Our Staff

Valerie Adami
Owner and operator of Weist-Barron Studios.

For more info, visit Valerie on LinkedIn.

"When I'm not pursuing acting voice-over and print jobs I help out around the school. The fancy name would be "administrative assistant" but we all share the same tasks, answering the phone, offering guidance to students, setting up studios etc. I've found Weist-Barron to be a home away from home. The company is pleasant, the students are eager and gifted, the atmosphere is convivial ... (just don't bring food, chewing-gum or beverage into the class-rooms. Only bottled water). Seriously, the place is a treasure chest of good teachers, most of whom I've studied with. And the price is absolutely right! I'd heard of Weist Barron from the first days I came to New York, almost twenty years ago, and met Valerie on an AFTRA "open-door". She sent me on an audition ... and the rest is a heartwarming romance novel. Now she's stuck with me."

"Only about ten percent of your career is actual acting. The other ninety percent is about getting the job. To that end actors need to keep training, keep marketing and most importantly keep their drive and ambition alive and stoked. Everyone here at WB is about supporting the actors dream. The harder you work, the harder we'll work with you. I came here like so many other looking to for some on-camera training. I found a whole environment of information, creativity and networking possibilities. Today I am working on camera, you seen me in numerous commercials and I never stop chasing the next job."

Our Instructors

The audition, so much is at stake it's hard to "have fun" which is what everyone tells you to have. As you become a player in the audition field you're going to be sent, or be handed a script to read. It might be just a few words or sentences, it might be pages. How do you get the words off the page and do what you love to do ...act? My specialty is working with actors who are just starting to audition. I'm giving you the tools to de-mystify script analysis and make the strong "choices" everyone is always talking about. I was lucky to study with Michael Shurtleff who wrote the timeless book AUDITION. Get it, read it, then take my class and put those "Guideposts" to work for you. WB offers more advanced Audition courses with prominent casting directors. Before you work with them, get a solid hold on cold readings then get out and start auditioning on your own. Every audition informs you about your strengths and weaknesses. I tell my students the first day 'You're going to be better by the end of these four classes, not just because I'm a good teacher, but because you're actively involved in the practice of cold reading.' The more you do it, the more you can have fun. Philosophy - Never underestimate the strength of your personality. We're not just hiring an actor, we're looking to work with someone who brings their best game to the table.

I’ve been teaching at Weist Barron for over 30 years. I began as a student and succeeded in booking TV Commercials and Industrial Films right away. Then Bob Barron gave me the opportunity to teach a “practice class” and that grew into a remarkable career as a teacher and an actor that even surprised myself.

As an actor I continue to work in the theater and film. Recent film credits : “Extinction GMO Chronicles” in Germany, principle role/dialect coach. DeNiro’s “The Good Shepherd” principle contract. Some TV Commercials and Industrial Films: Nabisco Chips Ahoy, Denquel Toothpaste, Burger King, Roy Rogers, Macy’s, Luzianne Cajun Dinners, Campbell’s Soup, American Express, HMO Health Plan, IBM, Midas Theatre: Off Broadway, the critically acclaimed revival of “Room Service” at the Soho Playhouse, plus many tours and regional theatre credits across the country from the Dorset Theatre Festival in Vermont to the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

In 1996 I did an On-Camera Workshop for the Filmstiftung Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany and since that time my teaching in Europe has expanded to include workshops at the Film Acting School, Cologne, Germany; the Filmschule Wien and the Baden Filmschule in Vienna, Austria; FAMU in Prague, Czech Republic; Selfspot, a film workshop in the Hague, the Netherlands and at the Skena Up Theatre and Film Festival in Prishtina, Kosova. In the USA: at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU; the University of California, Irvine and many more.

Currently at Weist Barron I continue to teach the TV Commercial workshops and to coach privately. These past few years I’ve worked with prominent news and sportscasters, authors and athletes among them: Susan Waldman, WFAN and the New York Yankees; Kitty Pilgrim, CNN; Leslie Dodson& Carole Vaporean, Reuters Business News; and Dan Elias, The Antiques Road Show, WGHB, Boston

Teaching Philosophy
Learning to act in not a mystery. It is a process. You must be patient with yourself and be willing to practice and practice and practice some more!

The camera is a great learning tool. It gives you the opportunity to look at yourself objectively and to discern if your behavior is immediate and real.

So you take a journey of awareness. You learn to trust and behave in an honest way, giving up control and especially the idea of how you think you should behave.

I’ve always try to follow the words of Khalil Gebran, “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

For more info, visit Jerry's website.

Gail Dennison began performing improv in NYC almost twenty years ago. The groups she has performed with include "ForPlay Improvised Theatre", "Off-The -Cuff", "The Pollyannas" and "The Sunday Night Improv Jam". She founded the all-women sketch-comedy group "Womedy", and went on to perform and write her own one-woman-show entitled "That Gail" (scripting characters she had previously improvised). She took "That Gail" to various performance art venues including Dixon Place, the Knitting Factory and Fringe Festivals in both NYC and Madrid, Spain. She is a founding member and currently performing with the all-women comedy group "The Heartless Floozies". She has taught Improv for programs at Brooklyn College, PPAS, ACTeen, and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). In addition to performing in theatre throughout the city, she has numerous commercials and "Law and Order, Criminal Intent" to her credit. She is currently performing an improvised comedy-variety show entitled "Judy's House", the most recent production at The Abingdon Theatre Company.

Teaching Philosophy
Actors may be relaxed when performing a role, but "freeze up" when in an interview, or when asked to "make it their own" after being given written material. Improvisation helps actors feel relaxed, confident, and comfortable bringing themselves into the room when interviewing and/or auditioning. The basics of improvisation (agreement, yes/and work and making your scene partner(s) look good) are tools that work in numerous situations. Improv skills come in handy when auditioning/performing as an actor, and when performing in life as well!

A trade show spokesman for RCA, Ticketron, Mergenthaler, and Linotype. Appeared in commercials for NBC Entertainment, training films for Video Tutorial Service and in various roles on One Life to Live. Recently he served as a coach for on-camera talent on PBS' Secrets of the New Master Chefs and various infomercials.

Johnny Heller is a 2009 and a 2005 Audie Award winner with numerous Audie nominations. He has been praised for his adult, personal development, history, comedy and children's book narrations. Named a top voice of 2009 and 2008 and selected one of the Top 50 Narrators of the 20th Century by AudioFile Magazine, Heller is a multiple Golden Earphone Award winner.

Johnny is a Best Audio Book of 2008 and 2009 winner and a 2008 and 2009 Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award Winner.

The Library Journal says Heller has “the voice of a master storyteller.”
AudioFile Magazine calls him "the best narrator for children's books around”. His narration skills led the School Library Journal to say: "Listening to Heller is so much fun it's difficult to imagine simply reading the book.” And AudioFile says: “Heller makes nonfiction as thrilling as any action-adventure.”

Teaching Philosophy
I like to work with actors at their level. I don’t come with preconceived notions or expectations. We’ll work together to find your strengths and your weaknesses and how to feature one and overcome the other.

I need to see where you are and what your instincts tell you. Then we work together to make a better read – to find the best way to bring the book to life and get the job. And we have fun doing it.

Too many actors approach the voice over world without a thought to their training; without approaching it like they would a role in a play. But it is a role! You are all the characters in the story and you have a tale to tell.

My class will help you approach the story from the author’s point of view. The actor is the conduit for the author’s voice. My class will help you understand what audio book narration is about and how to get the job and do the job well.

We’ll explore the audio book experience and discuss what’s expected of you and how to exceed those expectations. It ain’t rocket science – it’s acting. You’ll learn by working with books you select and enjoy and you’ll be directed to make new choices to bring the author’s truth to the listener.

Most importantly, we’ll discuss the business and the craft. You’ll understand why certain choices work and others don’t and you’ll approach your next opportunity with confidence -- and confidence is what sets you up to succeed.

I’ve been teaching and coaching commercial voice over and audio book narration for many years. I make my living in this business and I will teach you the same process that works for me and has worked for me for 25 years. It’s all about your focus and understanding the work. It’s about how we approach each book and how we connect with the writer’s imagination.

I promise you’ll work, learn and have an excellent time!

For more info, visit Johnny's website.

Bill Hopkins is a filmmaker, writer/director and teacher who lives and works in New York City.

As a teacher he specializes in Film acting and directing. He teaches Film acting at The Stella Adler Studio, the Lee Strasberg Institute, Weist-Barron Studio, Fairleigh Dickenson University, The Ghetto Film School and privately at his Studio in Manhattan, The Camera Lab NYC. He teaches Film directing at the School of Visual Arts and at his studio in Manhattan.

He recently directed a Pilot episode of “Port 80” for ABC/ESPN, He is directing two web series “Skipping Rocks” and “Sherry’s Kitchen”.

He recently produced two pilots of The SyFy Channel, “D-Man” and “Dale Crawford” and is writing a commissioned screenplay, “Pink Bike.” He produced and directed over 30 documentary and archive films for The Actors Studio. He has directed and written screenplays for feature films, documentaries, commercials and corporate films.

In the theatre world he has worked as a director and producer. The venues include, The Iowa Theatre Lab, TRG Repertory, Robert Wilson, Al Carmines, The Manhattan Theatre Club, The Women’s Project, Circle Repertory and Equity Library Theatre.

Artistic Statement
Those of us who work in the world of Film and Television in the early 21st Century are still pioneers of a young art form. Unlike Western music, writing, dance and the fine arts, all of them developed over thousands of years, ours is slightly over 100 years old and we are still developing it’s esthetic.

I take the approach that while we must acknowledge our debt to theatre we must now embrace the unique plasticity of Cinema and technology and know where this borderline is and move beyond it, and to use or discard what is relevant to our new art form.

I teach film acting and directing as an immersion experience; by getting students up and shooting and acting with very little time spent analyzing and discussing what is happening while we are working.

Pedagogy happens outside of the shooting time itself.

Film acting especially, is an intuitive art and must be practiced without the kind of “actor management” that stage actors can get away with. Film acting is not “transformational” like the stage is.

It is variations on the theme of “who the actor is”.

While Film Directors must do the homework of organizing, strategizing and planning; once the director is on the set they must also be working with as much instinct as their performers.

For more info, visit Bill's website.

Batt Johnson Bio An award-winning actor, communication consultant, acting teacher, Argentine tango teacher, broadcaster, media coach, and author. Batt has worked in many plays, films, TV commercials. Some commercials include Pepsi, Norelco, Wisk, McDonalds, Sears, Kodak, Burger King, Eastern Airlines, Wendy’s, TJ Maxx, Today’s Man, JC Penny, Charles Schwab, and more. His corporate films include: Exxon, AT&T, Bristol Meyers-Squibb, IBM, Merrill Lynch, American Express, Sony, Prudential Insurance, Continental Airlines in-flight video, Aetna Casualty, Chase Bank, Dreyfus Fund, Merck & Co; Warner Lambert and many more.

Batt teaches commercials, media/hosting and voice-overs at WB and coaches corporate clients on speech and presentation skills, NBA players in media training. He is an adjunct instructor of public speaking at NYU, Cornell University and The New York Institute of Technology.
He was a national host and writer for VH-1 Music Television (MTV Networks), a writer and co-host on Only One New York on PBS, co-anchored Campus America (NCTV Networks), national home shopping host on Q2 Television (QVC Networks). Every year he writes, acts and dances in a theatrical production of The Tango Zone.

He is the author of Powerful Principles for Presenters: Tips for Public Speakers Using Proven Communication Techniques from Commercials, Television and Film Professionals, What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: Insights and Opinions From The Players and Rich and Famous in Thirty Seconds: Inside Secrets to Achieving Financial Success in Television and Radio Commercials, a television commercial acting book and is writing his next book, SCORE! With the Media: A Media Training Manual for Professional Athletes. He wrote articles for Japan’s jazz magazine, Swing Journal, dance articles for ReporTango Magazine and pop music reviews for the Kansas City Star newspaper. Batt has an extensive broadcasting background.

His awards include the Bronze Medal in the New York Film and Video Festival for an Eastern Airlines TV commercial, Clio Award nominee for Maryland, New York, and Arizona State Lottery TV commercials, co-wrote and performed a character voice for Tactel Cellular Phones winning a Mic Award for creative excellence and two International Film and Television Festival awards for American Express and Gulfstream Aeronautical corporate films.

Batt studied at the Actors Playhouse, HB Studios, The Weist-Barron School of Television, Reed-Sweeny-Reed the Teachers and The Bill Wade School of Radio and Television Broadcasting earning his first class FCC license. He holds a BA in Media Studies and Social Theory and an MA in Communications Arts and Sciences. His hobbies include international travel, language studies and Argentine tango.

His philosophy is simple: Acting is recreating human behavior. We were born human and have been behaving since before we left the womb. Therefore, if it is true that acting is recreating human behavior, then we know ALMOST everything we need to know about acting. We just don't know that we know.

For more info, visit Batt's website.

Michael Laibson is an Emmy winning Producer of Daytime Dramas. Over the past twenty years, he has led the creative teams at All My Children, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and Another World.  He started in the business as an actor, working at many theatres in New York in productions ranging from classical to musical.  He directed productions of Loveliest Afternoon of the Year, Thieves, and Loneliest Game in Town, before moving into Television Production. Michael directed the award winning production of The Savior of Fenway at the New York International Fringe Festival, the critically acclaimed Christopher Durang play, Laughing Wild for the Garage Theatre in Teaneck, NJ, and most recently the revival of Eugene O"Neil’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Anna Christie at the Tank Theatre in Manhattan.Michael has been teaching Acting for the Camera at Weist- Baron for almost twenty years.  He also teaches at Montclair State University in New Jersey, Primary Stages and the New York Film Academy in Manhattan, and has lectured on the "Business of the Business" at various venues, including the New Actors Workshop. For more info, visit Michael's IMDb page.

Chris Lutkin has been teaching camera-acting since 1995. Working with theater-oriented actors who have been trained in all the acting disciplines (Stanislavski, Adler, Meisner, et al) and beginning actors with no training, Chris has developed a practical approach that allows all actors to fully understand their relationship with the camera. Chris had taught at various studios in Manhattan, including Stone Street Studios, The Lee Strasberg Institute & Weist-Barron Studios. He has also instructed his Camera Technique and the Improv Actor classes at the Kansas City Improv Festival and the Chicago Improv Festival.

For more info, visit his website.

Frank is the Creative Partner of Hurricane Development, a developer of screenplays and spec scripts for film and TV. He is also associated with the Austin Lawrence Group, an advertising and PR company in New York, Connecticut and the UK. Prior to that, Frank was the Business Manager and Production Head for ten years with Hylen Sharp Advertising in Manhattan, which was affiliated with Hachette Filipachi Magazines (Elle, Premiere, Woman’s Day, Road & Track, Car Stereo Review to name a few.) and whose client list was SONY, JVC, ONKYO, MB QUART, MIRAMAX Films, October Films, World Wrestling Entertainment. For HFM, Hylen Sharp developed SONY Style Magazine as well as INDIE Magazine, a bi-monthly publication about the growing Independent Film business. Frank was the Managing Editor. Frank also worked for The Listening Library, the original company to put books on an audio medium. Guest readers were Meryl Streep, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, to name a few

Frank has “guest directed” stage at Manhattanville College and instructed Theater at Sacred Heart University. Frank is also an adjunct stage director & on-camera instructor at Western Connecticut State University. He was a Technical Theater instructor for The Greenwich, CT Board of Education. He is also an instructor and director of Theatre, Film Appreciation, Art of the Cinema and Dramatic Writing for The Stamford Board of Education Continuing Ed Program. Aside from On-Camera Acting Technique, Frank also chairs “Reel Writers” a weekly workshop for screenwriters, and other dramatic writers.

Frank is the Producing Artistic Director and co-founder of the Acme Stage Company, the former Artistic Director of New York’s Theatre Ten Ten, and former Managing Artistic Director of the Oakwood Players Theater in Los Angeles. He directed many Summer & Regional Theater productions in New England. But, his great love as a director is collaborating with authors on the development of new works.

Frank’s training is as diverse as his directing credits, having studied at the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts with actors Bruce Dern and Gordon Phillips; trained with Bob Balaban and Austin Pendleton at the Hartman Theatre Company Conservatory, and again with the prestigious Broadway director Jose Quintero at New York’s Van Dam Theater, the acclaimed Shakespearean actor Morris Carnovsky and well-known actor/author, Delia Salvi, in Los Angeles; “Shakespeare” with Sarah Keevill and Mary Johnson of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Stanislavsky Acting Technique with Beatrice Heddericg. His cinema training includes studies at the University of Bridgeport with Michael Kerbel, Warren Bass, Anton Wilson and Richard Neubert.

Frank has memberships and associations in the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, The Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America, east.
 

Maggie Reed is the proud recipient of an M.F.A. in Acting from Cornell University and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of CA at Santa Cruz. She specializes in teaching Comedy, Monologues, and On-Camera Acting Technique in SitCom and Film/TV. She believes in what her mentor, Stephen Book (Improvisation Technique), says, "Acting is Doing. And there's always more to do." Big on script analysis and freeing the actor to be in the moment with proven techniques in comedy and film/TV, Maggie shares her high energy and devotion to serving each actor's individual needs. Catch her on the HBO series Mildred Pierce, the Emmy-nominated GothamTheSeries.com, all the Law and Orders, Seinfeld, Star Trek TNG, Golden Girls, etc.

For more info, including theatre awards and private coaching in person or on Skype, visit her website.

I’ve worked on both sides of the commercial process, the production side, and the ad agency side and cast commercials, voice-overs, print and industrials. Just to name a few offices I spent time with Steve Horn, Richard Donner and John Gulliner. Some of the ad agencies; DMB&B (10 yrs.), BBD&O, Grey, Saatchi, and Publicis. Cast not only all over NYC, but also all over NY State for the I Love New York spots. Cast from New York all across the country to San Francisco and may states in between. Up and down the Eastern seacoast from Boston to Fla. to Puerto Rico. Some of the other casting jobs; Pepsi, Bounty, Revlon, AT&T, MTV, Video Awards, NYC Ballet, Country-Time Lemonade, Hershey's, AT&T, Pampers, HBO, Bank of New York, Channel 7 Eyewitness News, Pampers, DeBeers Diamonds, Uncle Ben's, McDonalds, Dawn, Excedrin, Budweiser, Nyquil, Always, and many many more.

Jeffrey Zeiner has an impressive list of students who are currently working in film, television and on stage. Included are students starring on soaps and recipients of Broadway’s theater World Award. His technique prepares the actor for all media, but especially equips the artist to give powerfully gripping performances on camera with minimal rehearsal.

He brings to his teaching a varied and interesting background in the theater. He spent thirteen years as a successful New York talent agent, has extensive experience as a casting director, producer, director and as an actor. His classes have been consistently filled for over twenty years.

The Approach
Jeffrey prepares the contemporary actor for the contemporary marketplace. Using a disciplined improvisational approach, Zeiner inspires the actor to use the “script” as a vehicle for each actor’s own dramatic imagination. In classes, students work with original dramatic outlines written by Mr. Zeiner. They give the actor valuable opportunities to recognize, commit to, and play the drama without dialogue dependency. When applied to the written script, Zeiner’s approach gives the actor the confidence and skills to make strong committed choices very quickly. This allows the actor to then use the dialogue to honestly act the drama created by the playwright.