My Journey With My Students — Jency Griffin Hogan

I started this school in 2013, and I never knew how much mothering people’s creative gifts I would do through becoming an acting coach. When I first started this school I was focused on teens, and I had a class of six girls that would come every Wednesday. And in that class were a few girls that studied with me all the way through their high school years— starting at age 11, all the way to 18. The class really was an inspiration for me that I needed at the time, and I really found out that I loved teaching acting through it. Two of the girls even became like daughters to me and we ended up making a film together. Sara Summers was 15 at the time and Hadley Rinaudo was only 13 when they wrote their first short film, Bamboo House. Hadley’s grandfather had just passed away and we ended up memorializing him through the film.

In 2016, I started the adult class, where I taught Meisner technique. As I developed the class I realized that most actors wanted to experience being on camera, so I ended up blending the class into a half acting technique-half on camera technique class. THe adults surprised me with their passion for acting. Many students from LSU were coming to check out my class. In 2020, when we built our dream studio, we created an acting studio on the second floor that really unlocked the future of the school. The placement of the doors and closets were all specially designed for a proscenium style classroom. The proscenium stage provides a great opportunity for improv and scene work. Once we offically had our new studio and the classes were listed online, more actors started coming and we doubled in number. The relationships that the students were starting to build among themselves encouraged me that the class was not only a place for learning acting but a social outlet for artists craving connection with people like themselves.

Most actors that come to Love Acting stay between one and three years. They develop their career through opportunities and enjoy the bonding experience of the Showcase that happens every year in March. I feel like I get to know my students in a deep way, and I’ve had the privilige to watch many of them blossom as creatives, uncovering not only their acting talents, but their writing, directing, filmmaking desires.