We had the good fortune of connecting with Mario A. Campanaro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mario A., what is the most important factor behind your success?

To say that I have always been creatively driven would be an understatement. Since my early childhood, I have always gravitated to everything and anything having to do with art, theatre, music, dance and, of course, acting. The arts are like an inexplicable magnet that not only ignites a burning passion within me to imagine, explore, question, and create but also call upon a remarkable tribe of artists to commune and do the same.

At the age of eight, I was cast in my first production and started to work with different professional acting coaches who helped me cultivate skills, nurture my artistic passions, introduce me to a whole new world of incredible cultures all the while inspiring me to possess talent for my talents. I continued to act in productions throughout my formative school years until the time finally came for me to take the next step in my process…and that was to get the very best professional acting training I could.

I went to North Carolina School Of The Arts, internationally renowned for its exquisite actor training and considered one of the top four professional actor training programs in the world by the Hollywood Reporter. For four years I studied with great discipline and commitment under the incomparable mentorship of legendary Gerald Freedman and an incredible acclaimed faculty of teachers/mentors from around the world. For four years, six days a week (sometimes seven) we trained day and night in acting, drama, mask, movement, dance, singing, period and style, comedy technique, stage combat, voice and speech, breath work, dialect work, Alexander technique, arts and context, text analysis, the art of story(living)telling, theatre history, design & production, hair & make-up, the business aspect of being an actor and, of course, modern, classical and musical performance in front of audiences.

I graduated from NCSA with a BFA in drama, moved to New York City and landed an incredible team of reps for theatre, television, film, commercials, commercial print, voiceovers, and editorial work. From there I started to build my career and had the great honor of working in noted productions both on and off Broadway and in film and television.

At around that same time, I was also invited to start teaching as a guest artist at an acting studio in midtown Manhattan. In between shows and on my days off, I would go to the studio and dive deep into the work with passionate, talented, aspiring artists of all ages hungry to continue to cultivate the craft of acting. It was through that initial teaching experience that I fell in love with teaching acting. Teaching the craft not only helps the student actor learn and grow, but it also demands that I personally, professionally and artistically continue to challenge myself to remain open as a student of life and continue to learn, grow, evolve, adapt, adjust and expand so I can be the very best artist, teacher, playwright, and director I can be.

It is through my passion and love for the craft of acting and teaching, that I opened my own acting studio, MC² Actors Studio LA | NYC | LDN which has gained international recognition and acclaim as an in-person and online conservatory-based and ensemble-oriented acting studio dedicated to the cultivation of the craft of acting for the professional actor. I am also so proud to have opened MC² Repertory Theatre Company which is a professional theatre company in association with MC² Actors Studio committed to giving a home for our ensemble members to work on and in high standard theatrical productions for both live and virtual audiences.

I believe that talent is a very precious gift that can only take the artist as far as they are willing to cultivate it, nurture it, invest in it, and put it to good use. The artist’s talent can only take them as far as the professional accountability they maintain to do something remarkable with it. There are not many professional acting jobs out there where the actor is not expected to come in well-prepared to do the work they were hired and getting paid to do. So why in the world would a professional actor ever train without the intent of those same professional demands?

Our work, this thing called Acting, is not for the faint of heart. And it is not trivial or substance-less. It is pregnant with the human condition! And with that invested, mindful, committed work, we must remember that the word ACT means TO DO! And the artist perseveres when it may make sense to want to crumble. The artist perseveres because by the very nature of being an artist is to create…to move forward…to give birth to something from something and because of something.

We at MC² Actors Studio believe that when an actor commits to training at our studio, they must always hold the intention of training, studying, exercising and doing the work with the same accountability, commitment, work-ethic, investment, responsibility, respect, professionalism, standard, skill, consistency and demand that the professional world expects and demands. There is no point in training, studying, exercising and doing the work unless what is being learned, exercised and cultivated is applicable for the professional actor to do professional work for when professional opportunities arise.

Whether it be in-person or online, our studio sets a very high standard when it comes to our training program and what we offer all of our students. Our instructors use their powerfully effective and intuitive individual teaching style in combination with the ingenious methods of Stanislavsky, Hagen, Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, Chekhov, Freedman, Linklater, Rosenburg, and Alexander.

All MC² Actors Studio classes are structured for the professionally oriented actor. We are excited about working with diverse, professionally-minded actors that are passionate about nurturing their talent and committed to the craft of acting. All ensemble members are invited to study at the studio based on a New Ensemble Member Studio Entry Enrollment Interview. The interview consists of a 10-15 minute conversation with one of our masterclass teachers to learn about the prospective ensemble member’s background, training and relationship to the work before receiving an invite into one of our ensembles and to study at the studio. There is also the opportunity during the interview process for the prospective ensemble member to ask any questions they may have about the studio, its approach to the work and the expectations as an invited ongoing MC² Actors Studio ensemble member.

All actors are placed into a specific ensemble based on their studio entry interview. Each ensemble is carefully put together based on the actor’s acting background, experience, skill, training and professional objectives. This is to be sure that each class is solidified working at a congruent level allowing for a forward momentum as the work and ensemble progresses.

Once each ensemble is formed, that specific ensemble comes together each week to wholeheartedly cultivate and strengthen the craft..and all aspects of what an actor’s work demands. Actors are paired up by their specific instructor and then have to choose or are assigned a scene/exercise that excites, stimulates, and challenges his or her or their instrument. Scene work will always be from a well-written play that is age-appropriate, well-characterized, and contains a multitude of stakes and challenges within the circumstances.

Actors will receive their scene partner, assignments and/or acting exercises two weeks before their first class on that specific text. Each group is then required to do all the necessary work on their scene or exercise. That includes all of the text analysis, the break down of given circumstances, becoming grounded in the character’s spine/through-line/super-objective, identifying the action of the scene, formulating actable objectives, identifying obstacles, understanding intentions, viscerally endowing the stakes/relationships/objects/environment, creating environment, making strong and specific physical/vocal/psychological/emotional choices, choosing appropriate character attire and then marrying all that work with personalization, imagery, substitution, emotional recall, as if’s, all the crucial endowment work for all of the aforementioned…In other words, any and all necessary steps an actor must implement to bring any given text alive.

Actors must significantly rehearse their scene or exercise with their partner(s) before getting up into the space in order to get the most out of their time. This is to test the work the actor has done on their own and then, more importantly, drop it so as to live and experience what all that work has done for their instrument in relationship to the circumstances within the unknown of the moment with their partner(s). It is required for all scenes to be off book for the first week. Actors remain with their scene partner(s) exploring the world of each assigned play and scene for four weeks. Each ensemble’s class meets once a week and each class is four and a half to five hours long. There are always four classes in each month unless a holiday happens to fall on a given class day.

When it comes to all of our online classes, we implement the use of green screens for all scene work so that our ensemble members continue to explore environment in a new and exciting way while also developing this necessary skill clearly happening in our modern digital/CGI film and television mediums. The camera never lies, and with close ups in mind (or even a self tape), it demands that the actor fully endow the utmost truth and authenticity within all of the givens of the text and the unknown of each and every moment. It challenges the actor to go deeper and deeper in order to honestly reveal the life of the givens through their one-of-a-kind instrument.

When the actor truly begins to understand the craft of acting in a visceral, practical, tangible, executable, HUMAN way…and how it mirrors the way we humans live in this beautifully complex thing we call LIFE…they can begin to experience the delicious breath of freedom it provides.

Craft is meant to free the actor so they can truly live moment to unknown moment circumstantially. The craft of acting provides the ability to be CONSISTENT in the work. That consistency supports the actor’s ability to truly listen through the filter of the character’s wants and needs and therefore have stimulated justified circumstantial, responses, reactions, instincts, impulses and spontaneity within the gap of the moment.

Craft allows for the actor’s talent to be married to skill. The actor’s skill makes it possible for their instrument to experience the freedom of living the character’s life as it unfolds moment to unknown moment…as oppose to their hope white knuckling onto luck that it will all go well and the magic might happen.

The craft of acting provides the backbone of confidence for the actor to know like they know like they know that it will go well each and every night or each and every take…Because the actor’s endowed skill fully supports the work and provides the security that the actor can truly live moment to unknown moment as a given story and its circumstances unfold.

When the actor really experiences that kind of freedom in the work, the initial passion, love, and inner joy that attracted them to this glorious art form…The Craft Of Acting…inevitably grows stronger and brighter.

That’s what craft does. But it is a craft. It is a skill. It is a profession. One that demands constant learning, exploration, discovery, experience, growth and evolution…Just as this beautifully complex thing we call LIFE does.

One very important point that I always speak of at our studio, MC² Actors Studio, is that Life will always be the most potent, informative and powerful acting teacher any actor will ever study with. Life itself gets all the credit and acclaim! What we do, story-telling(living), is a mirror or reflection of life. It is there reflecting the human condition generation to generation. We will always connect with the things that we relate to. And those things will always be the stimulus that create story. One’s life may not always be all all about acting…but their acting will always be all about LIFE.

As a playwright and director, I believe that art is not always meant to be comfortable, but I truly believe it is always meant to be of service…at least that is what keeps my heart beating as an artist. As we all know, life is not an easy journey…and some…or dare I say…too many…walk through Hades along the way…but my hope is that my plays help them to know that they are not alone.

I am very thrilled for three of my newest plays to go into production soon!

OVER THE F#(%!NG RAINBOW, SOMEWHERE: A rollercoaster of a journey about two broken souls trying desperately to survive their traumatic past…a past that may seem completely unimaginable to many…but is devastatingly a reality for others. And those others have names…names like Bridger and Cat. The play takes place in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Bridger and Cat choose to anonymously connect with each other one hot rainy summer night through a fetish chatroom only to unexpectedly experience their traumas surface in front of each other’s very eyes. They are both triggered by the weight of their own personal stories, an inexplicable history that has been held in forced secret, resulting in an unlikely but likely connection. This happenstance instigates, agitates, encourages and inspires their own personal uphill battle toward their version of peace…a peace that exists somewhere special where they can be embraced and hydrated by safety, security, protection, trust, nurturing, open heartedness and altruistic love…somewhere where all of those elements can quite possibly meet together at once…Maybe it really is Over The F#(%!ng Rainbow, Somewhere.

I’M FINE MABEL: A landline telephone, a secret pie recipe, prima-apple red lipstick, a white dress shirt, a cemetery, a small little blue box, a toy kitchenette set, an overzealous Sunday school teacher, a big misunderstanding…lots and lots of sugar and honey….and a huge mess in the kitchen…I’M FINE MABEL is a zany dark comedy set in the deep south in the early 1960s which follows three very colorful women; red-haired Dottie, black-haired Mabel, and strawberry blonde-haired Little Rhonda, as they deal with a mountain of unexpected and unfair life obstacles, individual losses, and strive in their own creative and rather unorthodox ways, to “fix” the betrayals certain folks have caused in their lives.

SINCERELY. SERIOUSLY: Set in the 1980’s, Christmas evening on the West Side Highway of New York City, streetwalker Fabulousity spends the holiday walking the boulevard of broken dreams grasping onto the one thing that keeps her walking the walk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

Everyday I count my blessings to be able to do what I have always dreamt about and loved doing since childhood. Even though it is a lot of work at times, it never feels like work to me. Even though there are days that I am exhausted, there is nothing more fulfilling that getting exhausted by doing the thing you love to do. I say this to all my students: “What you crave is your calling…What you miss is your mission…What you are tested by will create your testimony. So go out there…Remain disciplined and accountable…Work Hard…Believe in yourself and your talents…And make it happen…Go do it!”

I am not sure that anything about the human experience is a very smooth road. There will always be challenges. Especially when it comes to those things that truly mean something to us and that we really want. I guess that is because wherever and whenever the heart and soul are involved, the road seems to be that much more unpaved. It is almost as if the Universe is saying, “Ok…if you really want it, I’m going to make you work for it to be sure you really want it.” And I think that is important because it is through all of our trials and tribulations, that we formulate our purpose and greatest inspirations for what we are able to create and contribute to the world.

I had said time and time again to all of our ensemble members, actors, students, clients and in many interviews I have done…and I will say it here now again because I truly believe it:

“Sometimes we are going to have to walk through our very own Hades in order to get to our very own Utopia. We may endure a lot. We may even find ourself suffering at times. But if we keep persevering…If we keep sight of what we want…If we keep on believing in what we are doing…If we simply do not give up…We usually find that all that hardship pays it forward by bringing something profoundly fulfilling into our Life. We may want to cry at times because it hurts so bad…And then we may want to laugh until it hurts simply because we got through it when we never thought we would or could. And once we make it out of that fire, we will finally see all the beauty hidden within the ashes. Each of us has our very own story of strife and struggle. And each of us has the potential for our own very deserving and awe-inspiring victory. I truly believe that we are way more powerful than we have been led to believe. The only way to lose sight of the dream is by simply giving up on it. So…No matter what obstacles show up at our door, all I can say is Do. Not. Give. Up!”

For me that showed up in my life as a life threatening illness. It caused me to taste every single symptom one could imagine. Physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual. I used everything that I had within me and went all over the globe to find answers, a way to conquer this “thing” that was trying to take me out. Sometimes I did some pretty crazy treatments, but I deeply wanted to stay here. I wanted Life. I had too much to do on this earth and wanted to make a difference.

I can honestly say it made me who I am today. It made me extremely strong as well as extremely sensitive. All those obstacles that it presented, all those hard and treacherous times have actually been the stepping stones to where I am today. They generously formulated the way I teach, write, direct and work in all I do. Those circumstances have blessed me with the compassion, insight, wisdom, and understanding of the human condition in a way that I would not be able to had I not been through those tough times.

I am not going to say that I did not lose a lot along the way. I did. I lost a lot. But those things were not meant to stick around. But, instead, I gained much more than I could have ever imagined. Those obstacles helped me understand life more. They helped me appreciate life more. They helped me understand others so much more. I not only witnessed and experienced my own suffering but was in the company of so many others suffering inexplicably. It opened me up. It opened my heart. It helped me taste many aspects of life that many of us try to push away or pretend as if they don’t exist.

When I think back, I have to chuckle because the whole time I have been on the healing journey, I never stopped working. I couldn’t. I needed it. It was my work that fuelled me to fight harder and try to win the battle. And everything that I have learned along this journey, however difficult, has been the key components to my work and having the ability to bring out the very best in all the artists I work with. It just gave me a more profound vocabulary of the human condition which is invaluable when it comes to the world of acting.

Throughout my childhood, I remember always being so fascinated by the powerful question “Why?”. I always wanted to understand why things were the way they were. I wanted to comprehend, as best I could, how they came to be that way and why they came to be that way. And that kind of questioning really started to inspire me to watch, listen and observe everything around me and start to draw my own conclusion of things through my individual experience and lens of perception of them. I wasn’t so interested in “being taught” as I was motivated by “learning” through experience. I found that the more I questioned everything, the more I was given the opportunity to “quest” into circumstances that were way beyond my small circle of everyday life. That kind of questioning allowed me the permission to daydream and use my imagination to see, feel, hear, smell and taste the possible historical circumstances surrounding whatever I was considering at the time.

I quickly learned that it is actually our obstacles that formulate our actions in the pursuit of our objectives. And everything that is done or acted upon, is usually happening because someone is trying to maintain or improve whatever circumstances they are in at the moment. And wherever and whenever there is inspired justified motivation there is a story where everything and anything is possible. Putting this together in my head as a youngster, made me start to see that the human spirit is resilient when it is really going after a want or need.

My work was/is my “Why” that was/ is the fire responsible for me doing all I can in mind, body and soul to conquer any obstacles I am confronted with and pursue what I aim to do with great purpose throughout my time on this big beautiful complex marble we call Earth.

“WHAT WE CRAVE IS OUR CALLING. WHAT WE MISS IS OUR MISSION. AND WHAT WE ARE TESTED BY WILL BE OUR TESTIMONY.”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
One of my favourite things to do is get a coffee at The Grove/Farmer’s Market and then go for a nice long peaceful drive on Sunset toward the PCH and take in the beautiful view of the beach/ocean. After that, maybe catch an early dinner at Cafe Gratitude or Electric Karma and then go see a show at The Mark Taper Forum or Geffen Playhouse.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have to thank all the incredible teachers, mentors and artists who have inspired my journey, expansion and growth. Teachers like Konstantin Stanislavski, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg, Gerald Freedman, Cigdem Onat, Bob Francesconi, Yury Belov, Tanya Belov, Marty Rader, Matthew Bulluck, Mollie Murray, Mary Irwin, Robert Beseda, Felix Ivanov, Jacklyn Maddux, Barney Hammond, Lesley Hunt, Dale Girard, Mary Zimmerman, John Dillon, Michael Breault, Joe Mantello, Stan Barber, Randy Grauerholz, Elaine Ricardelli, Darlene Yannetta, and of course my parents Phyllis & Mario Campanaro.

Website: www.mc2actorsstudio.com

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Other: MC² Actors Studio Masterclass Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mc2actorsstudiomasterclass MC² Actors Studio TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mc2actorsstudio MC² Actors Studio’s The Ensemble Shop: https://shop.mc2actorsstudio.com MC² Actors Studio Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/mc2actorsstudio?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfmc2actorsstudio_27ATYB9N7CM071706SA1 MC² Repertory Theatre Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mc2repertorytheatreco MC² Repertory Theatre Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mc2actorsstudio

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