J Marcus N. TakeLessons Instructor acting, auditioning, script analysis, Period Styles, Voice & Speech, Movement &... West Robinson Avenue, San Diego, CA

Once an Actor, Always an Actor

My family would probably tell you that I have been acting all of my life.  Once I entered school, I started to serously study acting.  After college, and before graduate school, I decided to make my living at it.  I won’t scare you with the statistics about how challenging it will be to find financial security as an actor. 

But there is also great joy in doing amateur theatre … and amateur does not mean low quality.  In fact it means, “lover,  devotee, enthusiastic pursuer of an objective.”  That is the foundation we will build on.

I was fortunate to attend the High School of Music and Art in New York City – the “Fame” School.  I found my greater strength was as an actor rather than a singer so I studied drama and speech at Syracuse University.   

As you and I work together, you will discover your personal strengths and build on them so you feel creative, confident and comfortable every time you perform.

My love of teaching, in addition to my love of theatre, brought me to the California Institute of the Arts for their master’s program in acting.  I love to tell my students about my transcendent experience at CalArts of being lost in a role – our continuing goal as we grow together.

Private Coach/Mentor

•    San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Wichita, Monterey, New Hope and New York

Scene study, text analysis, character work, monologue and audition preparation for students, amateurs and professionals at all levels.

Instructor

•    San Diego State University, San Diego, CA

Acting, scene study, voice & movement, text analysis, auditioning and character development. 

•    SDSU College of Extended Studies, San Diego, CA

"Staging Your Comeback: Acting Professionally in Amateur Theatre"

•    Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA 

Introduction to Theatre

•    MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA

Acting

Director of Educational Programs

•    Festival Theatre of California, Monterey, CA

Professional actor training program. 

 Director                                                                                                                                         

 Producer/Artistic Director, Guise Gallery Presents, San Diego, CA

Artistic Director, La Jolla Stage Co., San Diego, CA

Professional Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Solana Beach

Semi-Professional and Community Theatre, San Diego, CA

Playwrights Project

"[Mark] has been one of the most positive influences on my playwriting career and in my life in general.  He has been wonderfully generous both to me and to a horde of other young (and established) theater artists in sharing his knowledge and talent.”  Jim Knable, playwright

 "Of all the directors who have staged plays for me since 1986, none has contributed so consistently as [Mark] to the quality and growth of the Playwrights Project . . . .  He is a caring and reliable colleague, a principled man who believes deeply in the importance of theatre in a civilized world."  Deborah Salzer, Founding Director

 Education                                                                                                                          

Master of Fine Arts, Acting, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA

Bachelor of Science, Speech and Dramatic Arts, Syracuse University

 Vocal Music, High School of Music and Art, New York, NY

 Credentials                                                                                                                                  

Instructor

Theatre Arts and Related Technologies, California Community Colleges

Member

      Actors' Equity Association                                           Screen Actors Guild

Actors will learn to more easily access your "instrument" - your voice and your body.  You will learn to use relaxation & breathing techniques and exercises in both memory & sensory exploration.

As you select and prepare audition material, you will explore those parts of you that can best bring the character to live.

Techniques you may use inlcude improvisation, mime, clown, T'ai Chi Ch'uan, tongue twisters and memorization.

You may bring your work on a role you are already cast in and we will work on it together - as long as we are on the same page as your director.

You will learn how to read a script and interpret the text and period styles when appropriate.

Advanced students can also work on camera technique for film and commercials.

Improvisation, classic "Method", a little bit of clown and mime work

acting, auditioning, script analysis, Period Styles, Voice & Speech, Movement & relaxation, directing, playwriting