What does one learn in a beginner ';Acting I'; class?

I have enrolled in an Acting I class at my local community college. What can I expect to learn? The maximum number of students in this class will be 25, if that helps. Please provide me with your experience in your beginner acting class, whether you took it in college/community college/or a conservatory. Any tips and advice would be helpful, I want to prepare myself a little before I go in - its my first time doing something like this!What does one learn in a beginner ';Acting I'; class?
silly exercises to help you learn to let loose and express yourself


read the syllabusWhat does one learn in a beginner ';Acting I'; class?
Every class is different, but here's a common syllabus:





You start with an overview of the history of theater: Greek, Medieval, Renaissance, modern, perhaps with a side tour of Oriental theater styles. You may read and even act out one play in each of several styles.





You continue with a lot of terminology: upstage, downstage, stage left, blocking, what the director does, what all the lights are, costuming, stage managing, etc.





You might get an overview of theatrical styles: Stanislavski, Strindberg, etc. but only briefly, perhaps with a quick introduction to Alexander technique.





You'll get a few classes on vocal work, learning how to project, how to enunciate for the theater, American Stage Dialect (the basic accent for actors).





You'll analyze a few scenes, looking at what's going on at each line, and learn how to develop an interpretation of that scene as an actor.





And you'll finish up by doing a one-act play or a scene from a play.





There's a huge amount of material to cover, and you're really just grazing the basics.
An Acting Class is often different from a Theatre History class.





Acting 1 is typically the ';bread and butter'; course for a college theatre program. It is the carrot that drives the cart. By this I mean the hope is frequently that you will take the Acting class and have such a good time that you will take other theatre classes.





In my experience, most Acting 1 classes focus on basic acting craft, including (but not limited to) Viola Spolin style improv excercises, vocal work, monologue work (perhaps including some script analysis) and some limited scene work. Depending on your teacher, you may get to pick your own scenes and monologues or they may be chosen for you.





It is not unusual for the Acting 1 classes to be taught by Graduate Student Teachers instead of a professor. However, at a community college, you should be getting the professor. Take a look at one of those ';rate my professor'; sites and see what other students have said about this professor. They may be a wonderful, fun person - they may be a theatre tyrant. One never knows.





At any rate, I suspect that you will see very little theatre history and a whole lot of in class excercises. You will need to plan on scheduling some outside of class rehearsal time if you do, in fact, need to do scene work with other students. You will also need to be prepared to memorize some scripts. There will probably be some sort of final scene project at the end of the term.





Good luck and have fun!
Many beginning classes touch different subjects to give the student a feel of what the general concept of acting is all about. There may be a brief history of theatre and learning about the different types. Greek is one, where masks were used to convey emotion.


Improv is also something that will likely be taught. If you've seen Whose Line is It Anyway? then you'll know what Improv is. There may be some memorizations of monologues and skits. Acting is mainly a test of memorization and expression.


To prepare, just go to class each day with an open mind. Acting is a lovely form of art and you shouldn't feel embarrassed about what you say and do in front of fellow students and the teachers. Just relax and have fun. :)
You will probably learn games ment to relax you and help you interact with other people! There's nothing you have to prepare for! Just enjoiy!