Curriculum

The Conservatory’s Two Year professional actor training program is a nondegree granting certificate program. Successful completion of the program depends upon admission into the second year, following fulfillment of the prescribed number of hours and curriculum as set forth in our published materials. Admission to the second year is also contingent upon audition. The entire curriculum is compulsory.

Download a PDF file of our 2009 Catalog

Go to calendar of First Year Conservatory Schedule

Go to calendar of Second Year Conservatory Schedule

Year One of the program consists of comprehensive classroom work concentrating on accessing impulses, use of self, active listening, exploration of the imagination and serving the text. You will study acting technique, voice, movement, clown, improvisation, Shakespeare, styles, Theory into Practice, text analysis, technical theatre labs and theatre practicum, and Meisner Technique. The curriculum also includes an ongoing, intensive Performance Lab.

You will begin your first year of study by exploring impulses and be introduced to the fundamental concepts of objective, obstacle and tactic. Intensive instrument work in voice and movement supports this foundation of acting technique. Students progress with text work and explorations of theatrical style. First Session (September-December) and Second Session (January-May) class work culminates in fully staged performances of movement, voice and style work under the supervision of the core faculty. The first year program is open to all with a desire, passion and commitment to the work.

Year Two of the program consists of public performances, which allow you to put theory into practice in our Conservatory Season of Plays. Studies will expand to include special workshops in dialects, stage management, audition technique, film acting and professional orientation workshops, as well as continuing classes in voice and movement. Your second year of study concludes with a graduation showcase for professional stage and film directors, agents and casting directors from the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Clock Hours:
As a student in the first year program you will attend classes an average of thirty (30) hours each week. In the second year program, you will average thirty-three (33) hours weekly. Thirty “clock hours” per class is traditionally equivalent to one unit of credit.

Clock hours are actual hours spent in class.  One (1) unit of credit represents approximately thirty (30) contact hours.  These hours do not include outside classroom hours spent rehearsing, memorizing, researching, etc.

Certificate in Acting:
Upon successful completion of the two-year program, you will be awarded a Certificate in Acting. Portland Actors Conservatory is licensed by the State of Oregon Department of Education and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.