Tamra Meskimen loves acting and loves actors.

That sentence could describe a lot of people, I know…

But Tamra Meskimen REALLY loves actors. And she demonstrates that dedication every day, as the boots-on-the-ground presence at The Acting Center school, the only one of its kind that is 100% Guru Proof.

What’s the big deal about being “100% Guru Proof?” (My words, by the way.)

It’s become the tradition in most acting schools that an enlightened master judges the value of a student’s artistic choices, and acts as a de facto judge and jury, in order to “Train” the acolyte into proper presentation. More often than you’d want to believe, that “training” includes a lot of personally insulting criticism and abuse, which, in drill sergeant style, aims at “breaking the bad habits” of inexperienced performers.

How would you feel if your timid, first attempts at a new form of expression were pulled up by the roots in front of a class full of strangers, and your motives attacked in the process?

This is a way to crush creativity and has lead to American actors, as a group, being among the most self-absorbed and least convincing in entertainment today. (Opinion, my own.)

How this abhorrent training technique became a full-on tradition is a story I am unprepared to tell, and neither of us would have the stomach for anyway.

Suffice it to say that, even though it is considered the “best way” to teach acting, Tamra Meskimen and The Acting Center in every class prove that it simply isn’t so. And the comfort level of the classes emphasizes that fact, backed up by another telling symptom–students who BOOK.

Students of The Acting Center are self confident and creative, and are used to making unique choices based on their artistic judgement. Their OWN artistic judgement.

No one has brow-beaten, criticized, harangued or nagged them into a narrow band of “correctness”. The drills and exercises at The Acting Center have demonstrated to the students to their satisfaction that they have an abundance of choices, and are free to pursue any of them as they please.

That makes them stick out, and as a result, they consistently book roles in films and TV shows.

That’s revolutionary, people.

Of course, this non-critical, non-evaluative atmosphere didn’t just spring out of the ground overnight. Because of the entrenched philosophy adopted by most acting academies, it had to be shoehorned in, fortified and protected by a wall that would make that zombie dragon on Game of Thrones cough up a frozen hair ball.

It takes maintenance and care to create and preserve a safe space for actors. That’s what Tamra Meskimen and the other founders and staff of The Acting Center do.

A labor of love? Devotion to actors that is above and beyond? A priceless contribution to the arts? BELIEVE IT.

Why mention it? Because they won’t. They’re too busy putting it there for you and your friends who want to take that little hint of a flame of interest in performing, and puff it into a long-burning blaze of creative fire, one that even White Walkers can’t F with.

Step inside The Acting Center. You’re safe behind these walls.

Visit it online at http://www.theactingcenterla.com