Offering classes ranging from the practical—“Acting”—to the abstract—“Sensory Workshop"—The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute has been a training ground for the kind of actor that talks about his “craft” for almost 40 years.

The process of being accepted to The Strasberg Institute is as rigorous as that medical-school application you never finished, plus a headshot. But the benefits for those accepted include accent reduction, film fighting techniques, and improvisational prowess. Strasberg is considered to be the originator of The Method, a kind of, you guessed it, method acting based on the Stanislavski System, and the Strasberg Institute’s curriculum is founded on this realistically emotional approach to acting. The academic calendar includes part-time classes that run for three months all the way up to full-time classes that run for one year. As one would expect when actors percolate together long enough, students at Strasberg recently formed a production company, cleverly called The Group, that stages workshops and full shows open to the public. —Tara Tyson