Actor Training Ireland

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Actor Training Ireland

Actor Training Ireland aims to create new opportunities for the continued training of actors and for the training of new actors in Ireland.

broaden the actor’s imagination and creative process
● Create new and vigorous ideas and frameworks for theatre performance
● Develop new structures of play and communication adaptable for the educational or work environment

Actor Training Ireland offers:

● Workshops and courses for students who are taking their first steps into acting, providing a strong and thorough base to develop skills in acting and performance.
● Workshops for actors who have already trained or have experience within the profession but wish to develop their own skills and their imaginative and creative process.
● Consultation and workshops in communication and education for organisations wishing to use acting skills within a context outside that of the theatre.

05/01/2023

Meet our new Studio Administrator, Rachel De Fontes.
Originally from oh so sunny Southern California, Rachel now lives & works between the US, UK & EU. She has a great love for traveling and has been known to tune in for Helena’s Resiliency Circles and Scene Study classes from the deepest corners of the world (where there’s wifi, there’s a way).
She is Director of Murmuration Studios, a London & Dublin-based theatre & film production company, which she co-founded with two other actors she met at Helena’s studio (shout out to Sarah Noll and Justin Ensor!)
She first met Helena in 2019, and has been in close connection with the studio ever since, meandering through the different acting courses/workshops as well as the RCs, which she has always felt incredibly supportive and meaningful to her life.
She is at her absolute happiest both when she is in nature - hiking, listening to the sounds around her, feeling the ground beneath her feet - and when she is engaged in meaningful work - in a magnetic rehearsal room, connected with collaborators, or on the stage, a sense of magic in the air shared with audience and performer alike.
Outside of her work at the studio, she is an actor, writer & producer. In 2022, she starred in a short thriller, produced 'An Intervention' in London (Riverside Studios), co-wrote a short film (set for 2023 production), aired one of her theatrical pieces in a Festival of New Writing, saw the release of the Paramount Pictures film “The Infernal Machine” which she acted in alongside Guy Pearce and began developing her feature-length film, “Jenny, and”.
She’s trained/worked with various companies & professionals across the US, UK, Ireland, Russia, Portugal & Australia and she feels that Helena’s studio is particularly special. She is very happy to be a part of our Studio Team and says she can’t wait to see where 2023 will take us.
IMDB | Spotlight
Interview with EmpowerHer*Voice Theatre Spotlight Collective

10/10/2022

Actors, what’s interesting for me when I watch actors on camera, I can see the ones who are holding their breath and the ones who have the ability to surf with the experience. Because fundamentally “breathing is meaning”

And tone, is almost like the setting, the atmosphere, the tone of the piece, but it’s actually also the physicality of our voices. And that makes love, peace or war. It’s not the words. It’s actually the tone that I respond to as opposed to the words.

Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence ® & Fitzmaurice Voicework ®

~ PS. Like this post, share with your friends

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If you want to work with Helena and really liberate your expression, enliven and bring more subtlety, diversity & nuance to your acting craft or if you just want to really inspire and engage those around you, comment “me” below and we’ll reach out with details of our new online voice, acting and empowerment programmes.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/store

13/09/2022

“The Resiliency and Empowerment Circle has been a gorgeous space to be part of. To receive and be received within a trusting collective of open hearts. That’s a powerful and beautiful thing. Very grateful for it.”

~ Fiach Kunz, Actor

The Empowerment and Resiliency Circles are a wonderful way to empower yourself. They are weekly gatherings largely based on self care and aim to give you ground and stabilize you as well as support you during the week, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed.

Clinically proven benefits include:

•Reduction of stress, anxiety, depression, addiction and trauma.
•Development of resiliency, emotional regulation and cognitive functioning.
•Reduction of chronic issues such as sleeping problems, chronic pain.
•Embodiment of social belonging and meaning.

Our next 10 week course starts Wednesday September 28th, 4pm - 5.30pm (GMT+1) with Human Empowerment and Resiliency Coach, Helena Walsh and Rebekka Haas Çetin - Meditation & Yoga teacher, and Organic Intelligence® Coach.

A maximum participant / tutor ratio of twelve to two provides a high level of individual attention, coaching and feedback.

DM to get started!

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/empowermentcircles

07/07/2022

Your job as the actor is to embrace the dialect of vulnerability.

We have been conditioned to believe - my felt experience equals there is something wrong. Oh there is something wrong if you are feeling something.

Basically what I’m saying is when I’m sad, angry or hurt and someone says “what’s wrong”? Why should there be anything “wrong”? I’m feeling.

There are different questions we can ask.

You look sad - you can name it. Do you feel angry? So that’s acknowledging the experience.

When we do that, then what starts to happen is the body starts to feel seen, the body starts to feel heard.

So what you are doing is attuning to the language of the body instead of skipping a beat and trying to understand.

~ Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence & Fitzmaurice Voicework ® & NeurosystemicsTM

~ PS. Like this post, share with your friends

Want to see more posts like this follow us on instagram

If you want to expand and deepen your acting process and bring more diversity, nuance and complexity to your performance. DM to get started. We are now auditioning for The Actor’s Practice!!

https://helenawalshempowerment.mykajabi.com/theactorspractice

05/07/2022

Honouring the power of Vulnerability as a language all by itself.

It has a special dialect of connection and relationship.

Vulnerability is the language of the HEART.

This HEART language needs a compassionate space of awareness in order to elevate this art form, the human experience to a deeply personal and collective one at the same time.

~ Helena Walsh on voice and acting

Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence ® & Fitzmaurice Voicework ® & NeurosystemicsTM

~ PS. Like this post, share with your friends

Want to see more posts like this follow us on instagram

If you want to expand and deepen your acting process and bring more diversity, nuance and complexity to your performance. DM to get started. We are now auditioning for The Actor’s Practice!!

https://helenawalshempowerment.mykajabi.com/theactorspractice

30/06/2022

When we allow the body do the listening, the voice is alive with the colours of the story.

When only thinking, the voice has no access to this colouring box.

The voice being the most intimate expression of our sense of self, requires craft and skill, in order for the listener to feel the character's humanity in the very sounds being expressed.

The nature of this intimacy resides in the deepest impulses in our bodies.

Our bodies act as sensory impulses that feel the relationship with our environment from within.

When this ability to be within and without aligns with the breath, the breath carries the feeling through vibration and into expression to the listener.

The story is felt and the character is seen.

The seeing is deeper than just with our eyes but opens up our heart in new ways.

We are after all opening our audience to their own hearts and compassion by drawing them into someone else’s life and asking them to feel with them.

So therefore the actor sees with their heart.

~ Helena Walsh on voice & acting

Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence ®, Fitzmaurice Voicework ® & NeuroSystemics

~ PS. Like this post, share with your friends

Want to see more posts like this follow us on instagram

If you want to expand and deepen your acting process and bring more diversity, nuance and complexity to your performance. DM to get started. We are now auditioning for The Actor’s Practice!!

https://helenawalshempowerment.mykajabi.com/theactorspractice

29/06/2022

You are building trust through shared complexity

It is our ability to trust our characters' complexity that opens the actor to a deeply compassionate performance, one that embraces bias, judgement & discomfort.

This listening, at this complex level, requires the actor to feel safe, then brave enough to be in human experiences they have never experienced.

It is the actors' compassionate imagination that has the skill to create the fibre and muscle of their character’s being.

Then this complex nature flows from story, to be expressed through body and voice to the listener, in this case the audience.

The actor, being in complexity, invites the audience to resonate and be moved by the character's human experience.

This is what builds an intimate relationship with trust.

~ Helena Walsh on voice & acting

Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence ® , Fitzmaurice Voicework ® & NeuroSystemics

~ PS. Like this post, share with your friends

Want to see more posts like this follow us on instagram

If you want to expand and deepen your acting process and bring more diversity, nuance and complexity to your performance. DM to get started. We are now auditioning for The Actor’s Practice!!

https://helenawalshempowerment.mykajabi.com/theactorspractice

16/06/2022

“See the possibilities and places your voice would like to go” ~ Ruth McGill

A full day of singing.
Only a few spaces still available

The Deets:
* Date: Saturday 18th June 2022
* Time: 10am to 5pm
* Location: Glendalough Hotel, Co. Wicklow

Includes: singing workshops with Ruth McGill that will help you
✅sing with confidence and clarity
✅sing with ease and enjoyment
✅sing with more power and precision
✅Learn Top Vocal Techniques to keep your voice in shape so you can sing with precision, power and in a playful way
✅Learn how to engage your creative mind with a playful quality
✅Learn how to engage your whole body in the action of singing

Fee: From EUR 150 per person

🌟A maximum participant/tutor ratio of fourteen to one provides a high level of individual attention, coaching and feedback.
To book or learn more, follow this link

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/singingretreat

09/06/2022

"I just wanted to be able to project more which was true but something much bigger happened. It has literally opened my lungs and is close to pristine."

"Ruth is such a beautiful soul and a pleasure to work with. The classes are fun and feel like a little adventure every week, you never know what direction it will take but something beautiful is always created. Love love love."

“Ruth is an extraordinary teacher. This course transforms singing into something you do with ease and joy, rather than something out of reach - though make no mistake, you'll be better and more confident as a result"

“it was a wonderful experience. I can hear confidence and clarity in my voice since the beginning of the course so thank you thank you thank you! “

“Ruth helped me overcome my fear of singing in front of others.”

🌟Ruth loves nothing more than to be a source of empowerment for people when it comes to their relationship to their voices

🎶That’s why Ruth has created this 1-day workshop to help you discover your authentic sung sound!

And can offer you skills that will help you

👉sing with confidence and clarity
👉sing with ease and enjoyment
👉sing with more power and precision

🌟With over 20 years experience singing & performing on stages, tv and radio as well as teaching singing workshops and classes worldwide, Ruth knows how help people get more connected and shine in their singing!

🙌🙌If you want to work with Ruth and really feel the fun and freedom around singing, join us in Glendalough SATURDAY, 18th June, 10am to 5pm

Click link to register

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/singingretreat

08/06/2022

How do you have an empowered voice?

Well the first thing is, you want to be able to breathe more easily.

How do you breathe more easily? You need to feel safe and secure

How can you feel safe and secure when you’re on a film set, where there’s a lot at stake or when you’re in front of an audience where there’s a lot of people? You have to strategically and skillfully choose to sit into your animal body, your senses: what do you see, hear and touch.

Because they are a fact. What you hear is a fact. What you see is a fact. What you touch is a fact.

What goes on in your mind is not a fact! What your mind is telling you- “you’re good, you’re bad, this is terrible….you’re feeling anxious” etc is not a fact!

There is nothing factual or rational about the mind when the body is in situations where it may feel it’s overwhelming.

If the body is feeling overwhelmed, then the only way through that like the bear hunt is with the body. The mind is not going to get you out of that rabbit hole. So what we want to do is honour and build this relationship like animals do in the natural world - what do you see, what do you hear, what do you touch.

Now the mind is going to have resistance and is going to go “but that’s not what I’ve been taught” because it's conditioned that way.

What that does is, it builds a container for you to be able to breathe more easily, for you to have a felt experience so that then when you are expressing yourself, you are not listening to the sound of your voice, it’s a feeling, a vibration that’s moving through you, that’s empowering you to express.

When you feel grounded and stable, then the voice will express from a more nuanced and cultivated creative space.

Let me know your questions and your insights in the comments below.

If you like these types of voice and empowerment techniques, there are two opportunities to continue your study with me coming up:

🗣The Empowered Voice 1-day retreat at the Glendalough Hotel on Saturday June 25th 2022

🎬'The Art of Acting' 3 night retreat with me & Chris Edmund at Killary Lodge from September 4th - 7th 2022

🎬“The Actor’s Practice” 10-week advanced actor training, online with me and Benjamin Mathes starting September 2022

See the link below for registration for these opportunities.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/store

02/06/2022

🌟 Meet Ruth McGill

Ruth is one of the leading singing coaches in Ireland. Uniquely experienced and established as one of Ireland’s finest character actors as well as founder, musician, singer and songwriter with the multi instrumental, 3 part harmony group "The Evertides". , who "loves nothing more than to be a source of empowerment for people when it comes to their relationship to their voice". .

She has performed on National Television (The Ray Darcy Show, Fleadh TV) and received extensive radio play on various shows on RTE 1 & Lyric Fm amongst others, whilst packing out & wowing audiences at top venues and festivals including Whelans, "Doolin Folk Festival" & "Body & Soul Festival" (The Wanderlust Stage).

She is currently teaching singing at The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art and has taught singing worldwide and is innovative and original in her approach.

We are delighted to join forces with Ruth for a day-long singing retreat in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains at Glendalough. With over 20 years experience singing & performing on stage, TV and radio as well as teaching singing workshops and classes worldwide, Ruth knows how to help people get more connected and really stand out and shine in their singing!

This unique opportunity takes place Saturday June 18th at Glendalough Hotel from 10am to 5pm. Limited space available. Click link to register.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/singingretreat

30/05/2022

I’m interested in you being inspired by the present moment to create.

By noticing the ten thousand intimacies in your day, you can then use those colours, textures, shapes to bring a deeper and richer experience to your acting.

You will have fostered a relationship with the present moment that is alive and alert and one you can create and reveal the textures of your character's human experience from.

We are after all made up of these moments of flow if we say yes to what is moving through us.

We have often been educated to numb this more creative and intimate relationship with our lives.

We move too quickly to notice but the actor needs to become the artist that slows the world down and sits and listens and sees so that a more wholesome experience of life is manifested.

~ Helena Walsh on voice and acting

Helena’s teachings are inspired by Organic Intelligence ®, Fitzmaurice Voicework ® & NeuroSystemics

🤩Our upcoming in-person retreats and courses:

🎶The Art of Singing 1-day retreat with Ruth McGill at the Glendalough Hotel on Saturday June 18th 2022

🗣The Empowered Voice 1-day retreat with Helena Walsh at the Glendalough Hotel on Saturday June 25th 2022

🎬'The Art of Acting' 3 night retreat with Helena Walsh & Chris Edmund at Killary Lodge from September 4th - 7th 2022

🎬“The Actor’s Practice” 10-week advanced actor training, online with Helena Walsh and Benjamin Mathes starting September 2022

Limited spaces available; DM to get started!

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/store

26/05/2022

Helena Walsh Empowerment Studios and one of Ireland's leading singing coaches, Ruth McGill join forces to bring you our Art of Singing Retreat!

This unique opportunity joins actors from across the world to grow, breathe and reflect in the stunning scenery of Glendalough!!

The retreat consists of one day in-person singing workshops with singing sensation and teaching extraordinaire Ruth McGill.

With over 20 years experience singing & performing on stage, TV and radio as well as teaching singing workshops and classes worldwide, Ruth knows how to help people get more connected and really stand out and shine in their singing!

Space is VERY limited. DM for more info about applying.

“Ruth is an extraordinary teacher. This course transforms singing into something you do with ease and joy, rather than something out of reach - though make no mistake, you'll be better and more confident as a result. Thanks again Ruth!"

“It was a wonderful experience. I can hear confidence and clarity in my voice since the beginning of the course so thank you thank you thank you! “

“Ruth helped me overcome my fear of singing in front of others.”

"Reaching 'high notes'. Developing range. Freedom, she teaches Freedom that is what I will say and that is the beginning of all."

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/singingretreat

25/05/2022

Sneak Peak: The Resilient Actor Retreat

Here’s Helena Walsh to talk us through what you can expect on our in-person retreat “The Resilient Actor”, taking place June 26th in the stunning surroundings of Glendalough!

This one day retreat will give you the tools so that you and your nervous system have an integrity of practice and a process and feel more secure and supported as well as driven.

Helena knows how to help her clients and actors integrate feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, despair, and how to deal with conflict or difficult situations on set because of her in-depth training as a human empowerment and resiliency coach with one of the world’s leading trauma relief and resiliency experts, Steven Hoskinson.

Helena uses Organic Intelligence® with her clients and actors.

This moves both their processes to a whole new level and changes their lives for the better. Leaving the actor confident, unshakable and inspired to feel more pleasure and curiosity in their life and art.

This 1-day in person workshop with Helena Walsh takes place at Glendalough Hotel, 10am to 5pm Sunday 26th June.

Space is very limited. Click the link below to register.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/offers/fLTAdDLE/checkout

23/05/2022

“Helena’s work is utterly unique, healing and transformational. The space she creates and holds for the group is filled with a genuine experience of community, love, belonging and shared joy. For me, the weekly sessions were a window into light and connection during some truly difficult times. Helena and the group made me feel truly welcome, seen, heard and loved. It was extraordinary considering it happened in a weekly zoom call with people whom I had never met before. I deeply believe Helena’s work is fundamental to healing - in the widest sense of the word - at personal and community level. If you’re drawn to this type of experience or connection, don’t hesitate - you will not regret joining the Empowerment & Resiliency Circle with the beautiful Helena Walsh.”

Kamila Dydyna
Actress & Filmmaker

The Empowerment and Resiliency Circles are a wonderful way to empower yourself. They are weekly gatherings largely based on self care and aim to give you ground and stabilize you as well as support you during the week, especially if you are feeling overwhelmed.

Clinically proven benefits include:

•Reduction of stress, anxiety, depression, addiction and trauma.
•Development of resiliency, emotional regulation and cognitive functioning.
•Reduction of chronic issues such as sleeping problems, chronic pain.
•Embodiment of social belonging and meaning.

Our next 10 week course starts Thursday June 2nd, 5pm - 6.30pm (GMT+1) with Human Empowerment and Resiliency Coach, Helena Walsh and Rebekka Haas Çetin - Meditation & Yoga teacher, and Organic Intelligence® Coach.

A maximum participant / tutor ratio of twelve to two provides a high level of individual attention, coaching and feedback.

DM to get started!

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/RCwithHelenaandRebecca

17/05/2022

Curious about our 1:1 Coaching sessions? Here’s what “The Witcher: Blood Origin”, actor Laurence O’Fuarain has to say about his experience:

“Helena assisted me in opening up doors to my character’s history & helped to unlock elements to their story. Her work is extraordinary and drives you to build a world around your character through narrative and imagination. Her help and support is like no other. Highly recommend working with this master craftswoman.”

~ Laurence O’Fuarain, Actor

🌟With over over 25 years training and coaching actors for stage and screen as well as leaders, and speakers from all walks of life.

🌟Plus her years in leading voice, acting and embodiment practices worldwide including Neuroscience and embodiment practices, Organic Intelligence® and Fitzmaurice Voicework®.

🌟Helena knows how to foster empowerment, resiliency, innovation and transformation in each and every person that she works with.

🙌🙌So whether you are an actor, who needs to work on your process or needs to prepare for a role; a leader, who wants to create transformation in your organisation; or someone who wishes to feel more confident and empowered in yourself, Helena knows how to inspire you to the next!

DM to get started!!

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/site/contact

13/05/2022

“There is not one job that I do when I’m not using one of the pearls of wisdom that Chris gave us. He was a very influential director, teacher and writer”
~ Hugh Jackman, Actor • The Greatest Showman •

“Chris Edmund is a master in the craft of directing. He creates a safe container for actors to play, explore, & collaborate…gracefully & elegantly inviting us into the unknown, like a magnificent sculptor, until the characters, story & piece itself are discovered and revealed. Chris’ process felt pure, energizing & expansive.’
~ Kate Walsh Actress • Grey's Anatomy •

We’re very excited to announce we’re teaming up with world renowned acting coach and director Chris Edmund, former head of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Hugh Jackman, Jai Courtney) to offer our 3-day Art of Acting Retreat in the Killary Lodge in the stunning scenery of Connemara, Co. Galway.

Here's what to expect!
👉you will be paired up with an another actor and you will work on a Chekov scene together, chosen by Chris Edmund.
👉Daily there will be voice, body and character integration work with Helena Walsh.
👉The work is inspired by Fitzmaurice Voicework, Organic Intelligence and NeurosystemicsTM and works from the principles of stability, support, pleasure and play.
👉It is a journey into alignment of imagination body and breath, working with the fight / flight / freeze mechanisms that ignite in the actor’s nervous system when working with creative impulse.
👉We will explore the subtle nuances in our rich vulnerability so that the experience of your character is more embodied and alive.
👉This work is then bridged by Chris Edmund later in the day through how he works with you in scene.

If you want to work with Chris and Helena and go to a whole new level of embodying the story and grow and evolve through every story you skillfully will come to embody, join us this September 4th to 7th 2022! DM to get started.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/chrisedmundactingretreat

11/05/2022

There can be no openness without coherent boundaries within yourself

In our industry we are encouraged not to have boundaries, that being an actor means being open and available but this is often misinterpreted and misguided.

There can be no availability and openness without coherent boundaries within yourself and in the environment you are asked to be vulnerable within.

This is why learning to distinguish between a resistance that is to do with a habit you have that is no longer helpful and a resistance you have because you feel unsafe to reveal what is needed on set or in rehearsal because the environment is not secure enough.

This differentiation is crucial in order to foster a healthy and resilient artistic career.

If someone crosses your boundaries countless times this can lead to mistrust in self and eventually overwhelm and anxiety.

That’s why we’ve created our nervous system regulation for actors' retreat with Helena Walsh in Glendalough.

This one day retreat will give you the tools so that you and your nervous system have an integrity of practice and a process and feel more secure and supported as well as driven.

Helena knows how to help her clients and actors integrate feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, despair, and how to deal with conflict or difficult situations on set because of her in-depth training as a human empowerment and resiliency coach with one of the world’s leading trauma relief and resiliency experts, Steven Hoskinson.

Helena uses Organic Intelligence® with her clients and actors.

This moves both their processes to a whole new level and changes their lives for the better.

Leaving the actor confident, unshakable and inspired to feel more pleasure and curiosity in their life and art.

This 1-day in person workshop with Helena Walsh takes place at Glendalough Hotel, 10am to 5pm Sunday 26th June.

Space is very limited. Click the link below to register.

https://www.helenawalshempowermentstudios.com/actingretreats

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Dublin

Website

http://www.actortrainingireland.com/

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Our Story

Actor Training Ireland provides a strong framework for actors to engage with thought, action and emotion while working on text, improvisation, movement and song. We encourage actors to be playful, thoughtful and purposeful. Actor Training Ireland aims to: ● Provide contemporary actor training within Ireland ● Provide and develop new skills and techniques for the contemporary actor ● Develop and broaden the actor’s imagination and creative process ● Create new and vigorous ideas and frameworks for theatre performance ● Develop new structures of play and communication, adaptable for the educational or work environment Actor Training Ireland offers: ● Workshops and courses for students who are taking their first steps into acting, providing a strong and thorough base to develop skills in acting and performance. ● Workshops for actors who have already trained or have experience within the profession but wish to develop their own skills and their imaginative and creative process. ● Consultation and workshops in communication and education for organisations wishing to use acting skills within a context outside that of the theatre.