About Triage
Since our classes are small and private, we don’t allow auditing. Before we can offer you a class, you need to meet with Lesly. You can either:
a) do a Private Audition or Dialogue Coaching Session — if you’re auditioning and/or working a lot, this is the most convenient option; just call the office at 323 969 9900 to schedule a session, or…
b) attend a Triage* session. These are special classes Lesly holds for those actors who are new to her. You talk about your goals and experience, and work together on material. Les then proposes a course of action for you. If you have studied and she feels LK&Co. is a good fit for you, she will offer you a spot in a Comedy Intensive where you will learn how to approach material using her non-method. If you are new to acting, she will probably suggest our Acting Buffet. We have four different kinds of Triage:
- Jurassic Triage – $42.50,
- Big Triage – $62.50,
- Little Triage – $87.50, or
- (Saving) Private Triage – $132.00.
*Triage is defined as “the determination of priorities for action in an emergency.” So during Triage, Lesly tries to figure out what the priorities are in terms of helping you achieve success in your acting career (the emergency) — as quickly as possible.
Gift Certificates are available again this year!
Gift Certificates are available again this year (i.e., if you want to give someone a Triage or coaching or class, etc., as a gift for the holidays). Just email Jenni at JenniferS@LeslyKahn.com and she’ll take care of you. Or go to the store!
More Experience
Dear Les,
I don’t think you placed me in the right class. I know I wasn’t very good in my Triage, but I don’t think my performance accurately represents my acting. I broke up with my boyfriend the night before Triage so I was in a pretty bad mood, I’d been crying all night so I was all puffy and I just wasn’t prepared. Plus, I get really nervous in situations when I have to act in front of strangers.
I am not comfortable in this class. I have more experience than anyone else and I don’t feel challenged. I think you should move me to a class with actors that are more like me.
—-
Dear Experienced,
You may well have more experience than everyone else in class combined but unfortunately that experience didn’t show up in your work during Triage. “But that’s just one time!” You might say. “You can’t judge me on one scene one day!”
Again, it’s unfortunate, but I can, I must and I do.
Why?
Because THEY do. The casting directors, directors, producers, showrunners, studio and network executives.
So YOU have to be FABU allllll the tiiiiiiiiiiiime.
While I get that there were extenuating circumstances on the day of your Triage, there are ALWAYS extenuating circumstances. We gotta getcha to the place where you can be brilliant in oncoming traffic on the 405 (although that, in and of itself, is unlikely as the 405 is generally a great big parking lot).
I place you in class according to what I see you do in Triage — not by what I see on your resume — because your resume doesn’t matter. The ONLY thing that matters is your work. We gotta get your work to match that wonderful resume. Every. Single. Time.
“But THAT time doesn’t represent meeeeee!”
Ah, but it does. If you did that for me, l’il ol’ me, THAT day, you’ll do it for people FAAAAAR more important than I am because THOSE situations will REALLY be scary: money, mortgages, cars, artistic and financial freedom will be on the line. When you came to Triage, you were just checkin’ me out. An audition could be your FUTURE.
Please bear in mind that I look at acting alllllllllllllllllllllll the tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime. Like 16 hours per day. If your acting is solid, even if you did the worst acting on the planet I will still be able to see glimpses of the fabulous actor hiding underneath. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. You can’t hide your great acting. Sadly, you can’t hide the not-so-great stuff either.
If breaking up with your boyfriend makes for sucky acting the next day, we have to turn you into an actor whose acting isn’t upset by anything ever.
If being up all night crying makes for sucky acting the next day, we have to turn you into an actor whose acting isn’t affected by personal issues.
If being puffy prevents you from acting well, we have to turn you into an actor whose acting is fabulous no matter what is swollen.
If you aren’t prepared and you do not such great work, we have to turn you into an actor who is always prepared and amazing.
And if you get nervous in front of strangers? We REALLY have to fix that! Because WHEN exactly are you gonna be acting in front of FRIENDS ONLY???? The DEFINITION of acting is getting up and making an ass outta yourself in ridonkulous situations in front of TOTAL STRANGERS! You gotta be GREAT AT THAT!
Do you see where I’m going with this?
The likelihood that all of your auditions will happen on days when you’ve just gotten engaged, won the lottery or aren’t fighting with your mother is pretty slim. We gotta getcha to do fabulous work ALL THE TIME NO MATTER WHAT.
For example, I am not naturally a good cook. I can’t just walk in the kitchen and whip up a great meal. I need recipes and shopping and time and advice and all the planets to be in alignment just to get the water to boil for the pasta. If I have alla that, I can do a decent job. Not great, but decent. If I don’t? We order pizza.
In order for me to be able to make a great meal on the fly, I have to have zillions of recipes in my head, know my way around a kitchen blindfolded, have all the food at my fingertips, my friends who can cook on speed dial and God on my side. I have to be ready. Not hopeful. Not lucky.
What do they say?
“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
“Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Let’s make it happen.
Discovering Who You REALLY Are Is Where Your Akting Hobby Ends And Your Acting Career Begins
Dear Lesly,
Since I took your triage class 8 days ago, which to me was a miracle, btw… I have booked the lead in a SAG Short film, and booked 2 other roles in 2 films (GREAT material for my reel!). WOW—3 bookings!!!!!!
It had been a mystery why I wasn’t being called back or booking, and in your triage, you told me that “I was all over the place–and emotions were spilling out,” and you were right on the money! I started to notice it EVERYWHERE IN EVERYTHING, EVERY ACTION! And then I saw something, that on the outside, I was being a control freak, dominating my husband and others with wanting things my way in the order I saw was right, when in reality I had no control over my inner experience of life. I had to control the outside so I could hide that I couldn’t control my inside. Does that make sense?? I got something and now have more grip on my inner life and now in acting I am present and my judgements of the other characters are clear and in the moment. I can actually choose to be all over the place as a character choice now — not as an automatic thing.
Bottom line is, Thank God for you and your wisdom. Without it, I may have floundered around more… now I can see a clear pathway to nirvana. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. — JG
Gift Ideas!
The Triage Gift Certificates were a big hit last year, so we’re offering ‘em again this year (like if you have a friend who you want to take a Triage — the class I do for actors I’ve never met — check it out here). We also have a few BOOKED IT! BOOKS left ($20 plus shipping and handling), as well as some THOUGHTS FROM LES cd’s ($10 plus shipping and handling). So if you need holiday gifts, just email Drew@LeslyKahn.com and he’ll take care of you.Don’t Re-Act, Just React!
Please be advised that as of right now the definition of “bad-ass” in the dictionary will read:
Lesly . . . I feel like I’m re-learning how to act and it’s a little scary. You were so right in our Triage; I get the script and instinctively I know what each moment is and I shape each moment technically and using “actions” that I use to get my intensely- needed-or-else-I’ll-die-previously- decided “objective”. But using thoughts and couch time have helped me to be sooooo much more organic and helped me to get out of my own way. I was called about yesterday’s [TOP TEN SHOW] producer session hours before I went in (normally would have been freaking out), sooo I tried things differently… sat on the couch and read super slow, covered up the page, and wrote and spoke my thoughts!!! Scary thing is Lesly, I can’t tell you what I did in that audition, but I have a pin in me (fourth time this year for that show) so I guess it was good. I guess what I’m asking is how much of using the thoughts can I meld back into my other training? Because in a way I feel a little naked and maybe a smidge less confident in the room without sculpting each moment and writing down, “What my character’s mother’s mother had for breakfast two weeks ago Tuesday”, but I am ALSO waaaaaaaay more freee, more natural, & more imaginative. Any thoughts?
Dear Free,
Well, I look at it differently. You can do ANYTHING YOU WANT BEFORE:
A) YAY!
B) You asked, “How much of using the thoughts can I meld back into my other training?”
- YOU GO ONSTAGE,
- START THE AUDITION, or
- THEY SAY ACTION.
You can do ANYTHING YOU WANT IN REHEARSAL. Anything that turns you on or helps you. But once:
- YOU GO ONSTAGE,
- START THE AUDITION, or
- THEY SAY ACTION,
ya’ gotta leggo of ALL of it and see. What the fuck. Happens.
So go ahead!
- Have an objective,
- get some actions,
- substitute for everything and
- sense memorize the whole thing! AND
- sit on the couch AND
- read super slow,
- cover up the page,
- write your thoughts,
- say ‘em out loud,
- check for reversals and
- antitheticals,
- look at the punctuation –
- do everything in the Booked It! Book and
- everything in Mr. Meisner’s book and
- Ms. Hagen’s book and
- Mr. Stanislavski’s book, and
- Ms. Adler’s book and
- Mr. Strasberg’s book and
- Mr. Chekhov’s book and
then THROW IT ALL THE WAY and
- see.
- What the fuck.
- Happens.
‘k? Not-Free-But-Thinks-She-Can-Teach-You-How-To-Be
You try to CONTROL IT? You’re dead.
You try to do ANYTHING you planned? You’re dead.
“Life,” they say, “Is what happens while we’re busy making other plans.”
Your performance is gonna happen no matter what you try to make it.
So you might as well leggo and have a great time doing it.
Reread the Booked It! Book pages on letting go!
Love,