STC Curriculum

Applications are currently not being accepted for American Conservatory Theater’s Summer Training Congress. We plan to continue the program in-person in Summer 2022. To be notified when applications open, please contact conservatory@act-sf.org.

We encourage people to consider A.C.T.’s other actor training program, which is being temporarily offered entirely online: The 15-week San Francisco Semester.

Curriculum

You will receive undergraduate credit upon satisfactory completion of the STC. To receive full credit you must complete the entire session curriculum, including the final presentation. The credit hours typically break down as follows:

303 Acting Technique (3.0 Credits)

Corresponds to Acting, Audition, Improvisation, and Text

Courses in this portion of the five-week curriculum focus on fundamental acting principles. Teaching methodologies and evaluative tools include scene study, practical acting exercises, improvisational exercises, audition techniques, and textual analysis.

313 Movement (1.0 Credit)

Corresponds to Clowning and Movement

Courses in this portion of the five-week curriculum focus on the expressiveness of the actor’s body. Teaching methodologies and evaluative tools include study and implementation of various movement forms and exercises that explore the relationship between interior life and physical embodiment.

323 Voice and Speech Dynamics (1.0 Credit)

Corresponds to Voice and Speech

Courses in this portion of the five-week curriculum focus on voice production for the actor. Teaching methodologies and evaluative tools include exercises in breathing, relaxation, and control of the voice for speaking on-stage, text work, vocal techniques of emphasis, pitch, rate, quality, volume, and inflection, and speech techniques such as use of specific qualities of sound.

373 Shakespeare Intensive (2.0 Credits)

Corresponds to Acting, Soliloquy, and Classical Text

Courses in the 2-week curriculum focus on the actor’s relationship with classical material. The Core Classical Acting class is supplemented with work in Physicalizing Classical Text, Speaking Classical Text, and Classical Soliloquy.