BERG STUDIOS WORKSHOPS
Our workshops are designed to both stand on their own and to compliment the classes and technique taught at the studio. The lessons taught in the workshops are immediately implemented and expanded on in classes. Workshops are either taught by Berg Studios instructors, or guest artist teachers invited to host workshops for our students.
Sign-up period extended! Yat Malmgren returns to Berg Studios! With James Kemp in May!
We are thrilled to welcome back former London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) instructor James Kemp for beginner/advanced workshops of Yat Malmgren movement psychology!
James was selected by Yat Malmgren himself to teach this work and taught alongside him at the famed Drama Centre in London. He is recognized internationally as the leading instructor of this technique. James’s past students include Rebecca Ferguson, Daniel Francis, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, and Emilia Clarke.
This work is generally taught at institutions abroad like LAMDA, the Drama Center in London, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia. A partial list of actors trained in the Yat Malmgren technique includes Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, and Gwendolyn Christie.
We are very proud to be one of a very small number of institutions in the United States currently offering this discipline.
There is a lot I have to be grateful for as an actor
but I would not have much if not for the inspirational
teaching of James Kemp. His use and teaching of
the “Yat Method” changed my view of what acting could
be both as an observer and a participant
– Emilia Clarke (Mother of Dragons)
Here is a brief video with James discussing the technique: https://vimeo.com/159617145
About the Yat Malmgren Technique:
This work is based upon the work of two pioneers of 20th-century performance research: Rudolf Laban and Yat Malmgren. In these classes, you will be introduced to a theory and practice which breaks down all expressive movements into their constituent parts and links them to the deep-seated psychological impulses which underpin them. From these building blocks ‘character’ can be constructed, either from scratch as a creative act or from a close analysis of an already existing script as an act of accurate and imaginative interpretation.
This work provides an accurate and complete way of describing human behavior and its dramatic representation, giving a practitioner the tools to transform their bodies and minds at will into the shape, form, and thoughts of a new character, either subtly or profoundly. It provides a way to create nuanced and detailed characterizations, and to access inner sensations ripe for use in dramatic circumstances, and otherwise hard to stimulate.
Workshop Description: Character Analysis & Movement Psychology/The Yat Malmgren Technique
Beginner’s Workshop:
At the heart of the work is the concept that we think with our bodies. Our bodies are revelatory of our inner workings, our psyche, thoughts, and feelings. Therefore if we could learn to harness and manifest our inner sensations and express them through our bodies we would be able to share every inner desire, want, thought, or emotion with a watching audience. And in turn that audience would be able to ‘read’ our thoughts, and character, and be thoroughly engaged in our dramatic lives.
By the end of the presentation, you will be looking at the world through new eyes, being able to ‘read’ the movements of those around you for meaning and to create physically expressive characterizations that both excite the imagination and serve the writers’ intentions.
Advance Workshop: (Prerequisites: April’s Beginner’s workshop at Berg Studios, attendance of a previous Yat Workshop at Berg Studios, or equivalent training from another institution)
In this course, you will begin to apply the theory of the work practically. You will create ‘Near Exercises’, structured improvisations exploring character creation, tempo/rhythm, and dramatic composition. You will apply the theory onto text. You are invited to use language from Shakespeare to modern drama or even contemporary film. You are invited to use pieces that you already know that you would like to explore through the additional lens of this work, or you can work on new text. Both the Near Exercises and text work will give you the chance to explore, enhance, and embed the theory into your craft and practice with detailed feedback. You will apply all the work from the Beginners workshop to a full ‘realistic’ text.
About the Instructor:
James Kemp trained at Drama Centre London and subsequently pursued an acting career that encompassed a number of long-running West End shows. In 1998 James was invited back to Drama Centre London to work alongside and assist Dr. Yat Malmgren in the teaching of Movement Psychology (inspired by the pioneering work of Rudolf Laban), and upon the retirement of Dr. Malmgren in 2001 he inherited his work and further developed this field of study and practice through workshops for Stage Centre, Israel; the International Workshop Festival; Caravanserai Acting Studio; Beit Zvi School Of Performing Arts; Beit Lessin Theatre, Tel Aviv; LAMDA and as ‘Laban Consultant’ at the Young Vic.
His many successful students have included: Rebecca Ferguson, Daniel Francis, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Emilia Clarke, Santiago Cabrera, Stephen Wight, Jaime Murray, Gwendoline Christie, Morven Christie, Damien Molony, Tamla Kari, Jodie McNee, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Bradley James, Ruta Gedmintas, Rolan Bell, John Dagleish, Lily Cole and many others. His students have won acting honors from BAFTA, Venice International Film Festival, British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), Laurence Olivier Awards, London Evening Standard Film Awards, London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, London Film Critics Circle Awards, Los Angles Film Critics Association Awards & National Board of Review Awards, amongst many others. Their Nominations have included European Film Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards & Golden Globes awards and many others.
Workshop Details:
Beginner’s Workshop
DATES: May 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. 10 am to 5 pm each day.
FEE: $400 students / $450 non-students
LOCATION: Berg Studio’s Annex space
(just up the street from our main studio space!)
Advanced Workshop
(prerequisite April’s Beginner’s workshop at Berg Studios, attendance of a previous Yat Workshop at Berg Studios, or equivalent training from another institution)
DATES: May 10th and 11th 10 am – 6pm
FEE: $250 students / $325 non-students
LOCATION: Berg Studio’s Annex space
Combat and Violence Techniques for stage & on-camera: March at Berg Studios
In March, Berg Studios is excited to welcome back veteran actor and fight choreographer Bo Foxworth for another in-person workshop on Stage Combat and Violence!
One of the tools any well-rounded actor should have in their back pocket is the ability to perform stage violence. Nothing worse than seeing a good Hamlet through 5 Acts only to have him be laughable in the climactic fight scene. Having the basic knowledge and vocabulary of combat means that you can audition for, and accept more highly physical roles, and add those skills to your resume. When you find yourself up for a physical role, you can go into the audition with confidence, and when you accept the role you can tell a story rather than just perform a “fight”.
This class will explore the basic tools that actors should have when faced with a physical altercation in a play or film and is called Combat and Violence because most of what you will be asked to perform won’t necessarily be “combat” but could be falling down the stairs or ripping off your festering toenail.
Understanding how our bodies react to violence and where that strength and power comes from is what we’ll begin to learn. To fall, tumble, slap or be slapped; that is the question. In this class, we’ll learn techniques and perform hand-to-hand combat moves with precision and control yet with strength, power, and the fully committed intention of the character.
We’ll also begin to learn the basics of swordplay, focusing on movement, footwork, and because we all want to be able to do every show 8 shows a week or multiple takes on set, our focus will always be safety first.
Bo Foxworth: His combat work started while at UCLA where he was a competitive fencer on UCLA’s Saber team ranking 6th in the conference. During that time he began to study with fight coordinator and weapons expert Anthony Delongis learning weapons ranging from swords to bullwhips. He studied with swordmaster Greg Michaels and Broadway fight coordinator Rick Sordelet and had the privilege to workshop with the renowned fight choreographer B.H. Barry. In Los Angeles, he has been the fight choreographer for numerous productions at The Geffen, Antaeus, Theatre of Note, Shakespeare Orange County, and Pasadena Playhouse where he received a 2018 Ovation nomination for fight direction in the production of Belleville.
He is a graduate of UCLA and received his MFA at the Yale School of Drama.
As an actor, Bo has worked in numerous theaters throughout Los Angeles including I.C.T., South Coast Rep, The Pasadena Playhouse, The Fountain Theatre, Shakespeare Orange County (Board Member), The Skylight Theatre, Ensemble Theater Company, La Mirada, Laguna Playhouse, The Geffen, Disney Hall, LATheatreWorks, Boston Court Pasadena, The Hollywood Bowl and A Noise Within where he received two Ovation nominations. He is a proud member of The Antaeus Theatre Company performing in many productions including Cloud 9 in which he was an LADCC and a Stage Raw Best Actor recipient and The Crucible (Ovation nomination). New York and Regional theaters include: The Hit Off-Broadway show As Bees in Honey Drown at the Lucille Lortel, The Century Theater, HERE, The Pearl Theater; The Shakespeare Theater D.C., Vienna’s English Theater, The Long Wharf, Baltimore Center Stage, Playmakers Rep, The Old Globe, The Yale Rep, and many others. He has numerous film and television credits including Law & Order SVU, Criminal Minds, Castle, Modern Family, VEEP, and the HBO movie All The Way with Bryan Cranston
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
When:
Wednesdays and Fridays 2 to 5 PM
March 19, 21, 26, 28.
Where:
Berg Studios Annex
3273 Casitas Ave, #105
Los Angeles CA 90039
The Annex is our second space, just half a block from our main location!
Cost:
Student Price: $250
Non-Student Price: $300
Please note, to qualify for the student price you must be enrolled in a Berg Studios scene study class for the whole month of March.
Voice and Speech with Tessa Auberjonois
We are pleased to announce the return of the Voice and Speech Class with Tessa Auberjonois in March 2025! The class is structured into a four-class, two-week format that will give our students a strong vocal foundation.
Voice and Speech production is a technique that takes time to learn and integrate. Our everyday, habitual patterns of breathing and speaking tend to be very sensitive to factors such as nerves and personal inhibitions.
Over time and with practice, we can use vocal technique to find awareness and learn to use breath, voice, and articulation in a way that can be relied upon to communicate the versatile character choices we make as actors instead of being trapped by the limitations of our own habitual vocal patterns.
This process is akin to building new muscles at the gym or learning to play an instrument. It takes time and practice before results can be felt and utilized effectively. Therefore, each session builds upon the last as students integrate the technique into new and specific use of the voice, body, and speech. This twice-weekly foundation course will teach a voice and speech warm-up, give you an excellent understanding of the mechanics of vocal production, as well as how to explore text vocally.
This class will primarily teach the technique developed by Kristin Linklater, as described in her book Freeing the Natural Voice, and will consist of very active exercise work.
Students should be prepared to have a monologue chosen to use as text for this class.
Workshop Description: VOICE PRODUCTION
Lesson plan (subject to change)
Class 1: Solidifying and reviewing Body Work, Breath awareness, Touch of sound, and opening the Channel
Class 2: Exploring the resonators – chest, mouth, and teeth, and connecting the voice to the body
Class 3: Breathing gym, Physical sound exploration
Class 4: Integrating the Upper resonators – Nasal, Mask, Head, Finding unusual organic choices for text
For a long while now, Berg and the instructors here at the studio have worried about a serious lack of vocal training among our students. This lack of training is not just about volume, to be sure. Without the ability to fully utilize their voice, no actor can be counted on to express themselves in the dynamic, creative way our industry demands.
Indeed, the purpose of vocal training, a standard element of all conservatory acting programs throughout the world, is to free the actor’s habitual patterns of tension. This allows the vocal instrument to express character via the actor’s imagination and engage the listener with language written by another but spoken as our own.
Instructor:
Tessa Auberjonois started her voice-over career soon after graduating from the Yale School of Drama and has consistently worked as a voice-over artist while also performing on stage and screen. In 2017 Tessa was nominated for a Behind the Voice Actors Award for best-featured actress in a television series. She is trained in Linklater Technique and International Phonetics and has taught Voice and Speech privately as well as at Berg Studios, AMDA, Cal Arts, LACC, and the Sag-Aftra Foundation. Tessa has been the voice of several national campaigns, including Princess Cruises, Glade, White Castle, FEMA, and many others. She’s voiced video games, re-voiced starring roles in feature films with major directors (and signed NDA’s saying she can’t tell you what or who) and narrated audiobooks. Tessa Auberjonois has appeared on On the Verge, The Affair, Shameless, Lucifer, I’m Dying Up Here, Modern Family, Law & Order(s), ER, and many other shows as well as feature and short films. On stage, she has performed in many classical and contemporary plays Off-Broadway and at theatres across the country such as the Kirk Douglas and South Coast Repertory, Hartford Stage, Yale Rep, and The Shakespeare Theatre of D.C. among others. Awards & Nominations include the 2020 Ovation Award nomination for Best Lead Actress, the 2018 Lunt-Fontanne Award, Best Actress in a play 2017 OC Weekly, Nominated for Best Female Guest Star for a TV Voiced Performance 2018 from Behind the Voice Actors, Sermoonjoy Fund, and Fox Foundation Fellowships, and the Oliver Thorndike Award for excellence in acting upon graduation from The Yale School Drama, where she trained, as well as LAMDA. She has taught and coached voice and speech, dialect and accent work, and voiceover to actors at many programs in LA and privately as well as being currently on faculty at AMDA.
DATE and TIME
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm PST
Wednesday and Friday
March 5th, 7th, 12th, and 14th
WHERE:
The Berg Studios Annex
3273 Casitas Ave
Suite 105
Los Angeles (Atwater Village), CA 90039
Cost:
$280 for all students
In order to secure a spot in this amazing workshop, contact the office (M-F 10 am to 5 pm PST) to put down a deposit (50% of tuition) today. Due to the nature of this workshop, deposits are non-refundable. Based on the structure of this workshop, the purchase of individual days is not possible.
The Actors Imagination on Film. An On Camera Scene Study Intensive with Gregory Berger
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
The Actor’s Imagination on Film: An On Camera Scene Study Intensive in Los Angeles with Gregory Berger.
Do not miss out on this opportunity to work with Gregory Berger on-camera
Please join us for our 2-day Intensive(March 22nd and 23rd). Gregory Berger is a former faculty member of The Yale School of Drama, and private coach to Lupita Nyong’o (Oscar Winner), Riz Ahmed (Oscar Winner), Winston Duke, Aziz Ansari, and many others.
In this workshop you will be assigned a scene and partner and will be filmed with full coverage by a professional camera operator while Berg coaches you.
Berg will lead you in exploring the practical application of on-camera acting and audition technique, as well as the technical and artistic requirements of working in front of the camera. This workshop will help to release the actor’s imagination through technique, cultivating authentic and spontaneous behavior on camera. Working this way allows the actor to separate themselves from the pack, enabling the actor to truly reveal their private selves and make bold creative choices.
Using the same techniques and experience that he brought to his on-camera acting course at The Yale School of Drama, Berg will help you reveal your own powerful imagination and make it palpable, visceral, and transferrable to the rigors and restrictions of film and television. Students will be assigned scenes with a partner. During each session, the actors are filmed and will review their work with Berg.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Gregory Berger-Sobeck is a graduate and former acting faculty member at the Yale School of Drama, in addition to teaching bi-coastally both in Los Angeles and New York. Additionally, he has taught workshops all over the world including in London, Paris, Sydney, and Tahiti.
Gregory’s many regular private coaching clients include Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, Black Panther), Emmy winner Riz Ahmed (The Night Of), Winston Duke (Us, Black Panther), and Portia Doubleday (Mr. Robot) among many others.
Mr. Berger opened The Berg Studios in Los Angeles in 1998, where he is the artistic director and master acting teacher. Berg Studios alumni have been Emmy Award Winners, Emmy Award Nominees, acted on Broadway and have had multiple series regular and guest star roles on television. Mr. Berger has also been voted Best Acting Class, Best Classical Class, Best Monologue Coach and Private Coach by Backstage Magazine.
Prior to Yale he trained at The Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City. He has studied with such legendary teachers as Paul Mann, Michael Howard, Kim Stanley, Nikos Psacharopoulos and Earle R. Gister. His New York stage credits include Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, The Flowing Peach, Romeo and Juliet, The Admiral Bashful, The Shrewing of Blanco Posnet, Molly, Andrew After Dark, Much Ado About Nothing, Faust, and The Colonization. Regional credits include work at the Yale Repertory Theater and The Yale School of Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, King John, Measure for Measure, Three Sisters, and A Ride Across Lake Constance, to name a few. Among his directing credits are Dolores and Sisters at the Company of Angels and the West Coast premiere of John Ford Noonan’s POPPS.
To find out more about Berg and Berg Studios please visit our website.
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
When:
Saturday, March 22nd, 10 to 5 PM PST
Sunday, March 23rd, 10 to 5 PM PST
Where:
Berg Studios
3245 Casitas Ave, Suite 104
Los Angeles CA 90039
Cost:
Students: $350
Non-Students: $400
To receive the student discount, you must be enrolled in a scene study class at Berg Studios for the month of February 2025.
New Dates! Intro to Voice Over with Tessa Auberjonois: Berg Studios in January!
In January / February, Berg Studios is very excited to announce the return of our very popular in-person Introduction to Voiceover Workshop led by professional voiceover artist Tessa Auberjonois.
This is a five-class intensive designed to introduce the actor to this specialized, expanding, and seriously fun aspect of our craft. We will explore the creative process of reading copy and begin to learn to identify the demands and techniques of voice acting for commercials, audiobooks, video games, and animation.
Students will record on their own using whatever technology and equipment they have available, and we will examine and share knowledge about how to best optimize your resources at home. A microphone is not required, but recording capabilities, even on a smartphone are necessary for the class.
We will discuss the business nitty-gritty of voice-over: where the opportunities are, demos, internet audition platforms, agencies, and technology and equipment for self-recording.
Classes will be held in person, including one class where all students will record in a professional voice-over studio. You will leave that session with your recording!
Instructor:
Tessa Auberjonois started her voice-over career soon after graduating from the Yale School of Drama and has consistently worked as a voice-over artist while also performing on stage and screen. In 2017 Tessa was nominated for a Behind the Voice Actors Award for best-featured actress in a television series. She is trained in Linklater Technique and International Phonetics and has taught Voice and Speech privately as well as at Berg Studios, AMDA, Cal Arts, LACC, and the Sag-Aftra Foundation. Tessa has been the voice of several national campaigns, including Princess Cruises, Glade, White Castle, FEMA, and many others. She’s voiced video games, re-voiced starring roles in feature films with major directors (and signed NDA’s saying she can’t tell you what or who) and narrated audiobooks. Tessa Auberjonois has appeared on On the Verge, The Affair, Shameless, Lucifer, I’m Dying Up Here, Modern Family, Law & Order(s), ER, and many other shows as well as feature and short films. On stage, she has performed in many classical and contemporary plays Off-Broadway and at theatres across the country such as the Kirk Douglas and South Coast Repertory, Hartford Stage, Yale Rep, and The Shakespeare Theatre of D.C. among others. Awards & Nominations include the 2020 Ovation Award nomination for Best Lead Actress, the 2018 Lunt-Fontanne Award, Best Actress in a play 2017 OC Weekly, Nominated for Best Female Guest Star for a TV Voiced Performance 2018 from Behind the Voice Actors, Sermoonjoy Fund, and Fox Foundation Fellowships, and the Oliver Thorndike Award for excellence in acting upon graduation from The Yale School Drama, where she trained, as well as LAMDA. She has taught and coached voice and speech, dialect and accent work, and voiceover to actors at many programs in LA and privately as well as being currently on faculty at AMDA.
DATE and TIME
1:30 pm to 4:30 pm PST
Friday, January 24th.
Friday, January 31st.
Friday, February 7th
Sunday, February 9th. (This class will be held in a professional recording studio and will be from 1 to 5 pm)
Friday, February 14th
WHERE:
The Berg Studios Annex
3273 Casitas Ave
Suite 105
Los Angeles (Atwater Village), CA 90039
Cost:
$300 student rate
$350 non-student rate
To receive the student discount, you must be enrolled in a Studio Technique (scene study) class at Berg Studios for the month of January, 2025.
In order to secure a spot in this amazing workshop, contact the office (M-F 10 am to 5 pm PST) to put down a deposit (50% of tuition) today. Due to the nature of this workshop, deposits are non-refundable. Based on the structure of this workshop, the purchase of individual days is not possible.
Sign-up period extended! Alexander Technique! EMBODYING THE CHARACTER: Feb 1st and 2nd
Due to popular demand, we will once again be offering the in-person opportunity to study with one of the foremost instructors of the Alexander Technique, Kristof Konrad, in a two-day intensive, called “Alexander Technique using Animal Studies and Images”. This workshop is building on Kristof’s original Alexander workshops but is open to all regardless of experience.
We are keeping the number of students to 16 so there are very limited spots for this exciting workshop. Signups are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Kristof teaches Intensive Acting in Film and Alexander Technique Workshops in New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Berlin, Toronto, and Vancouver, and at his studio here in Los Angeles, Alexander Techworks. In the U.S., he has taught at the Larry Moss Studio, the Howard Fine Studio, (LA and Melbourne, Australia), and recently worked with the artists of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Cirque Du Soleil. Past and current students include Forest Whitaker, Kenneth Branagh, and Cobie Smulders, among many others.
Workshop description:
This workshop, open to all levels of actors, singers, directors, and creatives, is specially designed to teach actors how to transform into and embody a character. Kristof believes that actors must see and feel the world through the eyes and bodies of animals.
The study of animals enables actors to act and react in new ways that enrich and expands their own physical and emotional world, and allow them to discover new, surprising ways of moving and acting. In this intensive, you’ll focus on finding the physical matrix of the character, a “hook” or an “anchor” that clearly expresses the stance, the walk, the gestures, and the psychological and emotional life of the character within the given circumstances. We find the body that corresponds not only to the logic of the text, but also its rhythms and energy, which allows the words to be spoken with greater ease; the voice (and its energy and music) become a direct reflection of the body, and both become integrated.
The study of the Alexander Technique is required at the finest drama conservatories around the world, including the Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School, ACT, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
The Alexander technique is a gentle approach that aims to re-educate the mind and the body through a series of movements so the body uses muscles more efficiently. Actors trained in the Alexander Technique consistently feel more confident and free — physically, vocally, and creatively — to do their best work. The physical and imaginative freedom that can be discovered through Alexander work can be a vital part of the actor’s craft.
All participants must be fully vaccinated and present a negative covid test before attending the workshop.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: KRISTOF KONRAD
was born in Poland, trained as an actor at the National Dramatic Academy in Warsaw, Poland, the Fersen Studio in Rome, Italy, and Larry Moss in the U.S. While in Poland, he studied and worked with theater and film masters JERZY GROTOWSKI and ANDRZEJ WAJDA. In the USA he worked with directors FRANCIS LAWRENCE, KENNETH BRANAGH, RON HOWARD and ROLAND EMMERICH. His credits include HOMECOMING, HOUSE OF CARDS, RED SPARROW, INTELLIGENCE, ANGELS AND DEMONS, HOTEL CALIFORNIA, INDEPENDENCE DAY, SCORPION, NIKITA, SCANDAL, BURN NOTICE, OPERATION SAMUM, ALIAS, THE AGENCY, JAG, E- RING and many others. Kristof has taught for the BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, GENERATION CAMPUS – MOSCOW, VERBIER FESTIVAL& ACADEMY in Switzerland and UBS VERBIER ORCHESTRA. He is teaching Intensive Acting in Film and Alexander Technique Workshops in New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Berlin, Toronto, and Vancouver. In the U.S., he has taught with Jean-Louis at the LARRY MOSS STUDIO, HOWARD FINE STUDIO, LA and Melbourne, Australia, and recently worked with the artists of the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY and the CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. Past and current students include FOREST WITAKER, KENNETH BRANAGH, COBIE SMULDERS, JOBETH WILLIAMS, ERIC DANE, and SHARON LAWRENCE.
When: Saturday and Sunday, Feb 1st and 2nd from 10 am to 5 pm.
Where: Berg Studio’s Annex space (just up the street from our main studio space!)
3273 Casitas Ave #105 – Los Angeles, CA 90039
Cost: $300 student price (you must be currently enrolled in a scene study class to receive the student discount), $350 non-student price