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This summer, we are offering workshops that give actors an insight into showbiz. Each workshop is designed to teach the skills any acting professional needs to make the difference between getting a callback and signing the contract. This summer, learn from professionals who have already walked the walk and join a robust community of students who will become your industry peers. Register now with an Early Bird discount of 5% off all classes with code SUMMER25N, valid through May 31.

The Business of Acting
with Fran Kirmser & Alexis Suarez
June 13, 2025
Offered by popular demand, this one-day Business of Acting workshop will give you tactics for navigating and building your professional acting career and enable you to put your focus where it matters most.

Voice Over Auditioning
with Theresa Buchheister
June 23-29, 2025
This five-session workshop covers three distinct areas of Voice Over acting: cartoon/videogame, audiobook, and commercial. With pre-selected material, you will simulate auditioning in each category and be given direction and feedback in areas which you can practice and improve your skills.

First Steps: Beginning Your Journey as an Actor
with Richard Hoehler
June 18, 2025 – July 16 & July 23, 2025 – August 20, 2025
Whether you are new to acting or have some experience, this workshop is designed for those who are interested in exploring acting as a means of expression. Specifically designed exercises, improvisations, and micro scenes and monologues ease newcomers into the craft of acting, help discover one’s true self, and foster a strong connection with others.

Audition Technique for Stage & Screen
with Pat Golden
June 13, 2025 – July 18, 2025
Audition with confidence. Perfect your audition technique for stage or screen. Learn what Directors and Casting Directors are looking for in your theatre, film or TV audition. Prepare for your next audition by learning what Industry Professionals want to see in your audition.

Online Auditions & Self Taping
with Magaly Colimon
June 16, 2025 – July 14, 2025
Casting directors and agents have made a dramatic shift to online auditions — including pre-recorded self-taped submissions and live auditions on videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom. Learn how to adapt your acting to succeed in the virtual sphere.

Take the Stage: A Musical Theater Audition Workshop
with Chris Georgetti
July 21, 2025 – August 18, 2025
This hands-on 5-week course is for anyone looking to feel more confident walking into a musical theatre audition—whether you’re totally new or getting back into the groove. Each week is designed to break down a different part of the audition process and gives you tools for every step of the way.

Live at HB Studio

Acting the Song with Lorraine Serabian
Friday, May 30 at 3:45pm
Helen Gallagher First Floor Studio, 120 Bank Street, NY
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Behind the Studio Doors: An HB Open House
Saturday, May 31at 2pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NY
Free

Singing Voice 1 with John Bowen
Sunday, June 1 at 2pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NY
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

A Conversation with Hadi Tabbal and Reza Salazar
Sunday, June 1 at 5pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NY
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Independent Study Project Lab
Tuesday, June 3 at 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NY
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

HB Studio News

Faculty News

Reza Salazar‘s The Zora Project, a series of community workshops in collaboration with Tanya Birl-Torres that honors the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston, continues at The Shed with “The Fire Dance: Exploring Zora Neale Hurston’s Lost Choreographic Works” on June 21 and “Glitter in the Dust: Exploring the Work-Song Tradition” on July 19.

Jessica Hecht was nominated for a 2025 Tony Award in the Best Featured Actress in a Play category for her role as Suzanne in Eureka Day.

Janice Orlandi will serve as Movement Director for The Other Mozart at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival from August 1-25.

Peter Francis James directs, and Charlotte Bydwell assistant directs, All’s Well That End’s Well at the Old Globe in San Diego from June 8 – July 6.

Daniel Pearce performs as Brabantio in Othello on Broadway (starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal) at the Barrymore Theatre through June 8.

Lisa Pelikan performs in Cracked Open at Theatre Row through June 28.

Alumni & Student News

Thiago Jimenez Is directing and performing in Last Queer Supper at a secret location in Brooklyn on May 24.

Amanda Peet stars in Your Friends & Neighbors, now streaming on Apple TV.

 

Volunteer for Spring Clean Up 2018!

Spring Clean up is just around the corner: April 24-27, 2018.
It’s a tradition carried on from the start of HB Studio, created by its founders — a time to give back, enrich the building where you practice, and meet other actors.

Key Students and SAs are required to volunteer for one shift, and the rest of the HB community is encouraged and invited to pitch in as well!

Please sign up for shifts here.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you there!

Casting Call for SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS

An HB Rehearsal Space Residency Project
by Vincent Parker

Rehearsals: April through May 25th.
Performance Dates: May 26th and 27th 8PM at HB Studio.
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: Recently separated Robert arrives at childhood friends’, Bill and Christine, suburban home looking for some answers. Instead of getting the answers he is looking for though, he discovers that his old friends are wrestling with a few questions of their own.

Characters: Continue reading →

Spring Weekly Classes are underway. Register Today!

Spring Term runs March 19 – June 3 (no classes April 24-29, May 28).

BROWSE CLASSES

UNION DISCOUNT:* Industry union members receive 10% OFF Spring Term Classes. To qualify, present your membership card in the registration office or email a copy to registration@hbstudio.org. To receive discount, register in person or on the phone (212-675-2370 x.1)

INTAKE AUDITION / CONSULTATIONS: Interested in our upper level classes? Audition & consult with a panel of HB’s faculty. For details and sign up info, visit Auditions & Prerequisites.

REEL SUBMISSIONS: Are you a working professional seeking a place to practice? Submit your reel for placement into our studio practice classes.

*Discounts valid for Studio Classes only; not valid for workshop offerings, full-time programs or merchandise. Discounts cannot be combined nor applied retroactively.

Financial Aid Applications Now Open for Summer Term

Applications are now being accepted for those seeking financial aid for the Summer Term. Financial aid is awarded on both merit and need. HB Studio offers two forms of financial aid:

  • Scholarships, which support partial enrollment in one studio class
  • Work study, which offers one free class in exchange for working at the studio weekly.

Application deadline: April 22, 2018

READ MORE AND APPLY

Summer Term will run 10 weeks, June 13 – August 22. Registration opens May 1.

CASTING CALL for BEE

An HB Studio & LES Shakespeare Co-Production

 LES Shakespeare and HB Studio are producing a new work this season based on Izat Erfani’s life in Langarud, Iran set in 1940’s. The focus of the work is a young woman trying to give her children more and intertwine that with the interviews from others currently in the Middle East and those that have moved to the USA.

This piece received a HB Residency last year and is now part of their 2018 Season.

Director Melody Erfani is looking for an ensemble that is creative and open to playing.

This piece will be performed by only females and will have women playing men. The ages listed are the character’s age but the actress’ age is flexible.

If interested in auditioning please email lesshakespeareco@gmail.com.

OPEN ROLES

  • Dariush (male 30-45)–husband to Izat, 20 years older than her, has internal demons and likes to be in control
  • Rahman(male 40-65)- Izat’s father, a religious man and leader in the community, kind and wise
  • Nassar(male 30’s) Izat’s second husband, reserved but kind, strives to do what is right

Auditions (by appointment):

Monday, April 9th 6.00-9.00pm
Tuesday, April 10th 6.00-9.00pm
Wednesday, April 11th 1.00-5.00pm
CALLBACKS Thursday April 12th 6.00-9.00pm

Rehearsal and Production Dates

Rehearsals from April 23-June 4th
Tech: June 5-8th
Performances:  June 8-10, 15-17, 22-24

This will be an equity showcase with a $300 stipend.

People Who Make Theater: Seeing Rape – Using Creativity to Analyze and Re-Imagine Our World

A conversation with 
Barbara Cassidy and Shonna Trinch

Monday, March 26, 7:30PM
HB Playwrights Theater | 124 Bank Street
Suggested donation: $5-$10
RSVP at hbstudio.eventbrite.com

“Seeing Rape” is a course at John Jay College of Criminal Justice taught by Shonna Trinch (a linguist) and Barbara Cassidy (a playwright) examining sexual violence across various disciplines. The students’ final projects are original short plays, from which Trinch and Cassidy choose 5-10 to be performed in the spring by professional actors.

Join Shonna and Barbara for a conversation about the work they do to foster an awareness of the power of creative visions both to analyze and re-imagine the world.

Moderated talk will be followed by a Q&A.

Continue reading →

People Who Make Theater: Intimacy on Stage, March 19

A conversation with 

Alicia Rodis, Co-Founder of Intimacy Directors International

For years Intimacy Directors have been choreographing intimate moments & advocating for consensual workspaces in the rehearsal room. In this shifting culture, Intimacy Direction is now becoming a new standard practice. Chat with Alicia Rodis, co-founder of Intimacy Directors International, whose company is at the forefront of this shift. From intimate tension to a tender embrace to full on simulated sex, a conversation of how to tell these stories safely and dynamically.


Monday, March 19 | 7:30pm
HB Playwrights Theater | 124 Bank Street
Suggested donation: $5-$10
RSVP at hbstudio.eventbrite.com

HB Celebrates Leonard Bernstein at 100

 HB CELEBRATES

An evening of songs from the musical theater works of Leonard Bernstein during the worldwide #Bernsteinat100 celebration

MONDAY, MARCH 5th at 7:00 PM

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

Leonard Bernstein – composer, conductor, educator, musician, cultural ambassador, and humanitarian – is one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century. Bernstein’s steadfast belief in the power of art to lift, transform, delight and educate was his antidote to a world full of violence and unpredictability. A charter member of HB’s Playwrights Foundation and a longtime friend to HB’s founders, HB Studio is thrilled to present this benefit evening with Broadway stars in a tribute to his work, during the worldwide #Bernsteinat100 celebration.

Featuring remarks by ALEXANDER BERNSTEIN, LONNY PRICE and the talents of Broadway stars STEPHEN DEROSA (BWAY: On the Town, Betrayal, The Nance, Hairspray, Into the Woods), STEVEN ENG (OFF BWAY: Pacific Overtures, Chee-Chee; WEST END: The King and I), MELISSA ERRICO (BWAY: Anna Karenina, My Fair Lady, High Society, Dracula, White Christmas, Amour), ALI EWOLDT  (BWAY: Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, Les Misérables), CHILINA KENNEDY (BWAY: Beautiful, Jesus Christ Superstar), TRACEY MICHAILIDIS (BWAY: Beauty and the Beast; OFF-BWAY: Ethel Sings; NAT’L TOUR: Fun Home), CARL-MICHAEL OGLE (Regional: Showboat (Citi Performing Arts Center), The Wiz (Fiddlehead Theatre Company), West Side Story(FTC), ELIZA SIMPSON (Off-Broadway: The Woodsman (59E59 Theaters), NY: The Mysteries (The Flea Theater), Kapowi Gogo (The PIT, Time Out NY Critics Pick), Three Sisters (HIT)), CHRISTINE TOY JOHNSON (BWAY: The Music Man (Revival), Grease! (Revival), Chu Chem),  and TONY YAZBECK (BWAY: Prince of Broadway, Finding Neverland, On the Town, Chicago, White Christmas, Gypsy, A Chorus Line), with musical directors MICHAEL DANSICKER (BWAY: The Times They Are A-Changin’, Piaf, Good, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Iceman Cometh, Singin’ in the Rain) and Grammy Award-winning JOHN MCDANIEL (BWAY: Bonnie and Clyde, Catch Me If You Can, Brooklyn, Annie Get Your Gun ,Taboo, Chicago, Grease, Patti LuPone on Broadway, Company). Directed by ROBERT MCQUEEN, esteemed HB faculty and Director of New Musical Development for Toronto’s Musical Stage Company. McQueen’s many directing credits include Man of La Mancha (Startford Festival), Forest Boy (NYMF), The Wild Party, Falsettos, Caroline, Or Change, The Light in the Piazza, The Magic Flute (Vancouver Opera), Hair and Pal Joey. 

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

Continue reading →