Training with Fiasco
Joy. Empowerment. Rigorous Text Work. Access.
Since our founding in 2009, Fiasco Theater has had a dual-part mission —
equally valuing both artistic productions for audiences alongside education programs
that provide exemplary classical training and give actors agency and access
in what is, traditionally, a hierarchical and exclusionary system.
The three founding co-artistic directors of Fiasco met as actors in graduate school, and found a shared passion for examining how actor training and collaboration can work best, and what makes for effective and exciting rehearsal. As a company, we began this work with the Free Training Initiative – a 3-week, part-time program we offered annually (until the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic) and with workshops and masterclasses ranging from a day to a week or more. In 2019, we began offering full-time training via the 6 Week Conservatory, which offered a robust financial aid program to all with need and allowed any early-career actor to apply without an application fee. We are thrilled to be offering the 9 Week Conservatory now, and eventually plan to expand the conservatory into a 1-year program.
The Conservatory
Fiasco’s Conservatory offers a cohort of emerging artists and early career professional actors the opportunity to learn from our Artistic Directors, Teaching Artists, and special guests, full time.
CURRICULUM: During Phase I of The Conservatory (6-9 weeks), students study with highly-qualified faculty in Voice, Clown, Text-work, Scene study, ensemble rehearsal, dance and yoga on a weekly class schedule. In Phase II, they will rehearse two plays for 3 weeks, which culminate in performances the final weekend.
SCHEDULE: Full-time for 6, 9, or 12 weeks | Monday thru Friday 9am – 6 PM ET
FACULTY: Approximately 10+ Faculty Members, composed of Fiasco Theater’s Artistic Directors, Company Members, Teaching Artists, and special guestsFINANCIAL AID: Available! In 2022, 100% of accepted applicants who applied for financial aid received scholarships that ranged from 20 to 90 percent of the full tuition cost. In addition to financial aid, there are also two work-study positions available for the 2023 program.
NEXT CONSERVATORY:
Projected for Fall 2024
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, as well as funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Free Training Initiative (FTI)
Fiasco’s Free Training Initiative offers a cohort of professional artists a 3-week, part-time, classical acting intensive, offered completely free of charge.
CURRICULUM:
SCHEDULE: Part-time for 3 weeks | 3 days per week for 3-4 hours
FACULTY: 2 Teachers, typically 1 of Fiasco Theater’s Artistic Directors and 1 Company Member
FINANCIAL AID: This program is free!
Please note: FTI is intended for artists who have not trained with Fiasco previously via the Conservatory
or 3-week FTI Program
Fiasco Theater is dedicated to building an equitable environment that is mixed across lines of difference and strongly encourages applications from Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, transgender and non-binary candidates, as well as from persons with disabilities. Applicants from populations underrepresented in the theater field are strongly encouraged to apply.
Please note: each Conservatory and Free Training Initiative is unique — the curriculum and schedule responds to the interests and needs of our community. This information is subject to change.
WHAT MAKES TRAINING WITH FIASCO UNIQUE?
In Fiasco’s actor-driven, text-centric approach to rehearsing and making theater, students learn to create a rehearsal process that centers their joy and maximizes their artistic agency.
1) Rigorous Text Work. Building on our own training and Fiasco’s decade of work with Royal Shakespeare Company’s Cicely Berry and Andrew Wade, we give students tools to create unique performances based on the rhythm, sound, and meaning in Shakespeare’s language, as well as applying these same tools to modern texts, particularly those written by women and writers of color.
2) Empowerment. Plays are made in the rehearsal room. But most acting classes assign students to rehearse on their own and then evaluate the performance they bring back. This is product-oriented and skips the process, which is the actor’s entire job. We give students the tools to know when they are rehearsing in the most dynamic, powerful, personal way possible. This puts them in charge of their process and gives them agency as artists.
3) Access. The current business model for training in NYC often places a severe financial burden on students. We endeavor to make excellent training available to all talented, passionate students, not just those privileged to afford it.
4) Joy. The current culture of training actors has long insinuated that making art means either suffering or starving. We reject this. Pleasure is a key component to us – it matters as much as skill and technique in order to create joy for an audience and to sustain a life as an artist. And joy is tangibly linked to our priority of affordability and access. It is impossible to pursue growth through joy if being in class means you cannot pay your rent.
5) The people. Our core faculty have studied at the highest level in their fields and have all been actors in Fiasco productions, so understand and appreciate our approach. Students have the opportunity to see faculty perform in Fiasco productions/readings (for free) - a unique opportunity to see teachers put beliefs into practice, and to engage in dialogue between teachers and students as fellow artists, mutually learning from one another.
TESTIMONIALS
“I would 100% recommend this program. The joy and pleasure that you will find in the material combined with the rigorous attention to that pursuit is unmatched in any other class I’ve ever taken.”
— 2019 6 Week Conservatory Student
“ It felt like artists collaborating with other artists and I’ve never been through a program quite like that. The personalized attention made this program above and beyond fantastic. I felt seen as a performer AND a person. Actually, a person first.”
— 2019 6 Week Conservatory Student
“I have never felt so welcomed and then challenged artistically in a class. You all have set the bar for any future class I take!”
— Master Class Student
“I walked away with clear techniques and reminders that I can carry into my auditions, & yet I did not feel as if it was a "product-based" class, but rather one that encouraged growth, active listening, play, etc.”
— Master Class Student
MEET & HEAR FROM ALUMNI!
On September 13, 2022, Fiasco held a Zoom Q&A panel with faculty and alumni from our 2019 and 2022 Conservatories.
2019 6 Week Conservatory Alumni & Faculty
Photo by Emma Dickson