Interview with Ian Hersey
I had the opportunity to interview Ian Hersey, who is an outstanding acting coach and loves helping actors reach their fullest potential! I love his take on helping people and how you can reset your internal compass and start getting more bookings when you stop being "me" focused and instead focus on others.
Key Takeaways:
Ian's Bio:
IAN HERSEY is an actor, director and teacher of Shakespeare. He just finished directing 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball at the Stella Adler and is currently collaborating with Luis Salgado and R.Evolucion Latina on an adaptation of the Tempest to open June 26th. His performance of Bottom the Weaver at The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey two summers ago received rave reviews. Ian teaches at the Stella Adler studio and is the master teacher and curriculum designer for the R.Evolucion Latina Shakespeare Project. He was the assistant director of the Dan Sullivan's much lauded production of Cymbeline at the Delacorte. He also served as Assistant Director to James MacDonald on King Lear starring Sam Waterston at The Public. Other directing credits include Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, 12th Night, Suddenly Last Summer, All's Well That Ends Well, Comedy of Errors and a hit production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at The Stella Adler Studio; Cymbeline at NYU Grad Acting, Macbeth and 12th Night at The Atlantic Theater School.
He adapted and co-directed a production of Othello with Luis Salgado for the Jose Limon dance company. Text and Dialogue Coaching credits include The Old Globe, The Public Theater, The Juilliard School, Williamstown, Shakespeare on the Sound, The 52nd Street Project, The Flea and R.Evolucion Latina. He was the Shakespeare Initiative Associate at The Public Theater for three years. An alumnus of the NYSF Shakespeare Lab, The Actors Center and Stella Adler, teaching credits include The Brown/Trinity MFA program, Barnard College, Atlantic, New World School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, The Actors Center and internationally renowned The Shakespeare Lab.
He has taught Shakespeare at The Shakespeare Society, also in high schools, middle schools, colleges, prisons, community centers, shelters, parks, public libraries, camps and conservatories. He helped to develop The Mobile Unit at The Public Theater, as well as wrote and implemented the accompanying audience engagement and education workshops that went with it. He wrote curriculum for The Old Globe’s “Globe for All”, traveling Shakespeare unit. He created and ran A Midsummer Day’s Camp at The Public Theater for close to a decade. A recipient of the Fox Foundation Fellowship for professional actors, he studied Shakespeare with Ron Van Lieu, Barry Edelstein, Michael Langham, Mario Siletti, Peter Francis James, Brian Murray, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Tim Carroll, Maria Aitken, Dakin Matthews and Rob Clare. Other acting teachers include Lloyd Richards, Olympia Dukakis and Earle Gister. As an actor he has performed on stage and television, in film and commercials. He holds a Master’s in Education from Harvard University.
Check out his website.
I had the opportunity to interview Ian Hersey, who is an outstanding acting coach and loves helping actors reach their fullest potential! I love his take on helping people and how you can reset your internal compass and start getting more bookings when you stop being "me" focused and instead focus on others.
Key Takeaways:
- Give to others and it will come back around. Ian explains how the day he started giving back to others, lots of things shifted and he started auditioning better and landing more roles.
- Create an accountability group. Ian explains how he put together a small group of actors to keep each other on track and moving forward in their career. Learn exactly how he did it and what they do together on a weekly basis to keep getting more work!
- Start making unreasonable asks. Ian talks about how he got over his fear of asking for things, and how making what he used to think was "unreasonable" requests, he has started booking a lot more jobs!
- And lots more...
Ian's Bio:
IAN HERSEY is an actor, director and teacher of Shakespeare. He just finished directing 5 Women Wearing the Same Dress by Alan Ball at the Stella Adler and is currently collaborating with Luis Salgado and R.Evolucion Latina on an adaptation of the Tempest to open June 26th. His performance of Bottom the Weaver at The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey two summers ago received rave reviews. Ian teaches at the Stella Adler studio and is the master teacher and curriculum designer for the R.Evolucion Latina Shakespeare Project. He was the assistant director of the Dan Sullivan's much lauded production of Cymbeline at the Delacorte. He also served as Assistant Director to James MacDonald on King Lear starring Sam Waterston at The Public. Other directing credits include Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, 12th Night, Suddenly Last Summer, All's Well That Ends Well, Comedy of Errors and a hit production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at The Stella Adler Studio; Cymbeline at NYU Grad Acting, Macbeth and 12th Night at The Atlantic Theater School.
He adapted and co-directed a production of Othello with Luis Salgado for the Jose Limon dance company. Text and Dialogue Coaching credits include The Old Globe, The Public Theater, The Juilliard School, Williamstown, Shakespeare on the Sound, The 52nd Street Project, The Flea and R.Evolucion Latina. He was the Shakespeare Initiative Associate at The Public Theater for three years. An alumnus of the NYSF Shakespeare Lab, The Actors Center and Stella Adler, teaching credits include The Brown/Trinity MFA program, Barnard College, Atlantic, New World School of the Arts, SUNY Purchase, The Actors Center and internationally renowned The Shakespeare Lab.
He has taught Shakespeare at The Shakespeare Society, also in high schools, middle schools, colleges, prisons, community centers, shelters, parks, public libraries, camps and conservatories. He helped to develop The Mobile Unit at The Public Theater, as well as wrote and implemented the accompanying audience engagement and education workshops that went with it. He wrote curriculum for The Old Globe’s “Globe for All”, traveling Shakespeare unit. He created and ran A Midsummer Day’s Camp at The Public Theater for close to a decade. A recipient of the Fox Foundation Fellowship for professional actors, he studied Shakespeare with Ron Van Lieu, Barry Edelstein, Michael Langham, Mario Siletti, Peter Francis James, Brian Murray, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Tim Carroll, Maria Aitken, Dakin Matthews and Rob Clare. Other acting teachers include Lloyd Richards, Olympia Dukakis and Earle Gister. As an actor he has performed on stage and television, in film and commercials. He holds a Master’s in Education from Harvard University.
Check out his website.
To read a raw transcript of the interview, please click here.