Acting as Alchemy is a six-week scene study and monologue class for performers of all levels, blending a variety of techniques to expand the actor’s imagination, deepen emotional authenticity, and reignite the joy of play. Drawing from clown, Michael Chekhov technique, Linklater voice work, Stanislavski, writing, and more, this class is ideal for actors looking to shake up their process, as well as clowns and improvisers ready to bring their physical instincts and spontaneity into text-based work.
At times, great acting can feel like magic - like an uncanny alignment of body, breath, and presence. Yet it doesn’t have to depend on mystery. When given space, it emerges from the careful, courageous blending of techniques within the actor’s fully awakened body. Through deep dives into physical and metaphysical explorations of these techniques, this class offers practical tools for entering imaginative worlds with clarity, freedom, and truth. Actors will strengthen their body–mind connection, cultivate presence and listening, and learn to enter text without sacrificing vitality or wonder. Students will learn to make bold, specific choices, trust their impulses and instrument, and channel both into the structure of a script.
Over the course of the six-week class, each student will work on one two-person scene and one monologue, chosen in collaboration between the student and instructor. Students will perform each class and are expected to rehearse with their scene partner between classes.
Monday, March 2nd - Tuesday, April 6th
11am-3pm
on the Mainstage
About the Instructor:
Meera Rohit Kumbhani is an actor, clown, and teacher with over fifteen years of experience working across television, film, and theater.
Her acting credits include series regular and recurring roles on tv shows such as FOX’s Weird Loners and USA’s Donny!, with additional appearances on Julia, This Is Us, The Lincoln Lawyer, Shameless, the upcoming Wonder Man, and more. Her film work includes The Best You Can (opposite Judd Hirsch and Kevin Bacon), Uncorked, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, and cult favorite Dave Made a Maze. Onstage, she has originated roles in multiple world and Off-Broadway premieres and performed with companies including Classic Stage Company, Ensemble Studio Theater, Playwrights’ Horizons, Ma-Yi, La Jolla Playhouse, and American Conservatory Theater. She holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, where she trained with Kristin Linklater, Olympia Dukakis, Anne Bogart, and Larry Singer.
As a clown, Meera has trained for over 15 years under Christopher Bayes and John Gilkey and performs monthly at the Elysian in the ensemble show Cruel Babes.
As a teacher and private coach of nearly a decade, Meera is on faculty at The Last Acting Studio and The Idiot Workshop, teaching scene study, on-camera acting, and clown. A graduate of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers’ Teacher Development Program and a self-professed “pedagogy nerd”, she brings a wide range of techniques—including Linklater, Meisner, Viewpoints, Michael Chekhov technique, and Stanislavski—into her work, and has taught acting and clown in many diverse communities including prisons, shelters, and migrant farmworker communities.
Class cancellation policy: No refunds, exchanges, or transfers.