studio
“I cast a number of the roles for this film out of Ithaca through my casting director Eliza VanCort, the founder of The Actors Workshop Ithaca. Casting the actors in Ithaca wasn’t about convenience, it was about a devotion to this community of actors and the Actors Workshop whose work is extraordinary.
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FILM DIRECTOR, CATHY CRANE IN FILMMAKER MAGAZINE
Ithaca, NY at our original studio
We are reimagining our studio in Ithaca, NY. Stay tuned!
NYC at the joyce
Eliza VanCort is now teaching at NYC’s Center for Creativity and Dance in the East Village.
Eliza’s inaugural class in the space at The Joyce will be held in a spacious studio on the second floor.
Students can reserve space to practice, or collaborate on projects together, in Eliza’s spacious coaching studio on the third floor. Her space, which feels like a big, welcoming living room, has cozy furniture, tea and coffee, and overlooks Tompkins Square Park.
the meisner technique
Before becoming a working actor, Eliza VanCort, AWI’s founder, studied in NYC with Sanford Meisner’s protégé, Phil Gushee. Eventually, she created her own adaption of the Meisner Technique, to help people better tap into their emotional life and stay present in the moment. At the same time she added structures to the technique to keep the environment nurturing, safe and in the end, more effective. Ultimately, they became excellent actors and, an added bonus, more confident communicators.
Audition prep, including Eliza’s legendary, “Bad Director day”, will prepare students for the real world of auditioning.
“Learning The Meisner technique gave me access to parts of myself that I didn’t know existed. After only one semester at the Actor’s Workshop I felt as though I had acquired a new superpower.
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additionAL services
In Eliza’s beautiful studio office overlooking Tompkins Square Park, any NYC actor can get coaching for high-stakes auditions, record their audition, and get an edited MP3 of their audition within an hour of leaving the session.
AWI also offers platform/brand building and audition prep intensives.
“As professional actor working in Los Angeles, I’m still proud of the excellent foundation I was able to build at AWI. It’s all about listening and answering, folks. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
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TAKE
LEAP!
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