<p>I just stumbled upon this absolutely terrific description (on the MT forum) of the training at Atlantic Studio by the CC member and alumnus Iwishyouwell. </p>
<p>The original post can be found on the Musical Theatre forum, Musical Theatre Schools subforum, under "NYU/Tisch MT", in a thread entitled "NYU Tisch studios", post #113, date 3/19/13.</p>
<p>There is more, if you look up the post....but copied below is the gist:</p>
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*Practical Aesthetics is a great training system that you might not truly appreciate until after you leave Atlantic. The "P" in PA is basically the heart of this training; the studio is very much aimed toward equipping the students with tools that you can use as a working actor. The studio isn't bogged down in a lot of theory, conjecture, or emotionality; it's all about prepping you for being a working actor, who has enough skills to survive on an actual job. The emphasis is on helping you deliver solid, interesting performances regardless of your emotional state. It's all about freeing you from the boundaries of needing to "feel" in order to do. When you get out in the real world, nobody cares about what you "feel", only that you can deliver, and do so consistently. I transferred into NYU, and had already had a couple years under my belt as a working actor in the DC area while I was attending my former college. So the whole emphasis on practical, sound training resonated with me as being vital for the professional actor.</p>
<p>But this is not to say there aren't frustrations adapting to this method; it is not for everyone. Since most young actors are trained in some bastardized form of the Method, you can imagine this kind of approach can be jarring. More than any other acting training program at NYU, Atlantic stresses the use of the mind. There is a strong base of script analysis that weaves throughout the entire program, and a heavy emphasis on preparation and thinking. And yet, seemingly in total contrast, Atlantic teachers constant stress the importance of getting out of your head, and living intuitively, and authentically, in every moment on stage/screen. For a lot of us, the seeming contradiction played out early on with performances that were completely over-thought, emotionally distant, with a serious period of adjustment learning to both be thoughtful and purposed in analysis, but throwing all that away in actual performance. As with any training method, some swam and some drowned.
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