THE EX-ER ACTOR CLASS. A MASTERCLASS in “TRUTH’ with Hollywood & Broadway’s A-List “OSCAR COACH” SUSAN BATSON.
Live from New York.
4 Week Masterclass: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Commencing: Saturday 20th of July, 2024
The Ex-Er Actor class is SUSAN BATSON STUDIO’S signature class and is the gateway to the process of the Susan Batson Technique.
The concept of EX-ER Actor is predicated upon the age-old adage, “practice makes perfect.” The class is structured on three basic elements: 1) Awareness, 2) Emotional Flexibility and 3) Combination of Imagination and Skills through Text or Story.
We highly recommend this class for those who are still trying to understand their critiques or blocks as well as those who are hoping to specify and clarify their technique.
Stanislavski, Strasberg, Meisner, Adler, Berghoff, Hagen, Mamet…now BATSON.
Actor, writer, director, producer, teacher, and coach Susan Batson has been called an “alchemist” by the New Yorker. In private consultation on film sets all over the world and in her New York acting studio, Susan Batson has enjoyed the privilege of training and mentoring Nicole Kidman, Lady Gaga, Juliette Binoche, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Tom Cruise, Kerry Washington, Zac Efron, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Liv Tyler, Jennifer Connelly, Kirsten Dunst, Laverne Cox, Common, Janet Jackson, Rihanna and countless other actors searching for truthful connections between themselves and the characters they play. Nicole Kidman, who has worked closely with Susan for more than twelve years, hails her as a uniquely insightful acting coach with “a hell of a lot of pure talent,” while Oscar winner Juliette Binoche praises Susan’s ability to “shake you like a tree and get the fruits down.” Susan Batson was publicly thanked by Kidman after receiving her Oscar for The Hours, and by Tom Cruise in his Golden Globes acceptance speech for Magnolia.
Like all great performers, Nicole Kidman approached her role in The Hours as a creative collaboration. Kidman knew that portraying Virginia Woolf on screen required a truth that she as the actor and Woolf as the character shared. Enter Susan Batson. Batson’s process gave Kidman the tools to find that truth and honed her Oscar Winning performance from the inside out.
“The industry as it stands now has very little time for the actor, especially the film industry. There’s no rehearsal time, there’s no rehearsal time with directors, there’s no real prep time with the director, so the smart actor now knows ‘let me get help, let me get my prep time.” – Susan Batson
- What do you get when working with Susan Batson & her protege Carl Young, and how do you apply to be a participant or auditor in this incredible One Day Masterclass?
- Susan Batson is the author of the book “Truth: Personas, Needs, and Flaws in the Art of Building Actors and Creating Characters” and has been profiled in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, and Backstage.
- In her TRUTH Masterclass, the most sought-after “OSCAR COACH” and acting guru in Hollywood and on Broadway distills her half century’s experience as an actor, teacher, and personal coach into a step-by-step process for creating a character from first read-through to final performance.
- Debunking a century’s worth of myths about “method acting,” Batson identifies the unifying forces of Need, Public Persona, and Tragic Flaw to unite the actor with his or her character.
- Need is the primal, unfulfilled desire that a character’s Public Persona hides. Tragic Flaw is the confrontational dramatic behavior that erupts when the character’s Need and Public Persona clash. Throughout this TRUTH Masterclass, Batson shows how actively defining and understanding these three principals leads to the most truthful performances possible.
- The TRUTH Masterclass reveals the inner game of telling stories and creating vivid, three-dimensional life out of words.
- A must for beginning actors, and a wake-up call for working actors.
- If your placement is confirmed as a participant, we will require links to your headshot and resume. You will then receive your scene which you need to have prepared off-book prior to the commencement of your first session with Susan Batson and Carl Ford.
- There are strictly 18 placements available as a participant.
- To enroll as a participant, please apply via our enrolment tab on the top of this page.
- Strictly for actors 16 years+
Batson graduated from Emerson College’s Theater Arts Program and received a John Hay Whitney Fellowship to study with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof in New York. She was in the original cast of Hair and became a protege of theater legend Joseph Papp and Harold Clurman. She is a member of the Actors Studio and a recipient of a New York Drama Critics Award, an LA Drama Critics Award, and an Obie. She has worked with directors like Spike Lee, Michael Haneke, Erik Poppe, Kim Farrant, and Jane Campion to name a few. Susan Batson was also a producer of the hugely successful Broadway revival and television production of A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs.
Susan Batson is the author of the book “Truth: Personas, Needs, and Flaws in the Art of Building Actors and Creating Characters” and has been profiled in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, and Backstage.
“The necessity for the actor is to create and not to imitate. The actor must tell the truth”. – SUSAN BATSON
How to Apply:
There are strictly 18 placements available as a participant.
Masterclass Dates & Times (AEST):
Week 1: Saturday 20th of July, 2024 // 9:00am – 12:00pm
Week 2: Saturday 27th of July, 2024 // 9:00am – 12:00pm
Week 3: Saturday 3rd of August, 2024 // 9:00am – 12:00pm
Week 4: Saturday 10th of August, 2024 // 9:00am – 12:00pm
Masterclass Fee:
PARTICPANT:
Instalment Plan: 4 x weekly instalments of $198.00
Paid in Full: $795.00 (GST Inclusive)
Please see our Terms and Conditions related to our course.