Become an Actor With Studios in and New , BARRY JOHN ACTING STUDIO is ’s most sought-after destination for professional acting training. The courses are rigorous and intensive, demanding a high degree of commitment, energy and perseverance.

Devoid of academic theory and jargon, Barry John’s system is a progressive series of exercises and projects that are practical and experiential. The courses are carefully designed to equip students with a mature level of physical, mental and emotional skills to meet the demands of professional engagements with film, television and theatre. ‘It’s about picking up on the energy and uninhibitedness of childhood play, deconstructing the negative aspects of school and social conditioning, and knowing who you really are.’ Barry John Diploma in Film Acting

A 16-week, full-time program: Monday to Friday, 9.00 am to 5.00 pm

The BJAS Diploma in Film Acting Course is the most intense and comprehensive training for beginning actors in the country, facilitated by its most respected teacher. It covers all aspects of the actor’s craft through practical exercises and performance projects, culminating in film acting modules and student film-making assignments. Our signature Diploma Course is the 16- and 24-week Diploma in Film Acting Course which includes a wide range of advanced acting exercises, scene work and acting for the camera projects and filmmaking assignments. This BJAS DFA Course is India’s gold standard for acting courses. Beyond the wide range of physical and vocal exercises that enhance flexibility and control, the major projects in the course are: • Childhood Memories as material for the devising of children’s plays. • Dance Drama: telling a story without words. • The Primitive Ritual: exploring the roots of drama using gibberish. • Masks and mime • Street Play: devising and performing a play on a contemporary socio-political issue in ‘nukkad natak’ form. • The Status Exercise: performance of a script that distinguishes social status and animal status. • Script Reading and Scene Work: the analysis of text and the graphing of the characters. • Film Acting: a 7-week module which includes basic film theory and hands-on camera work. Students are involved in three filmed projects and a number of advanced film acting exercises before producing their own short films. Project work involves screenwriting, storyboarding and directing. Students work as a production company with defined responsibilities for ensuring their film’s successful completion. This demanding work prepares the student for the real world of film and television acting.

“It’s not just a matter of giving tips or polishing. It’s about turning actors inside-out so that even they are shocked by what they can perform. The worst thing actors can be is boring and predictable.” Certificate in Acting

The Certificate in Acting course is a three-month, part-time weekend program offering basic training in key aspects of the actor’s craft. It is useful for beginning actors and for those who are working.

The Certificate course is carefully designed to equip students with a mature level of physical, vocal, mental and emotional skills which lay a firm foundation for work in film, television and theatre, using a wide range of physical and vocal exercises that enhance flexibility and control.

Course projects are documented on video, and each student receives a digital show reel at the end of the course.

‘Even if you discover that you are not the world’s greatest actor, you will not have wasted your time, for you will have grown, developed, expanded your mind and thoroughly enjoyed yourself. It’s magical!’ In BJAS Young Actors Club and TIE programs Young Actors Club we use drama for the healthy development of the child. & Theatre-in-Education Through energetic drama activities and theatre games, opportunities are created for children to be themselves, to perform and to play. Children are connected naturally to the process through involvement with the characters they create and play. Children expand their mental ability by analysing problems, then seek their own individual solutions. The carefully planned sequence of drama games, role-plays and activities focuses on key areas including Breathing & Voicing, Imagination & Creativity, Movement, Performance Skills, Mime, Language Development and Script-writing. Ice- Breaking and Trust exercises improve the students’ ability to cooperate on creative projects. The Young Actors Club is for ages 8 to 16. Sessions are on weekend afternoons at schools, clubs or community centres. Every Summer the YAC offers workshops at venues throughout Delhi NCR. The in-school Theatre-in-Education program places a drama instructor in the school and are tailored for each school’s needs. Company Theatre

The corporate business world has realised that the training of actors and directors bears considerable resemblance to its own objectives in management and staff training. Key issues such as effective leadership, team Filmmaking building communication skills, creativity and personal growth are common to both, Groups but the theatre world has developed ways and means that are more effective and more enjoyable. Our Filmmaking Groups are for graduates of BJAS Diploma and Certificate courses. We help the members BJAS offers its expertise in customised form “production companies” to write, produce, act in, workshops and projects to address the needs of companies in these key human resource direct and edit short films of their own devising. With areas. The workshops may be of a few hours’ BJAS as the executive producer, we help complete duration, a few days or a few weeks, according the films and prepare them for entry in festivals and to the company’s convenience. Long-term competitions. projects may extend over several months and culminate in a full-scale theatrical performance suitable for a company event. Customised Film Workshops

FOR FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS Advanced Work Specially designed workshops of variable duration for the bonding of a team of actors, honing of skills, explorations of themes, characters, Sessions for the advanced course are divided into two: first, a focus on an relationships and action of a given script prior to the commencement of improvisational approach to technique and to confronting character. Second, shooting. Workshops are conducted by Mr Barry John and BJAS senior deep work on the Meisner technique, which involves a complete disregard teachers, and are by appointment only. of ‘character’ as an issue. The two approaches offer both contrasting and complementary techniques for students to choose from, and both are rigorously applied to scene work on a variety of scripts. Students build on their ability to customize technique that is aligned with their own individual personalities and strengths. They are empowered to confront roles that they never imagined they could. student’s mind and abilities; the mind of an artist, aware of its role and place in society, its responsibilities and possibilities, its quest for enlightenment. The Barry John Method The Self It is said that whole purpose of education, and of life itself, is to know yourself. It is certainly a crucial project for an The Body reading, script-reading, gibberish improvisations, singing, actor; one that is never completed. For as we grow, we The actor’s primary instrument is the body. It houses chanting, word-games, radio plays, interviews, and the change. performance projects. other vital instruments: the mind, the breath, the voice, Particularly at the beginning of the course, but sustained the feelings and the senses. Together, they are the actor’s The Mind through it, students embark on an analysis of themselves, media of expression and communication. Training the mind is challenging, but if it is transacted and of course, each other person in the group. A progressive Students experience a process of physical development through concrete experiences and practical activities, series of exercises, improvisations and assignments that leads to greater self-awareness, flexibility, control rather than wordy lectures and abstract philosophy, then stimulate an exploration of the ‘luggage’ that they carry and coordination. Lazy, mechanical modes of moving significant development is achievable over four months. with them: memories of childhood and youth, beliefs, and behaving are identified and made transformable. Students learn that the mind is not a singular muscle but attitudes, aspirations, fears, and dreams. Whatever the body’s size, weight and shape, it is primed a repository of multiple intelligences, operations and It is not psychotherapy, but a search to bring to to be technically proficient in skills such as trust, balance, awarenesses, many of which remained inactive during consciousness the reasons for being the way we are. neutrality, rhythm, grace and expressiveness. The body conventional education. Often, they have been repressed Importantly, this lays the foundations for the work on in its interactions with other bodies, with objects, with or abused. character building. Certain aspects of the self may be carried costumes, adornment, and make-up are also explored. Students undergo exercises that have the purpose of over into a role, other aspects may have to be transformed The training of the body is accomplished through a activating dormant or desensitized areas and operations or neutralized. Students confront the challenging paradox progressive series of games, exercises, mime and mask of the mind, and learn, as actors must, to have them of acting: it is me, but at the same time it is not me. studies, creative dance, gymnastics, clowning techniques, operating in concert, synchronously. To the extent that students are aware of the complexities martial arts elements and yoga asanas. The key operations and skills that are developed are: and contradictions of the self, it is invested and reflected in The Voice concentration & focus, belief, curiosity & questioning, the characters that they create and perform. Work on the self lies at the heart of all the training, for it generates the Students are trained to breathe more efficiently, to creativity & imagination, making choices and decisions, faith and confidence in oneself that are vital in pursuing a gain control of breathing technique and enhance their spontaneity & intuition, reflection and memory, spatial successful career in the media. capacities. awareness, and interpersonal skills. Improvisation/Acting The voice travels on the breath, and students learn Sense perception is developed both as real and imagined how this synergy can create a wide range of effective experience. Students learn that the senses are the fertilizer Improvising for the actor is the ability to think and create communication. Voices are enriched, made strong, of the imagination and are infused in all aspects of the on one’s feet. It is a fundamental and compulsory skill for resonant, flexible and expressive; they become the actor’s work. Sense perception also breeds sensitivity, actors who wish to be innovative and riveting. It develops instruments to effectively convey all subtle distinctions which in turn fosters sensibility; the ability to appreciate the crucial qualities of spontaneity and transparency, of of meaning and feeling in characterful ways. Students are and respond to complex emotional, aesthetic stimuli. living in the moment, which accomplished actors achieve helped to ‘find’ their voice, and then to develop its range, Students are also led into an exploration of mood and even when negotiating a rehearsed text. pitch, timbre, and to place it in different registers, through emotion through a variety of approaches and methods. Students learn that improvisation is a major tool with a sequence of exercises. Each student is encouraged to search for the means to many applications, with or without a given text. It may The work on the voice extends into the workshop on connect with feelings and behaviors that are authentic imply a journey into the unknown, a quest to discover speech, which aims to develop greater clarity through and truthful rather than contrived. things such as one’s identity, activity, emotional response corrected pronunciation and sensitivity to intonation, Men, especially, are induced to overcome the gender and progression. It may be an exercise to flesh out the bare stress and rhythm. A module on phonetics is taught at this conditioning that prohibits the public expression of bones of a story, idea or theme. It may be an exploration of stage. emotion. Problems of sustaining a mood, and of continuity, style or genre. It may be an imaginative devising of scenes that are not in the script, that are back-story or subtext. It Voice and speech training is accomplished through a especially in film production, are also addressed. may allow actors to change roles and experience a story carefully designed series of exercises, story-telling, news- The course aims to facilitate the fullest flowering of each from a different perspective. It may be simply a game to exercise the skills of rapid decision-taking and visceral of filmmaking processes. Key concepts in acting for the ‘doodles’: character sketches, images cut from responses. camera are explored and practised and a module of newspapers, magazines, or any other source. advanced acting techniques has been added. • It is used to critique the work of other actors, teachers, Acting is doing. During the course, students are guest speakers, as well as books, plays and films. challenged with numerous acting exercises and scene Students learn the basics of how films are made including • It is used to articulate ideas, opinions and feeling work, simulated television programmes, and actual film- shooting and post-production procedures. They get to responses to anything in their immediate environment, shooting experience. All the skills developed in exercises know the camera by using it and continuity is instilled in the country and in the world. and improvisations are fed into major acting projects, through practical exercises and demonstrations. many of which are performed publicly. Performances with The understanding from the camera work is then fed into The workbook becomes a self-authored record of each and without dialogue, both for theatrical spaces and for the students’ film acting projects. In these, they confront student’s development during the course. It constitutes the camera, become the ultimate tests of the students’ the challenges of ‘scaling’ a performance in accord with the evidence of a student’s ability to value life and experience, abilities. frame of the shot, learning to control movement, gesture, to reflect, to analyse, to understand, to question, and to honestly articulate ideas and opinions. Students are taught to delineate the inner and outer traits voice levels, emotional intensity and energy levels. They of character, to graph the main lines of their action and to become familiar with ‘hitting the mark’, ‘catching the light’, The Professional Career detail behaviour and gesture for every moment, as well as ‘cheating’, and other technicalities. Important projects Beyond all the technical and aesthetic aspects of an vocal and speech characteristics. Students learn to play include: actor’s education, the course syllabus includes modules off each other, to give and take, to act and react, inthe • Revelations: the devising, scripting and shooting of that enlighten and instruct students in the launching and establishment and development of relationships. They 10-minute videos in groups, which are then professionally building of their careers as actors. The faculty and guest are led to search for the essential meaning and purpose of edited. speakers from the worlds of film, television, radio, theatre their characters in a story, and to convincingly bare their • Students’ Film Projects: The students undertake the and advertising share their experience of how these souls. production of their own short films, being responsible for businesses operate and what is expected of an actor. The self-study modules are applied to character studies, all aspects of it apart from the editing. Related issues of resumtés, portfolios, showreels, industry as students learn to develop complete biodata for their Students are also trained in the handling of film auditions personnel and terminology, interviews, auditions, screen characters. A location-based environmental and character and screen tests. tests, casting agents, contracts, payments, insurance, and study project is a key aspect of this training, which teaches even positive unemployment between jobs, are addressed. students the ability to draw on life for knowledge and The Workbook After the course, the BJAS Casting Service sustains inspiration. One of the ironic consequences of the current education the concern that our students find employment with All in all, students are thoroughly in the awareness of what system is that many students never wish to read a book or continuing guidance and assistance. The Service makes their responsibilities as actors are. They become disciplined indulge in any serious writing once they have left school or recommendations to prospective employers and in the preparation and execution of roles, and learn to college. But a serious actor sustains both activities. safeguards the actors’ working conditions and financial work with integrity and courage, even when a director is The reading and writing recommended in the course arrangements. lax about these demands. They are programmed to work are important aspects of the students’ growth and BARRY JOHN ACTING STUDIO teaches its students that hard and skillfully, always aiming for the highest artistic development as actors and artists. they, their personalities and their talent together constitute standards. The workbook that students maintain during (and after) a product. It needs controlled, creative and efficient Performance Projects the course has several objectives and functions: business management if it is to be successfully marketed The performance projects are developed to a high level • It functions as a logbook of all the exercises, activities, and become a popular brand. An actor has to develop skills of professionalism and then filmed for purposes of improvisations and discussions that occur in the course. and talent, but also the ability to manage and maintain a documentation and analysis. The Street Play is performed successful career. in an outdoor public space, while the Children’s Play is • At a more personal level, it is used to record the usually performed in a school. On-camera performances students’ responses to the work and their own views on followed by critiques enable the optimising of strengths their progress. and the elimination of weaknesses in the students’ work. • The workbook is used to record the students’ creative Film Acting writing assignments: recollections of personal experience, stories, poems, and scripts. The final weeks of the course are dedicated to the rigours • It is illustrated by the students’ own art work and He was on the faculty of the National School of Drama (1977-80), teaching and directing Barry John young actors including Anupam Kher, Pankaj Kapoor, Anu Kapoor, Surekha Sikri Barry John is an internationally renowned and Manohar Singh. He was also Founder- actor, director, designer, writer and Director of the NSD’s Theatre in Education teacher. Born and educated in the U.K., he Company (1989-92). has lived and worked in India since 1968. As a trained teacher of Drama, he has been He was the Founder-Director of Theatre a pioneer in the establishment of Drama and Action Group (1973-99), Delhi’s most Theatre Studies at the school level, and has acclaimed company, and was instrumental been involved in forging a syllabus for these in the success of many of its members: subjects for the NCERT. He has also pioneered Siddharth Basu, Mira Nair, Lillette Dubey, the movement towards an acceptance of Divya Seth, Pamela Rooks, Shah Rukh Khan Drama Therapy in working with differently and Manoj Bajpai, most notably. abled and deprived people.

Barry John was a great support…Barry is a great teacher and I learned theatre from Barry John at Barry’s drama school. I can above all, he is a great human being. I have learnt so much from never forget the contribution … in making me what I am. All him both on stage and off. I have always remained indebted …to what I’ve learnt in acting, the way I sit, walk and talk is all from Barry, who will always have a special place in my life. what I learned in Delhi. Shah Rukh Khan Manoj Bajpai

Mr John has conducted training workshops in many OTHELLO (Roysten Abel), THE LAST VICEROY (Carl parts of the country for numerous theatre companies Hindmarch), THE FRONTIER GANDHI (Teri McLuhan), and institutions, including the FTII , and for the THE GREAT INDIAN BUTTERFLY (Sarthak Dasgupta), films SALAAM BOMBAY (Mira Nair), MOHABATTEIN THANKS MAA (Irfan Kamal), TEEN PATTI (Leena (Aditya Chopra), DREAMING LHASA (Tenzing Sonam) Yadav), TERE BIN LADEN (Abhishek Sharma), and and TEEN PATTI (Leena Yadav). CHITTAGONG (Bedabrata Pain).

He himself has acted in the films SHATRANJ KE He has a national award from the Sangeet Natak KHILADI (Satyajit Ray), MASSEY SAHIB (Pradip Akademi, and awards from the Sahitya Kala Parishad Krishan), GANDHI (Richard Attenborough), TAMAS and the Delhi Natya Sangh. His book Playing for (Govind Nihalani), MISS BEATTY’S CHILDREN (Pamela Real, a handbook of games and exercises for actors, Rooks), SHAHEED UDHAM SINGH (Chitrath), IN has been published by Macmillan. Sanjay Sujitabh Sanjay Sujitabh, BJAS Executive Director, is the renowned and much sought-after director of SETMAKERS, the company which has been in the forefront of innovative and trend-setting design and fabrication of television settings and studios for the last 20 years. SETMAKERS projects, among many others, include: MASTERMIND INDIA MANCH MASALA AAJ TAK FAMILY FORTUNES INDIA QUIZ SAHARA NEWS STUMPED! AKSHER MELA TIMES NOW BUDGET A QUESTION OF ANSWERS JANNE KYA TUNE KAHI CRICKET CRAZY AO GUESS KAREN KISSA KURSI KA LOCKER ROOM KUDRATNAMA MATCH MAKERS KING OF CAROM EUREKA! A QUESTION OF CRICKET ESPN COLLEGE QUIZ KHUBSURAT STAR TALK FOODISTAN SUMMIT QUIZ BOOGIE WOOGIE HARSHA ON LINE TERRA QUIZ (TERI) ESPN SCHOOL QUIZ STAR NEWS ABP NEWS CHANDIGARH GADGET GURU QUIZ IBN 7 NEWS HM TV - MAHAA TV - HYDERABAD SUVARNA NEWS

Sanjay’s training-ground was in theatre. He has acted, stage-managed and been a production assistant in plays from 1983 to 1990: AGNES OF GOD, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, SUNO RE KISSA, EQUUS, BAGDAD KA GULAM and ROUGH CROSSING, to name a few. He designed and fabricated the stage décor for many theatre productions in Delhi, including Imago Theatre Group’s “THE HONEY TRILOGY”. He directed several plays for Nukkad Centre for Street and Working Children. Sanjay has also undertaken the design and staging of events such as rock shows, fashion shows and trade fair exhibitions, as well as commercial and domestic interior design and fabrication. SETMAKERS has designed, fabricated and installed studios for news channels in , Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati and other regional centres. Sanjay was art director on the British production of the international release DEAD 2 - INDIA and has a number of projects for Barry John Films under way, for which he is producer and/or art director. Alumni and Associates Theatre Action Group Through the years, Barry John has trained, directed and worked with leading Founded in 1973 by Barry John, along with Di Moore and Rajiv Mehrotra, amongst others, Delhi’s Theatre actors, directors and producers in theatre, films and television. Some have Action Group grew in its twenty-five-year run to performed with TAG, some were students in courses at BJAS or Imago Acting become one of the most prolific and innovative School, others have collaborated on theatre and film projects. Below are just a companies in India. TAG presented over 150 plays in few of the many successful people who have been part of “greater BJAS.” English and Hindi, touring many of them throughout India, and provided a springboard to success for many of its actors, producers, directors and writers. Above all, TAG served the Delhi community, creating theatre with schools, colleges, and agencies for differently- abled and disadvantaged groups.

Shahrukh Khan Freida Pinto Manoj Bajpai Mira Nair Siddharth Basu Actor-Producer Actor Actor Producer-Actor TV Producer-Actor

Jaqueline Fernandez Ranu Dagubatti Richa Chadda Irrfan Diya Mirza Actor Actor-Producer-VFX Actor Actor Actor

Roysten Abel Divya Seth Kunal Kapoor Anita Kaur Basu Sushant Singh Rajput Actor, Writer, Director Theatre-TV Actor Actor Actor - Producer Actor

Lillete Dubey Arjun Kapoor Amrit Maghera Varun Dhawan Pamela Rooks Theatre Actor-Director Actor Model - Actor Actor Theatre Actor

Sanjoy Roy Shoojit Sircar Vivek Mansukhani Ritu Raj Singh Lynne Fernandez Actor-Director-Producer Director Actor Actor Actor - Director Mumbai Studio New Delhi Studio The BJAS Mumbai Studio opened in 2006 and moved to The BJAS New Delhi Studio opened in 2012. It offers its current location in 2007. It now offers The Diploma in the Diploma in Film Acting and Certificate in Acting Film Acting and Certificate in Acting Courses, and is the Courses, and is the centre for Young Actors Club and venue for most Custom Film Workshops and Advanced Filmmaking Groups. The Delhi Studio is also the office courses. The Mumbai Studio is also the main office for for Young Actors Club Summer Workshops, held in Barry John Films. ten venues in NCR, Chandigarh and other cities.

BARRY JOHN ACTING STUDIO BARRY JOHN ACTING STUDIO 301 Nanak Chambers, Opp. Fun Republic 32 Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV New Link Road, Andheri West, Mumbai 400053 New Delhi 110024 +91 9967977966 / 67 +91 9716114466, +91 9999704455 +91 22-26742192 + 91 011-40578451

facebook.com/barryjohnactingstudio [email protected] www.bjas.in

Brian Herwood, Administration & Marketing Director

Our Program and Marketing Director is Brian Herwood. Along with managing the Delhi Studio, Brian coordinates the admissions process, organises the Young Actors Club programs and creates all of our marketing - brochures, print ads, web site and Facebook page. He is also writing screenplays for Barry John Films, working with CBSE on a national Theatre Studies program, preparing proposals for the upcoming Barry John Film School and working on BJAS branches overseas Born in Hollywood, California, Brian has lived in Asia for 30 years, working as a writer, furniture designer, web designer & content creator, English teacher and school administrator. Professional Acting Training Mumbai - New Delhi