Anthony is the Artistic Director of the Bova Actors Workshop and Ionica Theater based in Times Square New York.

As the exclusive New York instructor of the Eric Morris System, Anthony teaches nationwide and is now global with workshops in Europe and Asia. Anthony is frequently requested to assist the actor on movie sets or the stage and takes much pride in having a reputation in producing highly skilled actors.

This past year Anthony created a new training offering: the Actors and Artists Goal-Setting Intensive in which he trains the actor how to identify their career goals and then create a personalized formula in obtaining their goals.

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I’ve been excited for a long time to start this blog.  It’s called Actor Traps.  It’s what the title says, traps that actors fill into and solutions.  I thought of this because it is phrase I often use in my class “watch out, you just fell in an actor trap”, (to the class) “did you see that, tell me what actor trap she fell into towards the end of the scene?”  Actor Traps will be blogged via text, video and interviews.

Keep an eye out for this blog … sign up if you’d like to receive an email when a new Actor Trap comes out.

I just came from the Twin Cities … teaching a weekend an acting weekend workshop as well as executive coaching.  WOW, what an incredible acting workshop.  Each actor came to the workshop with the courage to risk, the hunger to learn and the work ethic to dig until they foundChina.  It was kind of a “starts are aligned” type of thing.  Let me explain …   I believe there are three main components in fining the right acting training.  You can choose the order of importance, but here they are …

One, what is the methodology the instructor is teaching?  Does it resonate with you?  Does it speak to you?  Does the methodology connect with you

Two, to what level is the facilitator an expert?  As my mother once said, “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”

Three, do you trust the facilitator?  Do they get that pass to get inside your instrument to allow them to do the work that’s needed, or is the actor keeping the facilitator at arms distance?

In my experience, I’ve found that a fulfilling educational experience comes from when all three are in alignment … This weekend was exactly that.  One, the actors fully took in my methodology with no resistance.  Two, I am a Master Craftsman of my mentor’s System in which I’ve been his protégé for a quarter of a century.  Three, they ALL trusted in the process and gave me that pass to get in side without the armor actors can many times bring to their work.  They made a decision to WORK!  Congratulations to myMinnesota Actors!

We took a bunch of pictures and I will be posting them as soon as I get them as soon as I get them.

Many years ago … geez, it must have been in the mid 80s … I had this friend, a really good guy who, for the life of him, could not get a girlfriend.  I mean, he was good looking and all, just the “salt of the earth” type of guy.  Well, anyway, one day he came to me dejected yet again by another woman who had turned him down … and I asked him: ”What seems to be the problem?  You’re a good looking, caring, and sensitive guy?”  He replied, “I don’t know, Anthony, I just want to be all things to all women.” And … he was serious. 

 In my workshops I often refer to the following as the Method Actor Trap. You see it all the time. Just turn on the TV and it will invade your living-room on almost every channel. It’s actors working very hard to give the impression they are experiencing something. What they are really doing is working hard at repressing, suppressing, squelching, invalidating and redirecting every impulse they are actually experiencing, and as a result they are showing you a representative shell of the experience. It manifests in many ways. It’s usually a lot of deadpan looks into nowhere, as if something deep and mysterious is going on inside the pit of their souls.

This happens for many reasons, the following are just a few: 1. Bad training. 2. The actor has been mocked and made fun of after showing the world who they truly are, so now they package it in a way that protects themselves. 3. Some colleague or, worse off, industry professional said “less is more” and the adjustment the actor made was to ACT less. 4. The actor simply is afraid to make their statement.

Sure, the camera picks up 10 times everything you’re experiencing, and on stage you’ll have to project beyond the 100^th row. These are technical adjustments the actor needs to make to respect the medium they are in, but not at the price of excluding reality. The difference between acting natural vs. being natural is big … when you act natural what you’re doing is disconnecting from the audience. When you “act” you are keeping the audience and fellow colleagues at bay … and at a distance. When you’re BEING natural, you’re pulling the audience into your experience and creating a higher level of ensemble dependency … you’re actually listening with ease … you share a presence on stage … the lenses seems to find you more easily … directors have much more to work with.

BE … it’s where the gold is. BE.