An institution in the New York acting world since the late 1980s, the Atlantic Theater began their Conservatory program in our humble West Coast hamlet in January 2007.

Three months long and fifteen hours per week, the Conservatory class focuses on acting for the camera, voice, movement, and business, the latter of which should come in handy whether or not “this acting thing,” as your mother likes to call it when you’re out of the room, pans out. The Atlantic also offers a part-time program in the summer for two months, where students study the “Practical Aesthetics” technique developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy, both of whom were founders of the Atlantic (along with Macy's desperate housewife Felicity Huffman). Be prepared for a little East Coast prejudice: the Master Classes are designed for the New York Atlantic graduates, and L.A. Conservatory students must have completed two years at the New York Atlantic Theater or New York University. —Tara Tyson