Actors Training Ground

ABOUT ATG

Meet the Creative Director and Founder

Classes are taught by Tanner Lagasca, a member of SAG-AFTRA and represented by Talent One Talent Agency in Raleigh, NC. Tanner has been involved in the acting field throughout his life. He is also a director, acting coach, former professor of theatre at Louisburg College, and author of "The Portable Acting Coach". He recently wrote and produced his first short film "The Portraits of Lillian Gray". He believes the connection between actor and character should be organic and uses the combined techniques of Stanislavsky, Uta Hagan, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, and Strasberg to teach his classes.

Tanner Lagasca studied at P.C.P.A. in California, Roosevelt University in Chicago (B.F.A.) and Actors Studio Drama School in New York (M.F.A.). He is the author of The Portable Acting Coach, published in 2013 and a theatre professor at Louisburg Colllege. He has performed throughout the country as well as internationally in South Korea. His body of work includes: Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver Twist, Julius Caesar, The Wind in the Willows, Balm in Gilead, The Lesson and The Authors Voice.

Tanner focused his acting talents on performing theatre for children throughout the U.S., educating them about drugs, smoking, and self-esteem. His touring performances extended to literature including Robin Hood, Tom Sawyer and The Barber of Seville. He worked overseas in South Korea where he was the Artistic Director for the theatre program at English Village. He produced over 20 shows including gameshows and activities and created a three-week acting training program for Korean middle and high school teachers which still remains successful to this day. He has appeared in commercials for Toyota, GE, and Nationwide.

His film credits include Iron Man 3, You Are Here, several independent web episodes including: The Super Femmes, Doctor Who: The Ginger Chronicles, Southern Discomfort, and the local independent film Remnants.His directing credits include: I Never Saw Another Butterfly, I Hate Hamlet, Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sure Thing, Andre's Mother, The Bear, and The Snow Queen.

He relocated to Raleigh in fall 2010 to start Actors Training Ground to provide professional acting training to an area that has a fast growing theatre and film community but not the accessibility to many choices for quality training.

The mission behind

Actors Training Ground's mission is to bring professional training to actors of all levels. A variety of techniques are used in our Acting classes including Meisner, Hagen, Strasberg, and Stanislavsky. The International Phonetic Alphabet is the base of the Dialects class and our voice class uses the approach taught at Actors Studio Drama School: Voice and Speech for the Stanislavsky Actor - Building the voice and sound through proper alignment and support.

Our primary goal is to help adult and young actors prepare for the acting industry by giving them the tools to succeed as an actor. Private coaching is also available.Our classes are designed for both beginning and advanced levels of acting. Actors Training Ground offers actors the opportunity to explore themselves, push their limits, and hone their craft to enrich their acting skills and character development. Classes are offered for ages 18 - Adult and run 8 - 10 weeks at a time. Currently classes are held at the Raleigh Area Children's Theatre space owned by Blaire Callaghan and Pure Life Theatre.

Actors Training Ground started out teaching Scene Study during the summer of 2011. It has developed into a year-round theatre teaching program offering classes in acting, voice, character development, audition technique, dialects, and new in 2016, an acting intensive. There is no corporate budget or elaborate board of directors. I am a real person who cares about the growth of actors and the quality of the training.

Help support local theatre training in Raleigh and register for one of the many excellent classes offered by Actors Training Ground. Your support will help us grow.

Tanner Lagasca
Creative Director/Founder