Acting Conservatory
Acting Conservatory (Grades 9 to 12)
The Acting Conservatory is a multi-year program for high school students who have a serious desire to pursue in-depth training in acting. The goal of the program is to provide students with the professional acting training, resume experience, and audition preparation needed to pursue a life in the theatre.
Program Levels:
Foundations of Acting: Perfect for beginners or those with some basic acting skills. This level introduces core acting concepts and methods.
Technique Specialization: Designed for students who are comfortable with basic techniques and are ready to focus on advanced skills and methods.
Audition Prep: Tailored for students who have mastered acting techniques and are preparing for college or professional auditions.
Performance Opportunities: All students will have four chances to perform throughout the year. Choose the performance that best fits your schedule, or audition for all four. Rest assured, you’ll have at least one performance opportunity guaranteed!
For more details on our program, check out this Google Slide Presentation.
Auditions
Auditions will be at our North Campus on Saturday, July 27 from 2-6 pm. If you can’t be at live auditions, you can make a video submission.
Any Questions? Please email ssmith@zachtheatre.org
Foundations Classes
- Foundations of Acting: An Intro to Methods and Techniques
- Improv
- Auditioning Skills
- Script Analysis
- Acting for the Camera
- Scene Study
- Intro to Stage Combat
Technique Classes
- Meisner: In the Moment Acting
- Uta Hagen/Stanislavski: Beats and Actions
- Shakespeare/Classic Methods
- Adv Acting for the Camera
- Adv Scene Study
- Filmmaking: Screenwriting to Production
- Method
- Stage Combat: Hand to Hand
- Stage Combat: Swords and Daggers
- Adv Improv
- Character Creation: Laban and Leading Gesture
Audition Prep Classes
- College Audition Process: From Prescreens to Unifieds
- Monologues: Where to find them and how to perform them
- Self Tape Methods
- Business of Acting: Resumes, Headshots and Online Portfolios
- Auditioning for Film
- Mastering Cold Reads
Have questions about the Acting Conservatory? You’ve come to the right place. Click on the questions below for the answers you seek.
The annual cost of tuition is $1,600. We have monthly payment plans available with no interest or extra fees included. The monthly payment plan comes out to $178 per month.
Yes! The Performing Arts School and the Acting Conservatory made a promise to the Austin and Central Texas community that we would not turn any student or family away on the basis of their ability to pay for the program. You do not have to apply for a financial aid before you audition.
Included in your tuition is 24 weeks of a 3 hour advanced level acting class, complimentary tickets to ZACH Mainstage productions, one performance opportunity, and one-on-one college and career counseling.
Please note all Conservatory programming happens at the North Campus.
Times are subject to change but all classes currently take place on Sunday from 5:30-8:00 p.m. so as to not conflict with school plays or rehearsals.
We take anywhere from 40 students in each section (Year 1, Year 2, etc.)
Yes, if space is available, we take students each year.
-The Curriculum: There has been a great deal of attention and detail given to the curriculum in the Acting Conservatory. Each class is designed to build on the last, this direct feed into the next class leads to more direct and intentional growth as an actor.
-Levels: The Conservatory carefully places its students into classes where all students are at the same age, knowledge, and skill level.
-College/Professional Audition Preparation: We begin this work in your freshman year of the Conservatory in order to give our students the competitive edge in the audition room. The college/professional audition process can be confusing, crippling and riddled with self doubt. We believe that training steadily throughout a student’s four years of high school will prepare them to handle the audition process with greater success.