best friend. As director, producer, casting director, and teacher, she zeroes in on the unique brilliance of each actor, that individual “light” so often blocked by assorted fears and neuroses."
Robert Joy CSI NY
- "Risa always finds the time to push things further: the expansion of her voice as an artist and other artists/actors expanding theirs. She understands what we do as actors and always knows what it takes for us to do our absolute best. Her authentic creative spirit leads her to create such a generous space for artists."
Enrico Colantoni FLASHPOINT
- "I have known Risa for nearly thirty years, as casting director, director, teacher, theater co-member, sounding board, friend, and advocate. What continues to inspire me most is her enduring passion for, and support of, actors, and the work that they do. Risa loves the process, she loves the people, and she continues to be devoted to locating, nurturing, and assisting in the growth of each individual’s specific gifts. Maintaining enthusiasm, excitement, and a deep sense of purpose over such a long span is no easy trick. Risa pulls it off because, with her, it’s not a trick at all. It’s her life’s work, and she’s very, very good at it."
Evan Handler Californication
- "Working with Risa has increased my bookings and reinvigorated my enjoyment of acting. She has a great approachable way of understanding material while keeping it simple. I use bits and pieces of what I have learned every time I work or audition. And it works!"
David Stanford PARKS AND RECREATION
