ABOUT
THE STUDIO
• Location
• About the Studio
• Watch Promo Video
• History
• Instructors
• Office Staff
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Registration Statement
Location for the Joanne Baron
/ D.W. Brown Studio
320 Wilshire Blvd Suite #200
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.451.3311
info@baronbrown.com
Cross Streets: On Wilshire Blvd between Santa Monica’s 3rd
Street Promenade and 4th St
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About the Joanne Baron / D.W.
Brown Studio
The JOANNE BARON/D.W. BROWN STUDIO has been a wellspring for the
theatrical casting and producing community for over twenty years.
The Studio continues to produce gifted actors, writers, directors,
and producers who bring their training and talent to all aspects
of theater, film, and television.
Today, the Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio has relocated from New
York to Santa Monica, California, continuing this legacy and teaching
the same body of work that William Esper taught; a specific training
program designed to create an emotionally alive actor of depth,
imagination, and truth.
The Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio is a creative artistic center
from which great art and talent continues to flow. The Studio stands
as one of only five acting schools which are registered with the
Bureau for Postsecondary and Vocational Education which is a division
of the Department of Consumer Affairs with the state of California.
All those individuals who are inspired to train at the highest level
in order that they may learn a craft intended to shed light on the
truth of the human condition and at the same time experience an
extraordinarily nurturing, creative environment are encouraged and
welcomed to apply
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History of The Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio
A REVOLUTION in American Theater began in the early 1920's after
the Moscow Art Theater toured the United States. Never before had
audiences seen performances of such raw power; realism, and emotional
truth. By 1930 the Group Theater formed to import this revolution
and the "Stanislavski System" that inspired it. The Group
Theater became the most respected and influential theater company
in American history, assembling such luminaries as Harold Clurman,
Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, Morris Carnovsky and
Sanford Meisner. It also produced three of the most important and
influential acting teachers of the Twentieth Century in Adler, Strasberg,
and 'Sandy' Meisner.
SANDY MEISNER TAUGHT at the legendary Neighborhood Playhouse in
New York City for more than 50 years. His students include Paul
Newman, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Joanne Woodward, Eli Wallach,
Anne Jackson, and Steve McQueen. He defined acting as doing things
truthfully under imaginary circumstances and created a technique
that is still known for its depth, reliability and balanced approach.
William Esper, head teacher at the Playhouse for 14 years, eventually
formed the William Esper Studio in New York City. One of his students,
Joanne Baron, continued to study under Esper for seven years, and
then began her own school in New York to immediate acclaim.
TODAY, the Joanne Baron/D.W. Brown Studio in Santa Monica, California,
continues this legacy, teaching the same body of work that Esper
taught - a specific, sequential training program designed to create
an emotionally alive actor of depth, imagination, and truth.
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Instructors at The Joanne
Baron/D.W. Brown Studio
(Click name for photo and bio where available)
The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO is unique! It's teachers
are trained specifically to teach! They are specifically trained
to keep the purity and integrity of the Meisner work. This training
occurs over a minimum of a 5 YEAR PERIOD and continues on. This
teacher training is in addition to their training as acting students
over a 2 year period.
Outside of the JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO many teachers have
studied only as acting students in the classroom but never gone
on to train from the clarity and objectivity of a trained teacher.
The they go on to instruct their students with the memory of their
classroom experience as students.
The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO adheres to and strongly believes
in it's tradition of training teachers in the Meisner technique
as it originated - The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO teachers committ
to pursuing excellence in their teaching and in keeping the purity
of the Meisner work which resulted in the overwhelming success of
it's legendary students who include-
WARREN BEATTY
JACK NICOLSON
ROBERT DUVALL
DIANNE KEATON
PAUL NEWMAN
SYDNEY POLLACK
AND HUNDREDS OF OTHERS-
The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO attributes the extraordinary
success of it's students to the quality of it's training and integrity
and excellence of it's teachers!
All instructors at The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO are trained
by the artistic director, JOANNE BARON without deviation in the
original Meisner material for a minimum of 5 years prior to instructing
any students. After this 5 year period all teaching instructors
will continue to work closely with the artistic director, JOANNE
BARON in continuing to master their teaching craft. The senior teaching
staff has trained for over 10 -15 years. This unique training program
separates with distinction all of the teachers and the quality of
training at The JOANNE BARON D.W. BROWN STUDIO from all other acting
schools. It is rare to find such dedicated and highly skilled instructors,
willing to dedicate themselves to EXCELLENCE.
Joanne Baron
D.W.
Brown -
6 week Intensive, Vital Acting, Character Interpretation/Script
Analysis, Classical Style Work,
Audition Technique, Scene Study, On-set Coaching, Private Coaching
Mary Riley -
6 Week Intensive, Vital Acting, Character Interpretation/Script
Analysis, Classical
Style Work, Audition Technique, On-Set Coaching, Private Coaching
Tom
Patton -
Vital Acting, Character Interpretation/Script Analysis, Classical
Style Work,
Scene Study, Audition Technique, Private Coaching, On-set coaching
Louie
Liberti -
Character Interpretation/Script Analysis, Classical Style Work,
Audition Technique,
Scene Study, On-set coaching, Private Coaching
Elaine
Williams -
6 Week Intensive, Vital Acting, On Set Coaching, Private Coaching
Sharon Hogg -
6 Week Intensive, Vital Acting
Lisa Milillo -
Vital Acting, Scene Study, Audition Technique, On-set coaching,
private coaching
Alexander Technique Teachers:
Jean-Louis Rodrigue and Kristof Konrad
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Office Staff at the Joanne
Baron/D.W. Brown Studio
(Check back soon to see our staff’s pictures and bios)
Luis Limon - Admissions Manager
Rafael Soto - Studio Administrator
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. You say that this is a “technique”
class and not “scene study,” what’s the difference?
2. Is the technique you teach better for television
and film, or stage plays? How about comedy vs. drama?
3. Is this technique what’s called “The
Method” or “Method Acting”?
4. What is the difference between “internal”
and “external” acting techniques?
5. I’ve heard that in some acting classes
you have to talk about your personal life, is that true with this
school?
6. If I start this program, will you tell me if
I have any talent, or if I’m wasting my time pursuing acting?
1. You say that this is a “technique”
class and not “scene study,” what’s the difference?
In a scene study class the actor enters the class and finds someone
to work with and chooses a scene to do, or is given one, and they
rehearse that scene and then present it in front of the class and
are given notes. They then bring it back, usually after several
classes of watching other people’s scenes, and do it again.
This would be much like learning architecture by building a specific
building and then being given notes on that job and watching other
students do likewise. You can learn that way, but it takes a long
time.
A technique class teaches the basics for how to build any building,
or in this case, any scene. Starting with the most elemental steps
and leading eventually to the most sophisticated performances possible.
By improving your technique, you improve yourself as an actor forever.
You don’t get good at doing one specific scene and then start
over, hopeful you were fortunate enough to have learned something
useful for your next scene. This work highlights the issues you
must address with every scene, and will reveal particularly those
things that you personally need to work on, which can often be masked
by doing certain kinds of material. And you work every class.
There are many excellent scene study classes available, and we
will refer students to the best of them, but virtually everyone
who has been to the studio says: “Do this first!” Once
an actor has the foundation and the ability to operate with self-sufficiency,
then they are able to understand and make use of the wonderful insights
these directors have to offer.
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2. Is the technique you teach better for television
and film or stage plays? How about comedy vs. drama?
The course of study taught at the Joanne Baron/DW Brown Studio is
designed so that at its conclusion an actor is capable of meeting
every situation they might encounter: whether half hour comedy,
feature film or a theater piece, from “kitchen sink”
to Shakespearean. Because the work is based on a consistent, simple
level of truthfulness, and yet develops to include the most demanding
requirements of a theatrical presentation, it can be adjusted for
use in any medium, in any style.
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3. Is this technique what’s called “The
Method” or “Method Acting?”
If by “The Method” what is meant is that the technique
is based upon the original precepts of Constantine Stanislavski,
then the answer is yes. Unfortunately, the term “The Method”
has come to be used imprecisely and is identified erroneously with
several specific schools of acting. “The Method” is
best used as a general term for an emphasis on “internal acting.”
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4. What is the difference between “internal”
and “external” acting techniques?
External acting is acting that emphasizes the representation of
behavior, “to show” or to indicate behavior, and stresses
the technical requirements of acting, such as speech and movement.
Internal acting emphasizes having the performer actually live through
the experience, engaging their own emotional life and relating in
such a way that it produces behavior consistent with the character.
External acting is associated more with the stage which requires
a performance reach to the back row of a large theater. These techniques
still predominates at most university drama departments, as well
as several prestigious academies.
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5. I’ve heard that in some acting classes
you have to talk about your personal life, is that true with this
school?
No. While internal acting does require an actor to draw upon their
own true feelings, this program is not per se psychological. The
instructors know nothing of the student’s private lives. It’s
true that many acting schools are open forums for this kind of thing,
but we think our job is to train actors to function as performers,
not psychoanalyze them.
At the same time, it’s nearly a universal response among
people who attend the training to say: “Everyone should do
this. Not just people who want to act.” That’s because,
through the process of being in the moment, getting in touch with
the emotional life (even under fictional circumstances), asserting
yourself and losing self-consciousness in front of an audience,
there is a transformational payoff in entitlement and the tranquility
of being in one’s own skin. In this way the work is not “therapy,”
but it is highly therapeutic. Internal acting tends to be more intimate
and grew out of a desire to represent average people in a naturalistic
style. It became especially popular with the filming of performances
where subtlety could be appreciated.
In truth, there is no such thing as a completely internal performance
in that there must always be some accommodation for theatrical demands
and most successful external actors enhance their performances by
engaging themselves emotionally.
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6. If I start this program, will you tell me
if I have any talent, or if I’m wasting my time pursuing acting?
We don’t talk too much about talent at the studio. We teach
craft. There’s a lot of uninformed opinion about acting, and
how it can’t be taught, and you either have talent for it
or you don’t. That’s silly. Can you think of any other
pursuit in which that’s true? Acting can be taught, just as
anything can be taught; and anyone through hard work can achieve
a certain level of competence.
Another problem with answering this question concerning whether
someone has talent or not is you never know when someone might blossom.
The cultivation process (if the talent is the seed, the craft is
the cultivation) can be indefinite and, as long as someone is applying
themselves, it’s possible for that seed to germinate and a
huge, fruit yielding plant to emerge. Part of the excitement of
teaching is you never know when this is going to happen. A student
might not excel immediately, their classmates sympathetic to their
initial efforts; then suddenly something kicks in and they are among
the best in class, causing envy for the tremendous power of their
imaginations. You never know.
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Registration Statement and
Other Information
Baron/Brown Studio is registered with the State of California.
Registration means we have met certain minimum standards imposed
by the state for registered schools on the basis of our written
application to the state. Registration does not mean we have met
all of the more extensive standards required by the state for schools
that are approved to operate or licensed or that the state has verified
the information we submitted with our registration form.
The school conducts it educational activities as a privately owned
and operated institution from its site of operations at 320 Wilshire
Blvd., Suite 200, California 90401. The school is a private corporation
that is wholly owned by its founders Joanne Baron and David W. Brown
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