Studio History

Our work began with Ken’s deep love and respect for the craft of acting, his passion and special knack for innovation in the field, his decades of success as an actor, director, teacher, and coach, an accounting of his own missteps and blind spots, and his realization that, in too many ways, for too many artists, the world of actor training and technique is outmoded, unhealthy, stuck, and broken. 

If you’ve been in it, you know. Throughout the industry—in schools, studios, and conservatories big and small, in the business of casting, on set, on stage, and in private coaching practice—actor training is rarely the inspiring, uplifting, empowering process it can and should be. It rarely delivers on the dreams it advertises. It rarely makes sense. And it is rarely safe. 

After years of study, research, and reflection, experience in teaching systems and well-known institutions both good and bad, apprenticeships with exceptional teaching artists, years of work as a performer, and after many years of traveling around the country and around the world coaching new and well-known actors for all kinds of film, television, and theater gigs, Ken’s creative successes and mistakes, his passion for innovation in technique, and his determination to find a better way led him to start his own regular ongoing acting class in New York City.

What began as a small experimental group class once a week quickly grew to twice a week, then to three times, and we are now at four sections of our flagship ongoing Acting Technique and Scene Study Class, THE FREE ACTOR (two in person and two on Zoom). In 2020, we introduced scholarship opportunities for BIPOC and Trans actors, and began donating a portion of the studio’s income every month to organizations that advance social justice causes, including those that help survivors of abuse and actors in need.

In 2022 we welcomed our first Guest Teaching Artists, and in 2023, we introduced Ken’s new “Meta-Class” for Directors, Acting Teachers, and Coaches: HOW TO WORK WITH ACTORS. Like THE FREE ACTOR and all our offerings, its core values are effectiveness, efficiency, and safety. 

As we continue to grow our work and creative community, we’re building a better studio every day—one in which acting artists of all kinds and all kinds of people who work with actors are truly free to discover and share their best work.

Scholarships & Social Action

The Ken Studio is committed to respecting, elevating, and liberating every actor’s full creative power in their craft and in the industry. We strive to create ever more welcoming, supportive, equitable, diverse, and inclusive working environments, experiences, systems, and opportunities for all our actors, teaching artists, staff, and guests, especially for members of historically oppressed and marginalized groups. We offer a limited number of full and partial scholarships for BIPOC and Trans actors. A portion of our income every month is donated to organizations that advance social justice causes, including those that help survivors of abuse and actors in need.