HB Studio
Overview
HB Studio, an NCCRS member since August 2017, was founded by Viennese actor/director Herbert Berghof in 1945. HB Studio is one of the original New York acting studios, providing training and practice in the dramatic arts. We are a nonprofit organization that supports vigorous, lifelong practice in the theater, based on a solid foundation of practical training. The celebrated actress Uta Hagen joined Berghof as his partner at the Studio soon after it began and continued to lead the Studio as master teacher until her death in 2004. Hagen’s internationally celebrated books RESPECT FOR ACTING and A CHALLENGE FOR THE ACTOR are used worldwide and set the standard for the HB approach to acting. HB is open to any person with a serious interest in the theater and its related disciplines. Students may select from our menu of weekly studio classes and workshops, or apply for the integrated intensive training programs of The Uta Hagen Institute: The Hagen Core Training, The Hagen Summer Intensive, and The Hagen Teacher’s Lab.
NCCRS has evaluated the year-long intensive, The Hagen Core Training Program:
The Uta Hagen Institute at HB Studio offers full-time immersion in the practical approach to acting craft that characterized Uta Hagen’s legendary master classes and classic acting texts. The full-time year long Hagen Core Training Program is a highly structured, integrated course for students with serious professional and artistic intent. Students will leave this program with practical skills and technique, greater powers of self-observation, clarity about what the actor’s work entails, and an understanding of how to approach that work with confidence. Taught by world-class faculty/practitioners, this program offers an integrated progressive curriculum of essential classes: Acting Technique, Scene Study, Script Analysis, Movement, Alexander Technique, Voice and Speech.
Students must enroll in the entire full-time program, which meets over 32 weeks (3 terms), Mondays - Fridays, 9:30am - 3:30pm. An application must be submitted for admittance to the program.
Students and admissions representatives please note: NCCRS does not provide transcripts. Transcript requests and inquiries should be directed to the organization offering the courses, examinations or apprenticeship. See the Source of Official Student Records in the sidebar near the top right side of this page.
Source of Official Student Records
Titles of all evaluated learning experiences
Course Categories
Descriptions and credit recommendations for all evaluated learning experiences
The Hagen Core Training Program
106 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: examine and apply in rehearsal and performance Uta Hagen’s “Six Steps” from her book ”A Challenge for the Actor”; demonstrate successful use in rehearsal and performance of the following concepts: outer objects, inner objects, objectives, obstacles, and preceding circumstances; demonstrate use of “actions” – employing them as motivated choices, both physical and verbal – to further the character’s ends and fulfill the play’s narrative; demonstrate an ability to live truthfully on stage under imagined circumstances within a created environment, use personal frames of reference as a testing ground; develop and take part in their own disciplined professional process; utilize collaborative skills through paired work, scene study and ensemble experience.
This is an immersive classroom based course. Major topics include: Uta Hagen’s object exercises, Uta Hagen’s ‘Six Steps’, self-study, preparation and rehearsal, ensemble experience, and the essential working process of the actor. Each step extends and expands the actor’s physical, verbal and emotional capacity. Students become more astute in analyzing and presenting the circumstances of a scene. The basic skills, craft and responsibilities of the actor in the professional rehearsal process for a role are defined and practiced.
In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category OR in the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 7 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
112 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: discuss and demonstrate a practical and theoretical knowledge of the principles and practices of the Alexander Technique, including an expanded sensory awareness and attention to habits in daily activity; explain and discuss basic anatomy of the musculoskeletal systems, how joints work and how to handle challenging movement without physical strain; adapt and combine Alexander Technique exercises to create the students’ own Alexander warm-up, freeing the body in preparation to perform any role; test out different patterns of physical use (patterns of walking, breathing, etc.) for different characters; and apply the Alexander Principles to the work being done in movement, voice and scene study classes, as well as to performing on stage.
This is an immersive classroom based course. Major topics include: developing a sophisticated self-awareness; The Alexander principles of inhibition and direction; physical coordination; kinesthetic sense; shedding habitual ways of over-tensing and compressing the body; the anatomy of the musculoskeletal systems; finding a free and flexible use of the actor’s body.
In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category OR in the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 6 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
144 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: participate in an approach to acting that is rooted "in the body," rather than "in the head,” and begin to formulate their own cohesive approach to technique, for application in rehearsal and performance; demonstrate discipline, commitment, stamina, strength, flexibility of mind and body, and the ability to center and release the body; create a safe, collaborative environment by developing sensitivity to collaborators and an awareness of the surroundings; make use of the ability to relax while summoning instant, complete focus, thus demonstrating the ability to “drop in” and be centered in the body; make strong physical choices in creating characters, consistent with the given circumstances in a scene.
This is an immersive classroom based course. This course endeavors to help actors learn to access their creativity, manifest presence, transform physically, and connect with others. The movement work begins with exploration and identification of the Actor’s Body: “This is what you have.” Initial work in class focuses on the restoration of physical harmony, the heightening of concentration in a relaxed physical state, the exploration of authentic emotion, and the identification of actions as the essential integer of the students’ work. The class provides a practical foundation upon which students develop physical technique and learn to create and fully embody the characters they play. The rigorous work throughout the year engenders an appreciation of “freedom through structure.”
In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 10 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
120 hours (20 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: effectively apply, in the rehearsal and performance of partnered scene work, Uta Hagen’s “Six Steps” from her book “A Challenge for the Actor”; create, rehearse and perform a scene or play with a scene partner; demonstrate habits of preparation, practice, and rehearse on their own; constructively receive, apply, and adapt to critique and direction; utilize and apply research and analysis to illuminate the circumstances of a scene; apply technique to deepen personal connection with the given circumstances of the play as they build character, relationships and objectives, and test clear, lively actions.
This is an immersive classroom based course. Building on the foundation laid in Term 1 Acting Technique class, students are introduced to diagnostic Scene Study. In consultation with the Core Program director, the scene study instructors assign students a set of scenes intended to address their strengths and needs. Students apply technique to deepen their personal connection with the given circumstances as they build character, relationships and objectives, and test clear, lively actions. Students develop their partnering skills. In Term 3, students work on one play, broken down into scenes. Working as an ensemble, students move deeper into their practice and experience the collaborative effort required to bring about a unified theatrical event.
In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
88 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: examine and analyze the text of any given play to mine for dramatic details, listing specifics about the circumstances that reveal its place, time, and characters, and using active lines of questioning to investigate specific issues; discover and identify sub-text in a given text; define “Beats” within a scene and dissect the text to outline where they begin and end; construct a complete picture of the world of the play through research into the literature, art and music of the time;and actively apply text analysis to acting work in Scene Study class and beyond.
This is an immersive classroom based course. This course gives students a chance to explore a play in depth. Working slowly, the class opens up every detail that may help students inhabit a character, diving into the world of the play through the literature, art and music of the time. Students explore the circumstances that define the characters, relationships, time and place. Students examine the language of the play and discern how it varies from character to character and how it changes depending on the needs of the people involved. Students open their imaginations and creative impulses, make discoveries that support dramatic action and take exciting steps into the world of the play.
In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 6 semester hours in Dramatic Arts, Dramatic Literature, or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
144 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: examine bodily sensations and the moment-to-moment experience of involuntary impulses, discovering previously unconscious or frozen habitual movement patterns and their impulses; take part in a variety of exercises designed to loosen muscular rigidity in the body that has a direct influence on the engagement of the voice, in order to increase natural resonance and open vibrancy (“Destructuring”); discuss the anatomy related to voice training and demonstrate an active understanding of its function by communicating and sending sound with meaning, vocal support and power (“Restructuring”); discover a deep vocal connection with self, character, scene partners, and text, by combining/integrating vocal freedom, healthy use of a supported voice, and awareness of the circumstances and objectives within a given piece of text (“Integration”); design a vocal warm up of their own to use before rehearsals and performances by combining and adapting the exercises learned throughout the three terms.
This is an immersive classroom based course. Students explore their speaking voice as an actor and develop a cohesive vocal practice. Students explore a variety of dynamics as they develop awareness of the breath and the use of the body and voice. The goal is to improve their vocal functioning and strengthen their ability to communicate while meeting the demand of being present with any given text, with their partners, and the space. The work is based on the principles of Fitzmaurice Voicework®.
In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 10 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
96 hours (32 weeks).
September 2012 – Present.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate a greater understanding of the elements of speech and an ability to apply the basic principles of speech in rehearsal and performance; as a group, construct an educational and collaborative environment that is free of judgment, where it is safe to commit to bold choices and brave “mistakes”; identify and manipulate the physical elements of speech; maximize linguistic detail of speech; discuss and demonstrate a working knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
This is an immersive classroom based course. Actors are introduced to the skills of speech through the work of Dudley Knight and Philip Thompson, which allows students to develop flexibility, muscularity, and specificity in producing speech sounds. The goal is to increase intelligibility as well as plasticity in handling the specific demands of any text. These fundamental practices are useful to both native and non-native American speakers. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is introduced, and over time the goal is to develop a working knowledge of this system, which provides a basis for analyzing, practicing, and acquiring a gamut of different accents and patterns of speaking.
In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category OR in the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 6 semester hours in Dramatic Arts or Theatre Arts (8/17) (9/22 revalidation). NOTE: All courses that comprise the Hagen Core Training Program must be completed to gain access to credit recommendations.
