MC² Actors Studio's Spine

MC² Actors Studio's Spine

by Mario A. Campanaro

Talent is a very precious gift that can only take us as far as we are willing to cultivate it, nurture it, invest in it, and put it to good use. Because of the creative mentors I was surrounded by in my formative years, I adopted the philosophy that an artist’s talent can only take them as far as the professional accountability they maintain to do something remarkable with it. There are not many professional acting jobs where the actor is not expected to come in well-prepared to do the work they were hired and are being paid to do. So why in the world would an actor ever train without the intent of meeting those same professional demands?

At MC² Actors Studio, we believe that when an actor commits to training at our studio, they must always hold the intention of training, studying, exercising, and doing the work with the same accountability, commitment, work ethic, investment, responsibility, respect, professionalism, high standards, skill, consistency, and rigor that the professional world expects and demands. There is no point in training, studying, exercising, and doing the work unless what is being learned, exercised, and cultivated is applicable for the professional actor to do professional work when professional opportunities arise.

Whether in person or online, our studio sets a very high standard for our training program and what we offer all of our students. Our instructors use their powerfully effective and intuitive individual teaching styles in combination with the ingenious methods of Stanislavski, Hagen, Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, Chekhov, Freedman, Linklater, Rosenburg, and Alexander.

All MC² Actors Studio classes are structured for the professionally oriented actor. We are excited about working with diverse, professionally minded actors who are passionate about nurturing their talent and committed to the craft of acting. All ensemble members are invited to study at the studio based on a New Ensemble Member Studio Entry Enrollment Interview. The interview consists of a conversation with one of our masterclass teachers to learn about the prospective ensemble member’s background, training, and relationship to the work before receiving an invitation into one of our ensembles and to study at the studio. There is also the opportunity during the interview process for the prospective ensemble member to ask any questions they may have about the studio, its approach to the work, and the expectations as an invited ongoing MC² Actors Studio ensemble member.

MC² Actors Studio LA | NYC | LDN is always excited to welcome and work with diverse actors who are passionately and professionally committed to learning, growing, training, studying, and exercising the craft, creative process, and art form of acting. Since we are an ensemble-oriented acting studio, it is crucial for talent, creativity, focus, discipline, inclusivity, community, support, generosity, exploration, discovery, open-mindedness, and safety to be the backbone of each group and every class.

The essence of an ensemble is for a group of actors to come together to grow and support each other’s successes as well as struggles. Without that support, it no longer becomes a safe creative environment—it becomes an unproductive, competitive one. This is how I was trained—as were many of our industry’s most respected artists on stage and screen.

Studying, training, and working in an ensemble is truly a powerful way to grow and cultivate one’s craft. That kind of community not only holds remarkable value in the studio environment, but it also inevitably extends professionally and socially into the real world. That’s the whole point. The nature of what we do is all about connection and human relationships within this rollercoaster of a journey we call Life… all of which creates the need and purpose for stories.

Many years ago, I gave masterclass lecture on the “spine” of an ensemble:

“You will always ‘know’ your creative tribe when you can live your most authentic, genuine Self in each other’s presence. You will never feel alone and never walk away feeling lonely. There will always be a willing generosity of Spirit. There will always be an undeniable human-to-human connection. There will always be a desire to share something deep and real.

There are many factors that magnetize us to that creative tribe. There is the love of art. There is the gift and blessing of talent. There is the joy of creation. There is the hunger for exploration. There is the fearlessness of struggle. There is the excitement of discovery. There is the passion for revealing. There is an openness for expression. There is the desire for investigation that stimulates human understanding, empathy, and compassion. There is the unquenched thirst of unceasing curiosity. And there is the delicious appetite for transformational story(living)telling.

And it is sometimes through the unexpected dark moments and inexplicable circumstances that guide us and/or lead us to that creative tribe. Those same circumstances that we may think are causing us to crumble and break our heart and Spirit are the same circumstances that actually break our heart open and allow our Spirit to be In-Spirited (inspired)—opening our mind, body, and soul, and awakening us to something greater than we could have ever imagined. Those same circumstances very often pave the path to our greatest purpose and potential.

All human beings, at some point, will own a story of hardship. That is part of the human experience. But within all that hardship also lives an individual and universal story of how hardship paved an unexpected path to resilience, perseverance, growth, inner strength, compassion, insight, understanding, creative inspiration, and connection with others who can gather and say:

‘Yes, I know. Me as well. I see you. I understand. Let’s not let it be in vain. Let’s do something remarkable with it all!’

And so we find our tribe. Or our tribe finds us… A tribe that meets through the most unlikely—and yet, likely—of circumstances… A tribe that is generous in knowledge, creativity, heart, compassion, passion, love, support, kinship, responsibility, accountability, talent, and Spirit.

And because of those circumstances, we recognize, see, understand, care for, support, and even love each other—from one artist to another… from one actor to another… from one human to another. That is the purpose and magic of an ensemble!

Together we learn, explore, discover, grow, expand, struggle, break through, succeed, share, give, make art, tell and live stories, and reveal the full color wheel of the human condition.

And together we hold onto the fact that once we make it out of the many fires that exist within the professional artistic/creative and human obstacles/trials/tribulations… there will be—and is—beauty within the ashes that result in our life’s greatest contributions!

So many of us, in times of solitude, community, celebration, and even during our darkest of hours, are spending much of our time being moved by actors, in our homes or other venues where the actor’s work lives. This is why we must take our work (acting) seriously and with responsibility.

The actor can’t forget what they do… why they do it… and what it serves. It is a rite. It is a responsibility. It is a gift. And it matters!

Our darkest moments will be the greatest inspiration for our most important artistic endeavors and creations."

Actors who have that professional and artistic standard, purpose, and outlook—those are the actors and artists we love to work with at our studio. All actors are placed into a specific ensemble based on their studio entry interview. Each ensemble is carefully assembled based on the actor’s background, experience, skill, training, and professional objectives. This ensures that each class is working at a congruent level, allowing for forward momentum as the work and ensemble progresses.

Once each ensemble is formed, that specific group comes together each week to wholeheartedly cultivate and strengthen the craft and all aspects of what an actor’s work demands. Actors are paired by their specific instructor and are then asked to choose or are assigned a scene or exercise that excites, stimulates, and challenges their instrument. Scene work will always be from a well-written play that is age-appropriate, well-characterized, and contains a multitude of stakes and challenges within the circumstances.

Actors receive their scene partner, assignments, and/or acting exercises two weeks before their first class on that specific text. Each group is then required to do all necessary work on their scene or exercise. That includes all text analysis, breakdown of given circumstances, becoming grounded in the character’s spine/through-line/super-objective, identifying the action of the scene, formulating actable objectives, identifying obstacles, understanding intentions, viscerally endowing the stakes/relationships/objects/environment, creating environment, making strong and specific physical/vocal/psychological/emotional choices, choosing appropriate character attire—and then marrying all that work with personalization, imagery, substitution, emotional recall, “as ifs”—all the crucial endowment work for all of the aforementioned. In other words, any and all necessary steps an actor must implement to bring a given text to life.

Actors must significantly rehearse their scene or exercise with their partner(s) before getting up into the space to get the most out of their time. This is to test the work the actor has done on their own and, more importantly, trust it—to live and experience what that work has done for their instrument in relation to the circumstances within the unknown of the moment with their partner(s). It is required for all scenes to be off-book for the first week. Actors remain with their scene partner(s), exploring the world of each assigned play and scene for four weeks. Each ensemble’s class meets once a week, and each class is four and a half to five hours long.

In our online classes, we implement the use of green screens for all scene work so that our ensemble members continue to explore environment in a new and exciting way, while also developing this necessary skill for the increasingly digital/CGI-driven film and television mediums. The camera never lies, and with close-ups in mind (or even a self-tape), it demands that the actor fully endow the utmost truth and authenticity within all the givens of the text and the unknown of each and every moment. It challenges the actor to go deeper and deeper in order to honestly reveal the life of the givens through their one-of-a-kind instrument.

When the actor truly begins to understand the craft of acting in a visceral, practical, tangible, executable, HUMAN way—and how it mirrors the way we humans live in this beautifully complex thing we call LIFE—they can begin to experience the delicious breath of freedom it provides.

Craft is meant to free the actor so they can truly live moment to unknown moment circumstantially. The craft of acting provides the ability to be CONSISTENT in the work. That consistency supports the actor’s ability to truly listen through the filter of the character’s wants and needs and, therefore, have stimulated, justified, circumstantial responses, reactions, instincts, impulses, and spontaneity within the gap of the moment.

Craft allows for the actor’s talent to be married to skill. The actor’s skill makes it possible for their instrument to experience the freedom of living the character’s life as it unfolds moment to unknown moment—as opposed to hoping and white-knuckling onto luck that it will all go well and the magic might happen.

The craft of acting provides the backbone of confidence for the actor to know like they know like they know that it will go well each and every night or each and every take—because the actor’s endowed skill fully supports the work and provides the security to truly live moment to unknown moment as a given story and its circumstances unfold.

When the actor really experiences that kind of freedom in the work, the initial passion, love, and inner joy that attracted them to this glorious art form—The Craft of Acting—inevitably grows stronger and brighter.

That’s what craft does. But it is a craft. It is a skill. It is a profession—one that demands constant learning, exploration, discovery, experience, growth, and evolution… just as this beautifully complex thing we call LIFE does.

Copyright © 2025 Mario A. Campanaro, All rights reserved."