New Acting Class to be Offered by Ed Schiff

You’re never too old to learn something new.

Beginning this year, Livingston’s Senior, Youth and Leisure Services has combined with the Board of Education to create the Livingston School of Continuing Education.  One of the classes being offered will be Introduction to Acting, taught by Broadway, television and movie actor Ed Schiff.  The class will entail acting lessons, and scene and monologue workshops.

The class, which starts on Monday, October 15, will be taught for six consecutive Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. at Livingston High School in Room A-200.  While the first class will be held this Monday, students may still join the class by Oct. 22.

“We will emphasize the actor’s mantra of living truthfully under the imaginary circumstances in our workshops,” Schiff said in a statement.  “I was fortunate enough to have studied with some of the most influential acting teachers of our time and my approach to developing actors is an eclectic one, combining aspects from what I have learned over the past 50 years.”

Schiff has resided in Livingston for the past decade and has spent recent years working near home and in New York.  He has been in show business for five decades as a professional actor, director, playwright and producer participating in blockbuster movies such as “War of the Worlds” to Broadway’s “The Black Picture Show” to television’s “One Life to Live” and “Grapevine”.

Schiff has also founded five professional theaters and was a Resident Professional Theatre Associate at Cornell University and the Distinguished Artist at Bergen Community College.

As a theater director, Schiff has brought over 50 professional plays to production, including plays starring many famous stars such as Broderick Crawford, Robert Morse, Bob Denver and Mamie Van Doren.

Recently, Schiff was seen on stage as Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind at the Holmdel Theatre Company; as Frank Gianelli in “Over the River and Through the Woods” at Morristown’s Bickford Theatre; in the title role in “Da” at Long Branch’s Shadow Lawn Theatre, and as Richard in “The Seafarer” for the Tri-State Actors Theatre.

In addition to learning the skills that it takes to be an actor, Schiff’s acting workshop will also include a guide to getting work in show business.

“The best education is on the boards itself,” says Mr. Schiff. “The actor must get out there and work to be able to grow.  And I like to include the business of show in my workshops.”

Residents can register their class by going to the SYLS website or by calling Liliana Branquinho at (973)-535-7925, ext. 260.  Residents can also e-mail Liliana at lbranquinho@livingstonnj.org.