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Paula taught private, group classes and seminars from 2006 to 2017

Paula J Riley Acting Coach

Classes include:
• Choosing and Preparing Monologues

• Scene Work
• Solo Acts for Theatre or Cabaret


My aim is to help the actor achieve the greatest possibility for the existence of nuance, through the profound understanding of character development and its inevitable progression. And to assist the person to achieve their
highest life goals.


Primary Principles of Acting (PPA), is a process I developed which engages the actor through private coaching and class work. I use improvisation and visualization as main tools. It is my goal that the actor become cognizant of those elements, which reside below our everyday awareness and utilize them in a responsible and conscious manner, awakening the true nature of the character. 

Through the PPA teaching process we will:
•   Create your “Character Core”
•   Explore your Senses
•   Awaken your Memory + Imagination
•   Take an intimate journey into human behavior by embracing the character’s “sense of truth”


The PPA process offers students opportunities in the following ways:
•   It stretches the actor’s physical and mental make-up and further deepens the actor’s awareness of life
•   It covers all aspects of “what Acting is” through a single process
•   It initiates structure, drive and integrity
•   It hands the actor a specific technique while challenging the actor’s growth potential
•   It guarantees the actor an organic result that can be readily reproduced but appears new each time it is applied

Knowing who you are is paramount in determining how you define the many colors of a given character. If you don’t have the human reference along with a craft to help transpire all that information into action, you are lost. The work of the director is central to the production of a play. The director has the challenging task of bringing together the many complex pieces of a production—the script, actors, set, costuming, lighting, sound and music—into a unified whole. The main focus of my process is called The Character Core, which helps actors perceive the character to his deepest level and to find the expression of that character through his inevitable progression throughout the play.


 Various classes, seminars and workshops offered by Paula J Riley, 2012—2016
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The Spiral Theatre Studio  • Office at 160 Madison Ave. 11D, NYC • 212-689-4362 • Email: [email protected]