HOWARD MEYER’S ACTING PROGRAM ANNOUNCES CLASS OFFERINGS IN NEW PLEASANTVILLE LOCATION Ongoing, Manhattan-Level Acting Training Offered

Pleasantville, New York– Howard Meyer, founder of Howard Meyer’s Acting Program (www.hmacting.org), the educational wing of Westchester County’s critically-acclaimed professional theatre, Axial Theatre (www.axialtheatre.org), has announced the lineup of basic, intermediate and advanced acting classes at their new facility in Pleasantville for the Fall of 2005. Meyer, founder and artistic director of the not-for-profit Axial Theatre, Inc., which has been offering professional productions of new plays for the past 6 years, began offering acting technique classes for adults and teenagers 12 years ago in Northern Westchester. “We offer serious acting training to people from Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, and Fairfield Counties, who do not want to travel into Manhattan. We consider ourselves to be a New York City-caliber acting studio, and that is what we have built our success on for the past 12 years.” Meyer and actress-instructor Rachel Jones will offer classes at Axial Theatre’s and Howard Meyer’s Acting Program’s new location, 48 Wheeler Avenue in Pleasantville. Additionally, they will also begin offering ongoing classes as part of the Katonah-Lewisboro Continuing Education program.

“Truth in Creative Expression” is the founding philosophy of Howard Meyer’s Acting Program. Through an array of exercises drawn from the best theater minds of the 20th century, Meyer and Jones help students build their personal acting craft. “The intention of our instruction,” explains Meyer, “is to foster each student’s connection to their own truths and creativity and at the same time help them build a strong and repeatable technique.” Classes include individual and group exercise work, and application of the exercises to monologues and scenes from classic and contemporary plays. In-class presentations of works by students are always treated as rehearsals and explorations, not as performances that require the delivering of results.

Meyer’s excitement at having all their activities under one roof is clear: “This is the first time in our history that we have one centrally-located space to offer acting classes to teenagers and adults with beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of acting abilities, plus develop the original, professional plays of Axial Theatre. We have been holding Howard Meyer’s Acting Program for a very long time in various locations throughout Northern Westchester, and with the acquisition of one location in Pleasantville, we are now moving to the next level, and are easily accessible to every resident in every town in Westchester.”

Sponsored by Axial Theatre’s professional theatre operation, Howard Meyer’s Acting Program has an interdependent relationship with the professional playwrights and actors of the theatre company. “The benefit of having a professional theatre attached to an acting program,” explains Meyer, ”is that you can offer gifted and deserving students their first performing experiences along side of seasoned performers and writers.” For the past six years, Axial Theatre has created and presented relevant, original world premier plays in Westchester. The group was founded by Meyer in 1999 as a gathering of professional actors, directors and writers to collaboratively create original theatre material.

As a complement to the Pleasantville location, Howard Meyer’s Acting Program will offer ongoing classes through the Katonah/Lewisboro Continuing Education program at the John Jay High School in Cross River. Basic Acting Technique classes for adults will be offered in Pleasantville Mondays, 7:30 to 10:30 PM, and in Cross River Thursdays, 7:00 to 9:45 PM. Basic Acting Techniques for Teenagers will be held in Pleasantville Mondays, 5:00 to 7:00 PM, and at John Jay High School on Thursdays, 3:30 to 5:00 PM. Ongoing Intermediate Acting Technique and Scene Study classes will be offered Tuesday nights in Pleasantville, 7:30 to 10:30 PM. Advanced Acting Technique and Scene Study will be held in Pleasantville, 7:00 to 11:00 PM. Additional class offerings and workshops include Voice and Movement for Actors, Playwriting Workshops, and Acting On-Camera for TV and Commercials.

For more information, visit www.hmacting.org, call 914-962-8828, or email to info@hmacting.org