Actress resuming New York course

Kate Low has spent 10 weeks training at a New York drama school and has just been accepted for further study.

The 19-year-old South Cantabrian attended a summer course at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and heads back for two more years in September.

The former Craighead Diocesan High School student lived in a ‘‘tiny’’ apartment on 45th Street in west Manhattan for about $US1200 a month.

‘‘You could reach your arms [out] and touch both walls.’’

Her neighbourhood was in the theatre district and close to Times Square so she saw a few shows on Broadway including Jake Gyllenhaal in Seawall/ A Life.

‘‘New York culture is vibrant and full of life. The people are lovely, they are wrapped up in their own world but they still stop to help.’’

Low felt safe in the city with its brightly illuminated billboards and many people; the only time she felt scared was walking home alone through the darkness during a power cut.

She chose that particular drama school because of its method teaching, which is not to be confused with method acting.

Method acting is based on the actor’s experience, the teaching was based on using the actor’s imagination.

Her classes were tutored by working actors and theatre director Paul Takacks. They covered scene study, voice and speech, improvisation, film and TV and movement. Out of the 100 mostly international students in her year, two others were Kiwis.

She has calculated her return will cost about $50,000 and is working as a waitress to save as much as she can and will apply for grants as well as fundraise.

The Timaru community was very supportive last time and she hopes they will be again so she can realise her dream of being a professional stage and television actor.