A.C.T. Announces Upcoming Training for Actors

Actors of all ages and experience levels are welcome at the award-winning American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Conservatory for world-class training, and the New Year brings many opportunities to take part:

• A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program, one of the top-ranked professional actor training programs in the country, is accepting applications now for the class of 2015. The application deadline for the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program, whose graduates include such acting luminaries as Elizabeth Banks, Annette Bening, Anna Deavere Smith, and Denzel Washington, is January 12, 2012.
• Studio A.C.T.—A.C.T.’s evening and weekend training program for adults—is gearing up for its winter session with an application deadline of January 10, 2012. The winter session runs January 17–March 31, 2012, and features several exciting new workshops and classes, including a devised-theater weekend workshop with local favorite Mark Jackson and a clowning intensive with celebrated actress and clown Joan Mankin (just in time for Humor Abuse on the mainstage), as well as a variety of acting classes for all skill and experience levels.
• The A.C.T. Young Conservatory (YC)—which offers a broad range of theater training for young people ages 8 to 19, and has trained such celebrated actors as Darren Criss, Nicolas Cage, Winona Ryder, and Milo Ventimiglia—also has its winter registration deadline on January 10, 2012.. The winter session, which runs January 17–March 17, 2012, (one of the YC’s four annual sessions) will feature a wide spectrum of classes, including acting, directing, voice and speech, auditioning, and improvisation, taught by working professional actors and directors, and includes a brand-new Auditioning for Musicals class, just in time for auditions for the YC’s annual musical production, which this year is a reprisal of the enormously popular Across the Universe The Music of Lennon and McCartney. 
• And it’s not too early to start planning for the summer! The A.C.T. Summer Training Congress (STC), whose graduates include Camryn Manheim, Jennifer Grey, and Omar Metwally, offers 2- and 5-week actor training intensives for actors of all ages who are serious about improving their craft. STC celebrates its 40^th season this summer June 11–July 27, 2012. Both classical acting and core skills tracks are available.

The A.C.T. Conservatory, a conglomerate of award-winning programs, trains more than 3,000 students annually. The M.F.A. Program functions as the cornerstone of the A.C.T. Conservatory, which also includes the Summer Training Congress, Studio A.C.T., and the Young Conservatory. For more information on all these programs and to apply, please visit act-sf.org/conservatory or call 415.439.2444.