Why Not Start Your Own School?

“Let each man take the path according to his capacity, understanding and temperament. His true guru will meet him along that path.”

― Sivananda Saraswati

I received a truly surprising email from blog reader that I had to share with you guys….

Hi Virginia,

I discovered your blog years ago when I was applying for grad school and found it to be so helpful and inspiring. Thank you for putting so much energy into helping others navigate the process - the ups and the downs. I've had a rollercoaster adventure applying to graduate schools and getting accepted and deciding that I wasn't being offered the training that I felt I needed. So, I actually started an advanced actor training center and I've been hiring master teachers like Olympia Dukakis and Jim Calder. I have some stuff planned for the winter, mostly with Jim Calder and Janet Zarish. I know we haven't met, but I do feel strangely like I know you! The website for the school is www.thenewyorkdramacenter.com. Hope all is well with you!

xx Devin

Wowie! Wow! Wow!

After having an incredibly inspiring Skype conversation with Devin, I was compelled to write to you all and tell you about her. Hopefully we can all learn from Devin’s process and be motivated to think about how we can choose to make things happen for ourselves!

Let me just name a few of the AMAZING things that I see this woman Devin doing....

1. She applied to grad school for acting. Which shows me she’s following her dream. She’s committed to honing her craft. She’s interested in getting great training and is willing to jump through any necessary hoops in order to become her best actor self.
   
   
2. She got accepted to grad school and had a level of self-awareness to notice that she wasn’t being offered the training that she felt she needed! This is awesome to have this level of self-awareness. She’s not blaming anyone or making the school out to be “wrong” or inferior. She’s just noticing that she had an expectation that wasn’t being met and that for her to get the training that she desired, that that school wasn’t the place for her to do it. BOOOOOM! That’s HUGE! Because now, she can take ACTION.
   
   
3. The action that she took was totally courageous and incredibly smart. She STARTED HER OWN SCHOOL.

WHHHHHHaaaaaaaat????!!!!  (I know! Isn’t that incredible!?)

I am super impressed by this. She decided that there are certain teachers that she’d really like to work with and some of them teach at different schools and many of them are in NYC. So why not just hire them to come and teach a class? And if Devin would like to work with a teacher like Jim Calder, Olympia Dukakis or Janet Zarish without paying $60,000 a year to an educational institution, then I imagine there might be a lot of other actors that would love to do the same.

How about you? Are you in the New York area? Jaded by how difficult it is to get accepted to one of the “elite” acting schools? Would you like to cut all the application bullshit, save a ton of time and money, and have the INCREDIBLY UNIQUE opportunity to work with one of the (arguably) best acting teachers in the USA? Well here is your chance...if you want it. Check out the classes available at thenewyorkdramacenter.com and see if it might be a good fit for you. Take a risk. You won’t know until you try. Please reach out to Devin at devin.shacket@gmail.com if you have questions.  

She is not making any money on the school (yet). This isn’t about that anyway. This is about creating opportunity. Creating opportunity for YOU to grow, for YOU to train, for YOU to work with a master teacher and soak up the years of skill and care that he’s put into developing his craft as an artist and a human. You can’t put a price on that kind of experiential learning (only she did and it’s super affordable). Stepping into this class could literally transform your life. One on one feedback on your work from Jim Calder and Janet Zarish!????!!! That could be everything! If you let yourself be impacted and open yourself up and dive deep into the training, you could be transformed.

I hope you’ll check out The New York Drama Center for your own sake and share it with a friend for their sake. And thank you to Devin for being a super courageous artist and fire-starter! You are being a great example to us all...If the system isn’t supporting your dreams or visions for your life...Go around the system. Be creative. Make your own opportunities. If life doesn’t throw you the lemons you want, then mix your own brand of lemonade, with a twist of courage!

Drink deep. This is your one and only one life.

Onward!

Virginia

P.S. Just to be perfectly transparent. I am not a sponsor or anything. I’m not making any money by posting this. I really believe in what Devin is doing. And I want to support her and her mission by spreading the word.

P.P.S. Wishing YOU major success in this life.