Scene Study
"Scenes" are sections of plays or film scripts used to teach you about how acting works and what it is to be to directed. You will learn how to create a character and how to build relationship. Availability, intention, permission, the moment before, an actor's vocabulary and observing behaviour are some of the tools you will acquire here for your own "actor's tool kit". We also cover textual analysis, which is the interpretation of a writer's intent, probing and understanding relationships, discerning a character's needs, wants, secrets and back story. It is in the very detailed investigation of text that you discover the facts and subtleties that you need in order to make informed, smart, personal choices about characterization that support your work in the story. By year's end, each of you will have the ability to approach any script with confidence.

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Actor's Instrumental
As a painter has his brush and a sculpter has her chisel, as an actor you have only yourself  - your mind, body, voice and imagination are your tools. When these instruments function optimally, your talent can flourish, allowing you to access it to its fullest and brightest expression. The goal of this course  is to teach you to identify and remove any blocks that may exist in you and in your work, thereby freeing you to achieve an organic and experiential state from which to create.  You will learn methods of total mind and body preparation, including relaxation, relationship, vulnerability and ego exercises. The work will be applied to scenes and monologues and the techniques will be applicable to other courses in the curriculum.

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Voice
This training is a key component of the actor's craft, integrating, supporting and influencing all other performing disciplines. Our voice training will be uniquely adapted to each individual. You will develop a practical, holistic approach,  wherein speaking and singing become complimentary elements that together serve to improve your range, clarity and resonance.  As you apply what you learn to text, you will gain greater confidence and a deeper awareness of your vocal potential in your search for truth and authenticity.  Study will be based on the teachings of Kristin Linklater, Patsy Rodenburg and David Smukler. Course components are comparable with other nationally recognized training programs, including The National Voice Intensive, Studio 58, and the National Theatre School.

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Movement Psychology
Here you will examine the relationship of feeling and expression in the act of performance. A unique synthesis of movement theory, Jungian psychology and Stanislavskian acting, the class develops the pioneering work of Yat Malmgren. You will be asked to devise and perform scenarios based on both experience and observation, and thus recognize and control the forces that determine the expressive qualities of movement, gesture and speech. We investigate the basis of characterization and transformation, and how physical and psychological relationships reflect the impulses you experience on stage or screen.

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Improvisation
Improvisation is a form of acting in which actors perform without a script, providing their own lines of dialogue and actions.  Improvisation can be dramatic or comedic. It is thought that improvisation was invented by famed Chicago theatre director Viola Spolin. However, it was Keith Johnstone of "Theatresports" fame, who popularized "improv", based on his work at the Royal Court Theatre in London. While there is such a thing as an "Improv Artist", as you would see in "Whose Line is it Anyway?", what you will learn at the Victoria Academy is improvisation as a tool for scene work or rehearsal.

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The Meisner Approach
In the Meisner Approach you work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise, to access your emotional life, and to bring the spontaneity and the richness of your personal response to texted scene work. The technique emphasizes "moment-to-moment" living through communication with other actors in order to generate behaviour that is truthful and uniquely your own.

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Shakespeare
Acting Shakespeare can be considered the "mixed martial arts" of the acting world, as it demands the actor to be fully engaged on all levels simultaneously, while operating in an extreme, high-stakes environment. You will study Iambic pentameter, contrast, irony & ambiguity and skills too numerous to list here, in the very capable hands of our Shakespeare masters. One need look no further than the work of Leonardo DeCaprio, Ralph Fiennes or Cate Blanchett to appreciate why one might include 'playing Shakespeare' in their skill set.

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Movement
This course is designed to give you an opportunity to explore the potential of physical expression. 
Technique and movement forms include: 
yoga, breathing forms and plastiques (relationship to space, relationship to time and physical relationship to others), gestures, physical and vocal improvisation, principals of motion - balance, stops, rhythm, levels. This rigorous and demanding aspect of your training will develop and sharpen your instinctive/intuitive response, physical and emotional range of expression, body awareness, breath awareness and capacity. You will learn to activate your physical energy centres, to increase muscle tone, flexibility and stamina and to increase energy and concentration. 

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Stage Combat
This course will provide you with fundamental techniques in combat for stage and camera. You will also have an opportunity to choreograph your own combat pieces for scripted scenes, and learn how to effectively perform fundamentals in a convincing manner.

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Acting for Camera
Acting for Camera is Scene Study photographed. Students will be assigned scenes each class to be shot and viewed in the next, bringing to bear all they have learned in all classes up to this point. As in Scene Study, you will be directed in class and work on your scenes between classes. In addition you will learn the terminology of film acting, such as playing to camera, hitting your mark, stepping into frame, etc. Upon completion of this course you will be fluent in these terms and confident in front of camera, having completed  8 scenes drawn from scripts specific to film and television.

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Audition Technique and The Business of Acting
Starting with script breakdown, as film scripts have a language of their own, we proceed to auditioning etiquette, slating, callbacks and the psychology of auditioning. You will practice in a simulated auditioning setting, designed to give you an experience as close to the real thing as possible. Preparing your resume, dealing with agents, unions, casting directors, getting the call, preparing to work, what to expect, even being cast - so that when you actually audition out in the world you will be very familiar with the process and know how to handle yourself. Also included is a photo shoot with a professional  photographer whose speciality is actors' head shots.​