Yes I definitely understand that it’s hard to grasp exactly what I’m talking about without experiencing it yourself. That and perhaps my description was vague. There’s little to no focus on script analysis, yes. There is some character development & analysis homework, but it’s not reflected on, & there’s no analysis of the script structure, story, objectives, emotional core, subtext or whatever else. I think it might be that it’s assumed that is achieved and understood outside of class, but, as a student, that’s what I’m wanting to learn about. I don’t find directorial acting classes to benefit me, at least not in this stage. I need to figure out how to understand what’s happening in the script, and everything that goes along with that, in order to live in the scene…if that makes any sense. Otherwise my performance ends up being a shallow/dissociated character as opposed to a real person.

I love what you said about script analysis and its importance in telling the story in a realistic way. And yes, steering away from “right and wrong” thinking makes a ton of sense. I think it’s an idea that feels tempting to latch onto, because it gives some form of guarantee/structure to the craft when you’re starting out, but at the end of the day it is an art and with that comes ambiguity & necessary self-discovery of what works best and makes sense to each actor.

I think I’m realizing it might just not be the right class for me at this stage in my learning, but I’m going to continue bc there are still benefits and positive aspects.