Directing actors means learning to translate vision into emotion, words into movement, and story into performance. In this studio course, you’ll dive into the challenges and rewards of bringing performances to life through authenticity, trust, and collaboration. Through intensive, hands-on scene work, you’ll learn to communicate your vision clearly, adapt in the moment, and inspire your actors to take creative risks. You’ll alternate between acting and directing, gaining empathy for the performer’s process while refining your own directing instincts. Each week, you’ll experiment with techniques drawn from a range of traditions—Meisner, Stanislavski, Method, and more—discovering what works best for you and your collaborators. Learn to cast intuitively, choosing actors who not only fit the role but deepen the story. Real-time feedback on your directing choices will help you strengthen your instincts and articulate notes that unlock stronger performances. Scene analysis is approached from both sides of the camera: you’ll study blocking, framing, and editing as tools for emotional impact, and practice how to adjust a performance through physical and visual language. You’ll also draw inspiration from filmmakers working outside the studio system through films, interviews, and podcasts that reveal how great directors build rapport and creative chemistry. By the end of the course, you’ll have developed a personal toolkit for directing actors—one grounded in communication, empathy, and collaboration—and a deeper confidence in guiding performances that feel alive, truthful, and cinematic.