How to Choose an Acting Class (and Spot One That Isn’t Worth Your Money)

You’ve saved up, you’ve narrowed it down to three studios, and every website says the same thing: transformative, professional, the place working actors train. One has a famous name on the door. One is cheaper. One promises that an agent sits in on the showcase. You have no idea how to tell them apart, and the class you pick will take your Tuesday nights and a real chunk of your money for months.

Most actors choose the way you’d expect: a friend’s recommendation, a well-known teacher, a studio that comes up first in a search. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it lands you in an overcrowded room where you get up once a month, or with a teacher whose real skill is making the class feel good about itself.

The short version: decide what kind of class you need before you look at studios, watch a class before you pay for it whenever you can, and judge the room on what happens to the actors who get up, not on the teacher’s credits or the promises in the brochure. Then use the class well, because the work you do between sessions is what you’re paying the teacher to improve.

Decide what kind of class you need first

“Acting class” covers several very different things, and the right studio teaching the wrong thing is still the wrong class. Names vary from school to school, but most classes fall into a few types:

• Technique classes teach a way of working that you can use on any script: Meisner, Stanislavski-based work, Uta Hagen’s exercises, Michael Chekhov, and so on. They’re usually built as a sequence over months, and they’re the usual starting point for beginners. To try one Chekhov tool at home first, see our guide to the psychological gesture.
• Scene study classes give you a partner and a scene from a play or film, you rehearse it outside class, perform it, and get notes. They assume you already have some way of working.
• On-camera classes teach what changes when the lens is close: smaller physical choices, eyelines, hitting a mark, staying consistent take to take.
• Audition technique and cold reading classes train the specific skill of walking in with little preparation and making clear choices fast.
• Improv trains listening, saying yes, and staying loose, and many actors take it alongside one of the others.

A rough rule: if you’ve never trained, start with technique. If you’ve trained but you freeze in the room, look at audition technique. If you’ve only done theater and you’re getting screen auditions, add on-camera. If you’re already working and want to keep sharp, scene study keeps you rehearsing real material with feedback.

If you’re curious what a technique class actually feels like from the inside, our guide to the Meisner repetition exercise walks through a standard early exercise in Meisner training.

Audit before you pay

An audit means sitting in on a regular class as an observer. It’s one of the most useful things you can do before you pay, and many studios offer one. Backstage’s guide to what to look for when auditing an acting class suggests auditing at least three teachers before you choose, and warns that the rules vary: some schools don’t allow audits, some charge for them, and some limit which classes you can watch. Ask which of those applies before you book.

A school that won’t let you watch any class at all, with any teacher, is asking you to buy something you can’t see. That isn’t proof of anything bad, but it puts every other question on this page under more pressure. At the very least, ask to talk to a current student before you pay.

Where you can, watch the class you would actually be in, on the night you’d actually attend. A showcase class or a master’s open session tells you very little about a Tuesday-night level-one group.

What to watch for while you’re in the room

Sit near the back, keep your phone away, and take notes on what happens, not how you feel about the teacher’s charisma. Here’s what to track:

1. Count how many actors get up. Write down how many people are enrolled and how many work tonight. If only a few of them perform, ask how often each student works. An acting coach writing in Backstage on red flags when selecting an acting class warns that in an overcrowded class you might get up once every four weeks, and the teacher may not know your name.
2. Watch what happens after each scene. Does the actor get a specific note, try it again, and get better in front of you? That’s the class working. Applause and “great work” with nothing specific is a warning sign. In his Backstage list of red flags when auditing acting classes, Joseph Pearlman puts a teacher who never gives real critique at the top.
3. Listen for teaching, not just directing. A director tells you what to do in this scene. A teacher also tells you why, in terms you could use on the next script without them. If every note is “faster” or “angrier,” you’re paying for direction.
4. Notice how mistakes are treated. Firm, honest notes are good. Mocking, humiliating, or playing favorites is not. The coach behind the Backstage piece on selecting a class lists bullying or belittling students among the red flags.
5. Watch the students who aren’t up. Are they paying attention, or scrolling? A class that watches each other closely learns twice: once on their feet and once in their seats.

Questions to ask before you pay

After the audit, ask to talk to whoever handles enrollment, or the teacher if they have a minute. You don’t need to be pushy. A good studio has heard all of these before and will answer plainly.

• How many students are in the class, and does it ever go above that number? Class size is one of the questions Backstage suggests putting to a studio in its piece on questions to ask about a potential acting class.
• How often will I work in front of the class, and how long will I be up each time?
• Who teaches this level, every week? Is it the person on the website, or an assistant?
• How are scene partners assigned, and what happens if mine doesn’t prepare?
• What’s the full cost, including showcases, materials, or required extra sessions, and what’s the refund or make-up policy if I miss a week?
• Can I talk to a current student? Then actually talk to one, ideally away from the front desk.

The scene-partner question matters more than it sounds. In scene study, half your scene rides on someone else’s preparation. The acting coach behind the Backstage piece on selecting a class lists forced partnering among the red flags: it lets a teacher pack the room, and a partner who doesn’t do the work can sink your scene. A studio with a clear answer, like rotating partners or letting you swap after a missed rehearsal, has thought about it.

Red flags that mean keep your money

Some warning signs are about teaching quality. Others are about whether you’re in a class at all, or a sales pitch dressed up as one.

• Promises of representation or work. No class can promise you an agent, a role, or a career. A teacher can make you better. A sales page that sells outcomes is selling something else.
• Pressure to sign today. Limited-time discounts, “only two spots left” at the end of a free intro session, or a contract before you’ve seen a real class.
• An agent or manager who makes you pay for a class before they’ll represent you. This one has a history. As a Screen Actors Guild news item on SB 1687 describes, scammers in California kept charging up-front fees for acting classes and photos, so in 2004 a bill co-sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild widened the state’s definition of an advance fee to cover goods or services bought to get representation. A recommendation is fine. A class you must buy before someone will represent you is not.
• Paying mainly to be seen. A workshop where you perform for a casting director can still be a real class with real teaching. Where the line falls in California is the money for access: the 2009 Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act, AB 1319, was written to stop workshops and casting directors from charging an actor for an audition or a job opportunity, as the Assembly’s analysis of the bill describes. In 2017, Backstage reported that the Los Angeles City Attorney filed criminal charges against five casting workshops and 28 people tied to them. If the main thing you’re buying is a chance to be in front of someone who casts, it’s worth asking whether it’s a class at all.
• Credits you can’t check. Look up the teacher’s credits yourself. A teacher doesn’t need to be famous, but the claims on the website should be true.

None of this means a studio with a showcase or a guest casting director is a scam. It means the teaching should be the product, and everything else should be extra.

Price, schedule, and the class you’ll actually keep going to

The best class on paper is useless if you quit in week five. Be honest about the schedule you can hold, the commute you’ll still make in winter, and the price you can pay without resenting it. A good class that you attend every week beats a brilliant one you keep missing.

Think in terms of cost per time on your feet. A cheaper class where you work every week can be better value than an expensive one where you mostly watch. Ask your questions with that sum in mind.

Also check how the class handles beginners and returning actors. Some studios place you by level after an interview or a short audition; others put everyone together. Neither is wrong, but you want to know before you’re the only person in the room who has never heard of an objective.

Get your money’s worth between classes

A class meets for a few hours a week. The rest happens at home: breaking down your scene, learning the lines, rehearsing with your partner. Teachers notice fast who did that work and who’s still on the page, and the notes you get are only as useful as the preparation you bring.

So treat each assignment like a small job:

• Read the whole play or episode, not just your scene. Our guide to breaking down a script shows what to look for.
• Be off book by your first run in class, so the teacher can give notes on the acting, not the paper.
• Schedule rehearsals with your partner early, and run lines on your own in between.
• Write down every note you get, then try it at home before the next session.

Running lines alone is hard when there’s no one to read the other part. Offbook can read them for you: upload your scene and pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character while Offbook listens and plays the next cue when you finish your line. When you’re close, hide your lines while everyone else’s stay visible.

For more on keeping your skills moving outside the studio, see how to practice acting at home, and look for new scene material in our library of public-domain plays and monologues.

Questions actors ask

Are acting classes worth it?

A good one is, if it gets you on your feet often and gives you specific notes you can carry to the next script. A class is not worth it if you mostly watch, get vague praise, or are paying for access to people who cast instead of for teaching.

Should I take an online acting class?

Online classes work well for on-camera and self-tape skills, since the camera is the point. Scene work with a partner in the room is harder to replace. The same audit rule applies: watch a live session before you pay.

How long should I stay in one class?

Long enough to learn the teacher’s way of working and see real change in your work, which for a technique sequence is usually its full length. If you’ve stopped getting notes you haven’t heard before, it may be time to add a different kind of class.

What if I’ve already paid and the class is bad?

Read the refund and transfer policy, then ask. Some studios will move you to another teacher or level rather than lose you. If it’s a contract you were pressured into, or a fee tied to representation, keep copies of everything.

Do I need a class to get an agent?

Training doesn’t buy you representation, and no legitimate class promises it. What it gives you is better work in the room. Our guide on getting an agent with no experience covers what agents actually look at.