OPEN STUDIO ACTING

Professional on-camera training for actors who want deeper, more specific work that lands on camera.

WELCOME!

Open Studio Acting is a professional on-camera training studio for working and developing actors who want to become more fully involved in their work while understanding what the camera is actually seeing.

Sometimes a small technical adjustment changes everything. Other times, the work needs greater personal, imaginative, or emotional involvement. Our training helps actors recognize the difference—and develop work that is specific, responsive, and alive on camera. Often, a small technical adjustment can solve what initially feels like an acting problem.

We offer in-person Scene Lab, Zoom Audition Lab, and private audition/self-tape coaching.

THE COACH

LUCAS VAN ENGEN

Lucas appears as Leo Wise in HBO’s We Own This City and as Sheik Sheehan in Showtime’s City on a Hill, with additional recurring and guest roles across major networks. His coaching helps actors understand what their work is communicating on camera and find the simplest adjustment—technical, personal, imaginative, or emotional—that allows the scene to come fully alive.

IMDB | @openstudioacting, @LucasJVE

JENSON SMITH

Actor | Writer-Director | Coach

Jenson’s credits include Orange Is the New Black, Louie, The Affair, FBI: Most Wanted, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Having worked on both sides of the camera, she brings a sharp understanding of casting expectations alongside a deep respect for the actor’s process and lived experience on set.

IMDB | website | @jensonperson

IN-PERSON SCENE LAB — NYC

WHEN: Mondays from 6-9:30pm
WHERE: The Producers Club, 358 West 44th Street, NYC
HOW MUCH: $280/4 classes, $100 for drop-in, FREE to audit

Scene Lab is an on-camera scene study class designed to help actors become deeply involved in the work in a way that lands on camera.

We work the same material over several weeks, allowing us to explore both the scene and the actor rather than rushing toward a finished performance.

Week 1 — Explore: Discover the relationships, the actor, and what’s possible.
Week 2 — Get: Strengthen and clarify the work while keeping it alive.
Week 3 — Shoot: Film the scene in multiple setups and see how the work changes as the camera moves closer.
Week 4 — Wild Card: Work a one-off scene or begin something new before the next cycle.

Along the way, we look at what the work actually needs. Sometimes the solution is technical. Sometimes it requires greater personal, imaginative, or emotional involvement. The aim is not to manufacture a performance, but to develop actors who can work with greater freedom, specificity, and ownership on camera.

Email now to inquire or audit

PRIVATE COACHING & SELF-TAPES

Bring the audition you need to solve now.

In private sessions, we coach the material, work through the technical and performance adjustments the tape needs, and record until you have the strongest version to send. The goal is a tape that feels specific, alive, camera-ready, and competitive.

Most sessions are held over Zoom. In-person coaching is available in the Hudson Valley most days and in Midtown West on Mondays.

$125/hour
$25 each additional 15 minutes

Email now to Book

AUDITION LAB - ZOOM

A small-group professional audition class focused on helping actors deliver stronger, more competitive work on camera. We work practically on what makes an audition land: what reads, what gets lost, what the camera reveals, and what can be adjusted. Sometimes a technical adjustment—eyeline, pace, framing, stillness, physical behavior—changes everything. Other times, the actor needs greater personal, imaginative, or emotional involvement. Actors work on camera, make adjustments, and go again.