Daily Inspiration: Meet Andy Garrison

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Garrison.

Hi Andy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to today?
When I opened the Actor Training Studio in January of 1998, it was just a piece in the puzzle of my actor career. I had recurring gigs, namely at Missouri (now Kansas City) Rep and with Sprint’s University of Excellence. I had also been working at the Kansas City Zoo for 5 summers as an actor — they called us Live Interpreters.  Fun full-time job, but 5 summers of it was plenty.  Since I had always wanted to teach, I decided I could open a small studio and replace that summer income with year-round income, which I did. But within about two years, I realized I needed to decide on a direction for myself and the studio — did I want to continue as that actor who coaches or become a coach that continues to act professionally? I decided on the latter because while I love acting, I NEED to teach. So, I was able to steadily grow the studio in “normal times, then hold on through the Great Recession of 2009-2012 and, more recently, through the global pandemic. COVID changed everything for all of us — and while teaching on Zoom for sixteen months wasn’t everything we wanted it to be, it kept my doors open (virtually), and we were still able to get some terrific work done online. I credit those actors who hung in there with me and with each other to make the most out of what we had. Over the years, I trust that the Actor Training Studio has earned a reputation for helping anyone from beginning pre-professional actors to advanced professionals — preparing them for work on stage and on camera, as well as through commercial voiceover and work as audiobook narrators. I also help people work on their public speaking skills, using a lot of acting techniques and solid business practice.
The actor training at the studio focuses on the basic simple building blocks of bringing about believable, meaningful behavior within storytelling. As a coach that teaches all levels, I’m delightfully challenged to tailor my instruction for the particular actor working under the lights at ATS. I don’t make it my business to dictate WHY someone wants to act, but I do try to understand each actor’s need to tell stories through their work. I honestly believe that every actor has something to contribute to our larger culture and society through their work. That purposeful direction keeps every actor going when times are tough for them. And for me, accompanying each actor on that journey, no matter where they are within it is a real privilege. It’s also a whole lot of fun!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been a smooth road! In the beginning, just keeping the doors open as the new studio in town was daunting. But the longer we’ve stayed open, the more word got around that the work we’re doing is legit and fun.

The recession, starting in 2009, was a major challenge. Actors seemed to have a premonition about their job’s instability and leave class about 3 months before they lost their jobs or experienced a cutback in hours, and then they’d wait about 3 months after they were re-employed to start class again — if they could afford to come back at all. Their acting class has to come after rent, mortgage payments, food, gas, kids — all of the necessities. When the economy’s good, people are settled enough to spend money on their development. Until their car needs that major repair or their spouse lost THEIR job, or a baby’s on the way. We moved the studio location in 2011 in the thick of the recession and almost doubled the rent for our space. Fortunately, that space was an upgrade, and I work with a landlord that’s terrific.

Pivoting over to online instruction during the pandemic was also a major challenge. A three-hour Zoom class was exhausting for both the students and me. Still, we were able to take the opportunity to work in a different way that was beneficial to actors in class — understanding acting within a camera frame, eye-line, and the importance of good sound. This experience also helped us plug-in readily to online auditioning, which has become the standard for at least the first round or two of casting. But it wasn’t as much fun because of “Zoom lag” — we all rely on instantaneous social cues in facial expressions and voice. Our brains seek those cues, and if there’s a delay, as it is online, our brains get tired while continuously seeking those cues.  You learn this teaching acting online!  But let’s face it, it’s just more fun to be with each other in the same room.

We use masks and face shields at the studio in person, though if COVID numbers go down, we feel safe and able to unmask — which is even more freeing. I require everyone who studies live to send me proof of complete vaccination — and I lost some students who were with us online but wouldn’t get vaccinated. That’s the price we have to pay to keep the experience and environment safe. And I have to say, students have been great about informing us if they’ve been exposed to someone who’s tested positive or if they test positive themselves.

Keeping full classes is always a challenge for a studio, though since we’ve been back live (July of 2021), most classes are at capacity — so the new challenge is managing our waiting list. A good problem to have, but with its own stress. Adding more classes will help, though there’s only so much time in the week and one space.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I started as an actor my senior year in high school. Almost from the first rehearsal, I knew I wanted more. And thanks to encouragement from teachers and directors, I kept looking for more. I remember getting blown out of the water at my first audition for a community theater. But I went to college and majored in the theater anyway. I intended to teach high school drama, but I quickly pivoted to just theater as a major.

When I graduated with my BA (Baker University), I got married within about six months, so my wife Allise and I focused on our day jobs (I had a string of 5 different jobs within 6 years — already practicing for an acting career). I thought I was going to leave acting behind. Still, after two years of “real life,” I auditioned for our local community theater, got cast, and did a show or two a year as either an actor or director until finally, at the age of 29, I went to grad school for my Master of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where, in addition to university productions, I worked with the (then) Missouri Repertory Theatre (now Kansas City Repertory Theatre). I graduated in 1991 — I was 32.

Pretty quickly, I was auditioning for and getting cast in the Kansas City professional theater world — The Coterie, The New Theatre Restaurant, The American Heartland, and again at The Rep. I remember it seemed I was getting a lot of psychologist and butler roles while I was looking for the opportunity to direct. The chance I got was to go back to Baker University and cover a sabbatical for the theater professor there for a semester. I taught classes, directed a couple of productions, and acted as a guest acting artist in another. So that’s when my teaching officially started – about 10 years earlier than I had anticipated, but once I started teaching, I wasn’t about to give it up andI decided to open my studio in 1998.

Every acting job is a learning experience — sometimes artistically and sometimes on a working-at-a-job-in-the-theater or a film-set basis. Why wasn’t I getting that laugh at the end of that scene in Christmas Carol? My friend and mentor Gary Holcomb told me to make sure I was in the light for that last line before I exited under this bridge — the audience needs to see me and hear me to really get the joke. How do you get through a 72-show run? For me, it was to look for those tiny differences in your onstage scenes to keep your work fresh, but then make a mental game out of your movement backstage, keeping it the same every show — I’m stepping over the same cable backstage while hearing THIS line, etc. Watching and learning from the other professionals from Kansas City and all over — many with decades more experience than me — has been such a pleasure and honor to me as an actor. And I tried to take that on-the-job learning back to my students at the studio. I know I’ve tried to help them avoid a lot of the mistakes I made as a young professional — audition preparation, rehearsal prep and decorum, and the focus and psychology of balancing an acting career with your home and family life in addition to your day job if you need one.

While acting in theater, I got commercial work, both on camera and doing voiceover. I was also producing showcases for the studio and a couple of independent productions in partnership with a friend from Denver. And of course, I added those perspectives to the classes I was teaching, sometimes into the design of the curriculum itself. A stage highlight for me from 2002 was acting in and directing two-thirds of a 3-monologue piece, “Three Viewings,” with my Denver friend Anna Hadzi and my Kansas City friend Bonita Hanson. We each had monologues that ran for about 30 minutes—lots of work and lots of fun.

Other favorite stage shows included a couple at the Kansas City Fringe Festival — “Sexing Hitler” by Tara Varney and Bryan Colley — crazier than it sounds. And “Freak Up the Street” by Billy Blob. Both were modest in the budget but absolute treasures to my artistic soul. I was also fortunate to work several times at Musical Theatre Heritage under the direction of Sarah Crawford — who dragged me back into musical theater after a 20 year absence. From “Sunday in the Park with George’ (hardest musical ever!) to “Guys and Dolls” (the memory of which gets me emotional),

A particular highlight of my film experience was spending four months on the principal shooting for the locally produced “Terminal” — now retitled “Chasing Angel” on Amazon Prime Video. Four months with the best two full-time jobs I could imagine. The film is one I’m proud of — Stephen and Mary Pruitt wrote and produced a heart-filled story that was a real challenge and absolute joy. And I count about 16 of my students from the studio in the credits!

My journey, artistic or otherwise, has been one of acquiring new skills as needed –writing, producing, directing, and editing. As a theater and a film director, I’ve found out I have a passion for designing the sound and music that support the story (I also use this to produce voiceover demos from the studio). I’ve also had the opportunity to learn video editing. These “jobs” and teaching have felt like the same work — it’s all about what, I believe, lives in our DNA as human animals – storytelling.

To wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
My entire career as an actor/director/teacher would be impossible without the love and support — both emotionally and financially — of my wife and life partner, Allise. Acting can be disruptive, especially when mixing schedules between yourself and your “civilian” family and friends. Allise and I, at some point, figured out that our schedule doesn’t ever get back to normal, and that’s what’s normal for us. She’s been my sounding board in all things (like the ups and downs of running a business), the one that loves running lines with me (how lucky am I?), the one that helps me put a positive spin on things even when I don’t think they’re all that positive and the one that not only GETS me but gets more excited than me when I get cast. Allise is the one whose feedback on my acting — both positive and negative, but always constructive — I can always trust.

Pricing:

• Classes for Adults — $195 for 4 weeks
• Classes for Adults — $495 for 12 weeks
• Classes for Teens — $150 for 4 weeks
• Private study — $210 for 4 one-hour sessions
• Commercial Voiceover Production — available on request

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: actortrainingstudio.com
• Instagram: actortrainingstudio
• Facebook: ATS – the Actor Training Studio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vTf_u4N1OC05m3ikbj7hA

Image Credits
Headshot – Elaina Cochran Greg Thonen – scarf shot Musical Theatre Heritage Stephen Wallace Pruitt – dark shot Larry Levenson — teaching shot