"The past couple of weeks I've been working with an actor who's in a different acting class. He's writing a screenplay and needed a Spanish speaking woman who could also do an accent. He found me through a mutual acquaintance. Long story, short: We did a scene from his script today for this other class and I was on. I just watched the tape and it's not shabby. I have your techniques to thank. I may feel tired, but as long as I know what my actions are and play them, no one is going to know. He called me later to tell me that, after I left, the teacher raved for several minutes about my performance to the rest of the class and told the other women that whatever I was doing was what they needed to do. He recognized it as taking risks, I chalk it up to knowing my lines, holding the beats and playing my actions. Thank you, Barry." Karina Dominguez karina@karinadominguez.com

"I have to thank you for the opportunity to study with you. I like your book and the classes that I attended were awesome. You are the real deal as far as teachers go. I'm sure you know that but in case you've forgotten let me tell you again: Barry! You are a g-r-e-a-t teacher! You have that thing that makes learning happen around you. You're a suburban shaman! I'm serious --- that's why I call you 'Scary Barry.' I like to say funny things but I mean this: I think you have the spiritual gift they call 'exhortation' in the Bible. The thing I felt exhorted to do after being your student was to work. After I worked on the monologues I did for class, I thought, 'Oh, I should work like this on my stand-up stuff.' I don't know why/how but YOU taught me how to work, like take the work seriously enough to work on it everyday with enthusiasm and energy. Thank you. I think that's what I've been looking for in classes and workshops for a long time. I feel very lucky." Annie La Ganga

 

"What does an actor do when he wakes up one day and realizes that somewhere along the way he magically lost his ability to act? How did it happen? What is going on? Why does he hate it now? I found myself asking all of these questions. In addition to all the obvious answers, and quite naturally, Prozac, I stumbled upon Barry's class. After two consecutive sessions, I felt I'd sufficiently removed the confusion from my acting and, more importantly, the crap from my thoughts about myself as human being and artist. It is no coincidence that these two pasttimes (confused acting and crap thinking) disappeared simultaneously - acting, I learned, is nothing more than being oneself. Apply tools, do work, have fun, be yourself, and care nothing about what anyone else thinks - amazing that it can be difficult to make something so simple." Ash Robinson arobinson78@hotmail.com

"Acting is story-telling. It is what we do every day of our lives. It is the desire to know ourselves and the desire to commune with others. What more honorable profession is there?' Those words still stand out in my mind from the first time that I met Barry. It is by those words that he teaches his workshop and it is by those words that he lives his life. Barry lays out a set of tangible tools that can be used to create effective acting habits, effective actors, and effective storytelling. It is a small workshop and a non-competitive environment so that it creates a more intimate relationship between instructor and actor. He genuinely cares for each and every person that sets foot in his workshop and bends over backwards to help you out. Barry challenges you and teaches you to work. I can think of no truer approach to acting and no truer approach to life than the one that Barry teaches; the one that Barry lives." Collin Bjork csbjork@hotmail.com

 

"If all you want to do is act, then all you have to do is go and do it. Just memorize some lines (actually this really isn't even necesary) and say them in front of some people (and they don't even have to actually be listening) and you will be a part of what the overwhelming majority of actors try to pass off as acting. It's that easy. But, if you want to learn the art of storytelling, and thus have a 'real technique' that will help you approach the art of acting with the respect it deserves, then Barry's workshop is where you need to be (if nothing else at least read his book). Acting is a business no different than any other, dominated by people with the desire to exploit any and everyone. We desperately need more people like Barry who treat others not as a means to an end, but as valuable ends in and of themselves. Barry has not only helped me change the way I approach the art of acting, but more importantly the way I approach the art of living. Acting does matter. And so do you." Brandon Nagle brandonnagle@hotmail.com

"Barry's acting workshop equals honesty, and hard work. It's nice to know there's someone out there who not only understands the fundamental tools of acting, but can communicate those tools to individual actors. Finally, I am able to trust myself. Barry's dedication to, compassion for, and faith in his students are profound. The workshop hands down allowed me to believe again that acting can be taught effectively with successful results." Nicole Furneisen nicolefurn@yahoo.com

 

"I have always had a sense that I could be a much better, more effective actor but I have just never been able to find the right way, that works for me, to go about getting there. It always seemed like there was a stumbling block there, and I always thought that it had to do with my inability to be connected to my emotions on a consistent basis. After starting Barry's class, I feel like there is real hope that there is another way to get there - without the whole emotion thing. I finally feel like it is clicking for me, which is such a great feeling - to be able to have this level of control over what you are doing as an actor. I'm only in my 5th week of class, and I have improved more than all the other classes I have taken combined." Beth Burroughs beth@brotherdream.com

"The most helpful body of knowledge about effective acting I've ever received. Practical, tangible, understandable tools that will help actors to effectively--and enjoyably--do their jobs." Taylor Maddux ftm3000@prodigy.net

 

"Barry's class is the hardest class you will ever take and it is also the most rewarding. I learned more in 6 months of working with Barry than I did in 4 years of university training. He truly cares about his students, and his love and passion make it easy for you to challenge yourself and become a better actor and, more importantly, a better person. The acting workshop has given me the tools I need to tackle any acting job that comes my way. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Martinique Duchene martiniqueduchene@hotmail.com

"I am an actor living and working in New York City. Before my participation in the acting workshop, I have to admit that I would actually memorize required material a day or two before auditions and perform monologues with no other preparation. I was convinced that what I was doing was perfectly fine as a method of acting, and I often wondered why my auditions felt awkward, forced, and lacking in confidence. In the workshop, I learned thorough and grueling skills for analyzing and presenting texts. I learned what it was like to give confident and effective performances of everything from contemporary to classical material. Barry compels actors to work and work hard, to get to know plays intimately. He helped me learn to let go of my ego, defensiveness, and self-destructiveness, and really get behind the work that I want to do. Because of the workshop, I have received an acting internship at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, I have well over 10 monologues that I can perform with little notice, and I no longer dread auditions that require monologues; in fact, I look forward to them, because I have analyzed the material, prepared it thoroughly, and can deliver my work with confidence. Maggie Bell magpieblueyes@yahoo.com

 

"For me the acting workshop has been as much about why to act as it is about how to act. Often, it seems, our culture cultivates needs and desires in us that are false and manipulative. Most actors don't need to act, but they desire it, and this desire is created by and filtered through the same cultural net that the rest of the world is caught in. The workshop helps you understand your desire to act, find the truth behind it, and then helps you to accept it, whatever it is. Once you've faced the truth in yourself, you are ready to face the truth of a script, a scene, a character, and in the workshop you develop the tools you need to do exactly that. If you want to act, go act! If you want to learn to be an effective actor, and understand how and why, join the acting workshop." Charles Hobby cghobby@earthlink.net

"As a coach, Barry gives every student a tremendous amount of individual attention. He familiarizes himself with exactly where a student is developmentally and works with them to overcome whatever is holding them back from doing effective work every time. I especially like the fact that any monologue or scene taken on by an actor in the workshop is worked in class until it is a solid audition piece or a piece ready for performance. Work is not simply done a few times and abandoned with the actor not fully working through the things that did not originally work in the piece. The truly unique aspect of Barry's class is his teaching of an acting technique that allows the actor to do effective work with any text. It gives the actor a way to approach the text every time that allows them to truly understand the material and present it effectively. Barry is an actor's greatest supporter and will do everything he can to improve an actor's work and ultimately how they view the craft of acting itself." Ellen Kolstö ekolsto@cmpbs.org

 

"Before working with Barry, I cheated. I scored scripts arbitrarily. Sometimes I would write down vague reasons for character actions. I got away with it because I had, or was told I had, stage presence. I didn't need to do anything more but do what comes 'naturally.' The stage is my home, so why do I need to work in my home? Wrong! Just like cleaning house, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, acting on stage requires constant cleaning of the crap we actors have accumulated through many bad years of laziness. Barry challenges everything you thought you could get away with as an actor and forces you to work. Work means effective acting, and effective acting means I am feeling good about myself and my purpose for living in a culture that typically despises actors. Barry reminds us that we are so scared of success that we trip ourselves up. He encourages us to achieve our dreams, sometimes similar to a paternal sergeant, with love, valuable criticism, passion, wit, and a deep commitment to alter this culture of distance and isolation through the universality of theater. He reminds us that actors are valuable, fragile human beings who can effectively use drama as a tool to understanding the remarkable complexity of emotions and relationships." Heather Barfield

"Barry's class isn't really a class about acting. It's really a class about facing up to who you are and all the lies you believe about yourself. So anybody who complains about Barry's class or who has an excuse for not taking it or dropping out is just a sleeper. What's interesting is that you can't act effectively if you're sleeping. Once you're awake, and paying attention to the obvious, then you can act. Your acting is on fire. You can thank Barry for that. I thank him every day (in my mind, I don't talk to him every day) for not being afraid to yell in my ear, 'Wake up! It's time to wake up, you lazy actor!'" Stephanie Towery Stephanie_Towery@yahoo.com