This week students are honing their acting skills on-camera with NTI alum Matt Newton (NTI Fall '97). Matt is the founder of MN Acting Studio NYC and currently the on-set acting coach for Season 5 of the hit CBS show BLUE BLOODS. As well as teaching Auditioning and Business of the Business for NTI, he is a contributor to BACKSTAGE and the author of the book 10 STEPS TO BREAKING INTO ACTING. Scroll down for photos of Newton working with NTI, plus an exclusive Q&A for Risk Again, in which he shares his NTI memories, what it's like returning to campus as a faculty member, and his advice for young actors!

In order to best showcase the student's perspective and share what it means to spend 14 weeks 'studying away', Risk Again! asked alum Emma Miller (NTI-AD Spring '14) to write a letter to a prospective student sharing the impact NTI's Advanced Directing program had on her.

Today, Risk Again! takes a look at that 'singular schedule' in the photo gallery below! Last Tuesday at NTI featured 19 classes and 11 faculty members, all master teachers or industry professionals, who come to the O'Neill every week and share their talents with the students of the NTI Semester, NTI-Advanced Directing, and National Music Theater Institute.

These are just some of the ways NTI students have responded to working with our alumni company, The Debate Society. The Debate Society is an Obie Award winning, Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos (writer/performer/NTI Fall '98), Paul Thureen (writer/performer/ NTI Fall '98/ MATS '00), and Oliver Butler (director/developer). The company specializes unexpected stories set in supremely intricate, vividly theatrical worlds.

This week Risk Again explores the rich relationship between the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Theater Institute (est. 1970) and National Playwrights Conference (est. 1964). Both committed to developing new work in a collaborative environment where artists are free to risk and safe to fail.

The National Theater Institute includes a vibrant community of over 3,500 alumni. The many talents of these actors, writers, directors, and designers can be seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in films, television, London's West End, and at every major regional theater in the U.S. Actor, writer, director, Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother, Happythankyoumoreplease, Liberal Arts, The Graduate) is currently starring in Disgraced on Broadway. Today Risk Again! shares his reflections on studying with NTI in the spring of 1995. Watch the video to hear more about his memories of training at the O'Neill, his play Napoleon Blownapart, and the many ways NTI changed his life as an artist.

As I was reading The O'Neill: The Transformation of Modern American Theater by Jeffrey Sweet and walking through Launchpad of the American Theater: The O'Neill Since 1964, a 50th anniversary exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, it became clear to me that the ideas, principles, and people that have shaped the O'Neill and the National Theater Institute are still so very evident and become a part of every student who studies with NTI.

The National Music Theater Institute (NMTI) students have just returned to campus from two weeks training in New York City; scroll down for photos from the visit! NMTI is the newest credit-earning, semester-long intensive from the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Utilizing the O'Neill's 50-year experience in training young theater artists and history of developing new musicals (including Nine, Avenue Q, In The Heights, [title of show], and Violet), NMTI offers broad-based training in all areas of musical theater: acting, singing, directing, writing, dance, composition, and choreography. In addition to the semester's rigorous curriculum-classes 14 hours a day, 7 days a week with emphasis on collaboration and the creation of original work- two weeks of the semester are spent learning in the epicenter of American music theater.

The National Theater Institute Semester is a 14-week, credit-earning program, offering college-aged students intensive theater immersion at the two-time Tony Award-winning Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

The National Theater Institute has partnered with the Moscow Art Theatre for nearly 25 years and is the longest cultural and educational exchange between Russia and United States. NTI offers the only opportunity for U.S. undergraduates to train at the famed Moscow Art Theatre School. The 13-week, credit-earning program offered each fall allows students to study in the birthplace of modern theater.

The National Theater Institute includes a vibrant community of over 3,500 alumni. The many talents of these actors, writers, directors, and designers can be seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in films, television, London's West End, and at every major regional theater in the U.S. Today, in an excerpt from The O'Neill: Transformation of Modern American Theater, we hear from actor-writer-director John Krasinski (Promised Land, Away We Go, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, Big Miracle, The Office) about why he calls his semester away at NTI "one the most influential moments of [his] life".

The National Music Theater Institute (NMTI) is the newest credit-earning, semester-long intensive from the National Theater Institute. Utilizing the O'Neill's experience and excellence in training young theater artists and history of developing new musicals (including Nine, Avenue Q, In The Heights, [title of show], and Violet), NMTI offers broad-based training in all areas of musical theater: acting, singing, directing, writing, dance, composition, and choreography.

The National Theater Institute is excited to partner with BroadwayWorld to give an inside look at the undergraduate training program that has launched the careers of thousands of actors, directors, dancers, composers, designers, and playwrights since 1970.