Robert Patterson is an acting teacher without parallel, and if you study at his studio, you'll receive complete, classical training in the Craft of Acting that is taught nowhere else. Accordingly, Mr. Patterson is the most demanding teacher you'll ever study with, and it would be a good idea to prepare yourself by beginning some of the outside work required to complete his class. Following are some recommendations of various things you can do -
1) Attend a Free Master Class/Seminar at the studio. These are offered periodically, and you can check the schedule on the website at www.thepattersonstudio.com.
2) Begin reading the required list of books that need to be completed to finish the course. These are also listed on the website.
3) Take courses in Dance and Speech.
It is positively essential for the well-trained actor to have control of his or her physical body and to move well. Courses in Ballet and Modern Dance will help to accomplish this. If you closely observe actors on stage, television, and screen, you'll begin to distinguish the ones who move with ease and grace from the ones who don't. When you take dance classes, after a short time, this will become even more apparent to you. No one expects you to become a Nureyev or Baryshnikov, but control of your body is an absolute requirement in altering yourself for different character roles and eliminating your personal mannerisms.
The same is true for speech. You can't expect to effectively perform Shakespeare (or any other specialized character role) if you have a regional accent that betrays your origins as being from rural Pennsylvania, the Deep South, or the Bronx. You need to remove the regionalism in your speech, and let the character's voice come through without hindrance from the actor.
4) Watch every film Marlon Brando ever made, and as many as you can find with Ted Danson, Jobeth Williams, Geraldine Page, Robert Duvall, Montgomery Clift, Paul Muni, Emil Jannings, John Garfield, and Charles Chaplin.
5) Get in the habit of broadening your education in all things Classical. Go to Museums like the Metropolitan, the MOMA and the Frick. Attend concerts, opera, and ballet performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, or go to dance shows at the Joyce Theatre or New York City Center, and, perhaps most importantly, GO TO THE THEATRE.
If you begin to do all these things now, you'll appreciate the necessity of continuing to do them while you study Acting, and Acting is all about doing. So go do it, and have fun!
