1. They pester you to come back.

2. They verbally abuse you or other students.

3. They punish you unfairly (especially for things like going to the bathroom)

4. They use bribes to keep you in class.

5. They never give you constructive criticism or clear criticism, even after you ask them to clarify.

6. They ask you to sign a contract that auto-renews. 

It’s class, not an agency.

7. They don’t want to let you go, or quit their class.

8. They force you to do things you’re uncomfortable with. 

My Acting Teacher in college forced me to kiss my scene partner… after our scene had ended… in front of the  entire class. 

9. They flirts with students.

10. They ask students to appropriate an ethnicity, or make a fake identity.

11. They consistently misgender students.

12. They make students cry.

13. Classes are too large. 

10, maybe 12, is the max in my book. I want there to be enough to for me to get individual attention/critiques.

14. They aggressively mock or single out one student. 

A teacher reprimanding a student who’s late or doesn’t do their work without a valid excuse is normal. What isn’t is them raising their voice or insulting a student without good reason. Actors shouldn’t be mocked for their accents or physical attributes. And teachers shouldn’t be harder on their non-white students than their caucasian ones etc…

15. They rant more than they teach. 

16. They force you to reveal personal traumas like sexual or physical abuse to the entire class, or even just to them.

17. There’s no time for individual training.

18. Class is cancelled without sufficient notice and no replacement is provided… and Actors still have to pay for that class day.

19. They gaslight you.

I had a teacher who’d constantly gaslight me. For example, I’d say we scheduled class for this day, then they’d say that never happened. And they always blamed my poor memory… Despite me writing everything down…

(check out this link to learn what gaslighting is and how to address it)

20. There’s group feedback

You’re paying to have the teacher instruct you, not the students who are all of varying skill and experience levels, and who may or may not give you good feedback. Some students can even give bad feedback. It’s also overwhelming to get 10 critiques on 1 scene, all with different directions. It leaves the Actor unsure of where to start repairs.

21. They talk badly about other teachers and name them.

Google every Acting teacher, class, and studio before working with them. And ask other Actors who’ve taken their class how their experience was before signing up.