For teenagers who feel the pull toward performance, Young Actors is where that instinct becomes a skill.
Over 10 weeks, students work with a professional actor-instructor through the genres that matter to them — Stranger Things, Marvel, horror, Wednesday, Euphoria — building real technique along the way. It all leads to Week 9: a live performance in front of a casting director or manager who can open real doors.
Every student finishes with a showreel, industry contacts, and a genuine sense of what a career in acting actually looks like.
Sample Class Format
Teen Actors (Ages 12–16) — 10-Week Curriculum
The destination is Week 9: performing live in front of a casting director or manager. Every week is preparation.
Week 1 — Technique: Presence and Listening
Cold reads, ensemble exercises, trust work. What does genuine listening look like on stage and on screen? The difference between performing at someone and performing with them. Sets the standard for how the room works for the next 10 weeks.
Week 2 — Franchise Week: Stranger Things — Ensemble and Real Fear
The Stranger Things cast are young actors who listen like professionals. We study what makes their ensemble work — then recreate the dynamic, not the lines. Exercises in genuine group listening, playing fear honestly, and understanding that the scariest moments on screen are almost always the quietest ones.
Week 3 — Technique: Emotional Truth
The difference between indicating emotion and living it. Meisner repetition, emotional specificity. Instructor uses short contemporary TV clips — what is this actor actually doing? Then students do it. Nothing generalised, everything specific.
Week 4 — Franchise Week: Marvel — Character Under Pressure
Marvel works because the characters have real psychology underneath the spectacle. Scene work built around high-stakes moments — not action, but the conversation before the action. Who are you when everything is on the line? Status, power, and vulnerability through a superhero lens. Laban movement work applied to physical character choices.
Week 5 — Technique: Text, Subtext, and What's Not Said
What a character says and what they mean are almost never the same thing. Scene work focused entirely on subtext — the real conversation happening underneath the dialogue. The best screen performances live in the gap between the lines.
Week 6 — Franchise Week: Horror — The Camera Sees Everything
Get Out, A Quiet Place, Hereditary. Horror is the best genre for learning screen technique because you cannot fake it — the camera catches every lie. We study how these performances work: breath, stillness, the eyes. Then teens shoot their own tension scenes. Direct preparation for the self-tape week. Teaching: reaction, timing, on-camera truth.
Week 7 — Technique: Self-Tape and On-Camera
The self-tape is the modern audition. Setup, slating, eyeline, framing, scaling performance for a lens. Every student shoots a self-tape — informed by everything learned in Week 6. Watch back together, specific notes. This footage becomes their showreel.
Week 8 — Franchise Week: Wednesday / Euphoria / Heartstopper (Choose Your Tone)
Contemporary teen drama — the genre closest to what they'll actually audition for. Three options: dark and sardonic (Wednesday), emotionally raw (Euphoria), or tender and real (Heartstopper). Short scenes written per tone. Cold reading with a redirect. Direct preparation for Week 9.
Week 9 — Industry Showcase: The Destination
A casting director or manager joins the class. Teens perform their prepared piece, receive a real redirect, perform again. Genuine industry feedback from someone who casts for a living. This is what the whole program has been building toward.
Week 10 — Showreel and Close
Refined self-tape delivered as a finished showreel. Short parent showcase. Individual closing notes from the instructor on each student's genuine next steps in the industry.
