Joyful Acting With Ralf!

Joyful Acting With Ralf!

5.0Exceptional(6 reviews)

About

My work is unique because I don't believe one learns to act. We are born learning to act, but adulthood can make us forget. We don't learn to act, we remember.

I love giving people permission to feel stupid, which is where most joy lives, and I feel is 80% of the job of being an actor, I love helping actors to learn to identify and solve storytelling challenges, and I love introducing actors to their silly, openhearted, uninhibited side.


Highlights

1 employee
9 years in business
Serves Brooklyn , NY

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  • Reviews

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    J

    Jones

    Ralf is super attentive to his students and is really good at explaining any idea to any kind of person! He really knows his stuff, and hes really funny. He always made me want to learn more and push myself. Definitely super good teacher.
    ... Show more
    June 29, 2018

    MB

    Marianne B.

    I have worked with Ralf as a fellow teacher, and as a actor under his direction. Ralf brings years of training and experience to his teaching, meeting the student at her level of comfort, while challenging her to push beyond it. He is creative, energetic and committed to his students and all that he does.
    ... Show more
    June 26, 2018

    KP

    Kita P.

    Ralf is holistically invested in art and creation. He brings that to the table every time. Whether he is teaching or doing, I think the biggest takeaway is how invested he is to making the art be a vulnerable reflection of the world and/or himself. Lastly, he knows the language when it comes to the sensitivity of someone learning the craft and trying to be free within their art.
    ... Show more
    June 26, 2018

    JK

    Jonathan K.

    He gives his entire focus, knowledge and creative ability to you and treats the work with extreme care and investment. His passion is an immeasurable value for anyones artistic growth.
    ... Show more
    June 25, 2018

    AS

    Adam S.

    Ralf was really good at helping me work through my weaknesses while at the same time helping me realize my strengths as an actor. I felt the part I was working on was well outside my wheelhouse but Ralf did a great job at helping me be comfortable doing something I’d never done before.
    ... Show more
    November 01, 2016

    TD

    Tom D.

    Ralf is a talented, genuine, and fearless person that inspires others to be the same. He is also incredibly supportive and brings out the best in people.
    ... Show more
    November 01, 2016

    Frequently asked questions

    I talk to the student about the kind of work they are interested in, what kind of work inspires them, what makes them laugh, so we can find common a language.

    Then we ease into games games that get them okay with feeling silly, which is essential to acting. Next we begin to break down whatever piece we are working on into what's fun, what's funny, or unusual about that piece, and use that as a doorway to explore the piece in depth. 

    I started acting when I took an improv class in high school. I received a BFA in Performing Arts from Savannah College of Art & Design, apprenticed with renowned clown performer, Eric Davis, and studied with Yale Physical Acting & Clowning teacher, Christopher Bayes. I completed programs at The People's Improv Theater, and Dance New Amsterdam. 

    I charge each student $70 per hr for my services, but I'll offer a discounted rate.

    I started teaching in 2006 when I came on as assistant director for Savannah's AWOL Inc. youth theater program. In this program which focused on arts education and mentorship for at-risk youth, I helped create material and direct the students in their devised theater revue.

    Currently I teach improv comedy, clown, devised theater, and Shakespearean acting at Brooklyn College to their BA's and BFA's and I teach clown at Columbia University MFA.

    I’ve taught as an drama teacher in NYC public school afterschool programs, for Educational Alliance, The Leadership Program, Puppetry In Practice, CUNY Creative Arts team. These were inner-city students from New York, NY, including many to whom english was a second language. Some of my students have been at-risk youth from tough background. I also work as an acting coach and an improv coach.

    I recently did a successful run of my one-man show ”What Should Be the Fear” in Savannah, GA. The show chronicles true story of my year long tour of the United States on my bicycle, performing solo Shakespeare on the streets. My collaborator and I have been laboring over this project for seven years. People responded really strongly to it, and we are very proud of it.

    New York is a deceptively tough place to find an acting teacher because teacher-student relationships tend to become a bit co-dependent over time. I think there is a new approach that is less self-serious, that takes into account the new ways that actors work, the change in our tastes, our senses of humor, and our relationship to media. I’d advise you to work with a teacher who is firm, but builds you up, not tears you down. No one teacher is going to make or break you. It’s up to you to decide how far you are willing to go.

    What are your goals? What is your timeline? How willing are you to fail? What makes you laugh really hard? 


    Services offered

    Acting