Favorite Cold Reading/Audition Class

Margie Haber Studios

The advice may seem counter-intuitive. You come into a studio looking to prepare to portray another human being, and the instructor informs you that to do the job correctly, you'll have to do the opposite of what the assignment calls for. "My main focus is to teach actors to stop acting," says Margie Haber, whom our readers selected as a favorite instructor for auditions and cold readings. "Whether they're shooting a movie or doing a play, whatever. Actors want to act. I teach them it's not acting; it's living. It's not a scene. It's a slice of life."

Or suppose you're at an audition, and the casting director or person reading opposite you isn't giving you enough to work with. Common complaint, says Haber, and one that should not be defeating. "What they're not giving you is something," says Haber. "A human being sitting in front of you may not be looking at you, but you have feelings about that. Never ignore what's not being given to you, because that's part of communication."

Haber and her staff have been dispensing their wisdom and technique via the Margie Haber Cold Reading Workshop for 25 years. With studios in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dublin and quarterly workshops in New York, Haber travels the country and teaches internationally. Locally, the self-described "compulsive teacher" handles the advanced instruction as well as the out-of-town classes.

She is the author of How to Get the Part Without Falling Apart and boasts a past-client list that includes Halle Berry, Stephen Collins, Kelly Preston, Tom Arnold, and Laura Innes. In the early 1990s, a pair of Haber's clients were working with her while hoping to grab a small but pivotal role in Thelma and Louise: Michael Eastman lost the role to a then largely unknown young actor named Brad Pitt. "It's not that Michael wasn't talented," says Haber. "Brad was able to get more charisma out of the role, and the rest is history."

The competition for work may be fierce, but Haber contends that an opportunity to ply your craft -- even briefly -- should not be squandered. An actor may only win two out of 25 roles he auditions for, but the other 23 readings are still a chance for him to step into someone else's skin.

"It's the glass-half-full approach. You need to be excited," says Haber. "Twenty-five opportunities to live another person's life! That's pretty amazing. And don't just live it in the audition room. If the part calls for a homeless person, walk around Santa Monica and look at the homeless. Don't just use the room as your audition."

Haber studied with Lee Strasberg and Milton Katselas, and her training guru -- who would later become a Haber studio cold-reading instructor -- is Rebel Without a Cause actor Corey Allen. "He's from the old school. He looks like Moses and acts like Yoda. Wise, wise man," says Haber. "He taught me that the story and the character are not as important as the relationship. That's what I teach: relationship, relationship. It's all about connection."

"Margie really breaks down the audition process in a foundational way, down to the nuts and bolts, making it accessible, practical, and effective for everyone. She finds the specific things each person needs to focus on and works it." -- Dan Billet

"First off, Margie cares deeply about her students and what she's doing; you can tell from her passion both in and out of class. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, her technique works. If you commit yourself to it, you can deliver a connected, natural, and interesting performance with a minimum amount of time with the script beforehand, every single time.

"I can't claim to have worked with every cold-reading teacher in town, but Margie has every quality I could want, both in a teacher and in a technique. She's also smart enough to surround herself with equally brilliant teachers: Jim Gleason was absolutely remarkable." -- Jade Carter

Margie Haber Studio, 971 N. La Cienega Blvd., Suite 207, L.A., CA 90069; (310) 854-0870; www.margiehaber.com.

-- Evan Henerson

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