Meet Joanne Baron | Training For The Dramatic Arts

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joanne Baron and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joanne, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important thing in creating success in my arena, which is acting, writing, directing, producing, and all of the performing arts, is training extensively, just as one would for all other arts such as ballet, opera, classical piano, — training with the most proven and skilled trainers. Many people don’t appreciate that acting has a disguised virtuosity, meaning it looks like it’s just talking, but the skill involved to master speech, voice, movement, along with script and character analysis is as great as deciding to become a concert violinist.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Baron Brown studio was created by Joanne Baron after training with the great William Esper in New York when she began to teach with him at his studio. Training to teach the Meisner technique, which had inspired and transformed her art and life, led to opening up the Baron Brown Studio in Santa Monica, California. Academy Award winners like Halle Berry and iconic stars like Mariska Hargitay all trained with the Baron Brown Studio, but the star of the school is really the Meisner technique, which is a profound approach to acting, writing, and directing that is accessible, healthy, and proven to get results for over 100 years. The Neighborhood Playhouse, which was Meisner’s original school, trained such legendary stars as Paul Newman, Diane Keaton, Warren Beatty, Robert Duvall, and Jack Nicholson. It is this technique, along with the teachers that are true to the Bible of that work, that make the difference at the Baron Brown Studio.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When my best friend comes to Los Angeles, I take her for a lovely lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Ivy, and if we can catch a play at the Geffen Playhouse, we do that too. After all that, we’ll take a long walk on the beach.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The teachers of Baron Brown Studio are the heroes who have literally changed our culture by sending out skilled actors, writers, directors, and producers into the world to tell important stories that change the world: Tom Patton, Lisa Milillo, Mary Riley-Itri, Sharon Hogg, Elaine Williams, D.W. Brown, Charley Boon, Andrew Gonzalez, Vilo Del Rio, and Anne Dremann. Of course, I also can’t forget the people who run our school, both of whom are alumni, and they run it with such care and give these gifted teachers a place to do all they do: Cody Harrison and Deborah Driggs.

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