Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Frame Buss.
Hi Lindsay, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2002, one year after graduating the MFA Acting program at UC San Diego, I moved from NYC to Los Angeles to study with Anthony Meindl, a relatively unknown teacher at the time renting space at a small theater on 3rd Street (now a wine bar!). It was there I discovered, not only my love of story but my love of coaching actors. I began teaching in 2004 as one of Anthony’s first co-teachers. I worked as a coach, administrator, teacher trainer, and creative liaison at Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop for 18 years, as the studio grew not only in Los Angeles but in cities around the world. I was able to travel and work in NYC, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Portland, Dallas, and, of course, Atlanta. In 2020, however, everything changed, and my family and I moved from LA to ATL. The idea for the Sustainable Actor program came to me like a lightning bolt at 3:30AM one October morning in 2020. I began developing the vision and curriculum with creative comrades and workshopping with actors online. Sustainable Actor Collective officially became an entity in Summer of 2022 and we launched our first Atlanta In-Person class last August. The philosophy of sustainability inspires actors to create professional systems in which they can work well and thrive. I launch my next workshop in ATL this month!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Sustainable Actor Collective has both unfolded with incredible grace and been an unwieldy, bumpy ride (as the creative process should be, I believe). There have been disappointments, of course: not being accepted into a program I wanted to be a part of, letting go of people I thought would be a part of the vision, releasing expectations that didn’t come to pass, riding the vulnerable waves of being a stranger in a new city, learning how to build new relationships and adapt the sustaining ones to a whole new lifestyle. But through all of it, I found the challenges consistently led me somewhere greater. They have prompted innovation, creative thinking, new skills and new relationships. They also led me to the training for my work as an Intimacy & Distress Coordinator and Consent Educator. There is not a part of the experience that I would change. That said, the program and community will continue to evolve. This is the nature of the program, to take shape as the community itself takes shape, to shift along with the changing world around us, with collective and personal well-being as the core vision.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
A training program for the conscious, contemporary artist, Sustainable Actor Collective promotes a progressive system of artistic tools and professional connections that set actors up to succeed. We explore the technical and creative edges of the craft in a consent-forward, trauma-informed, inclusive space supportive of advocacy and co-creativity. We investigate script, embody character, explore structured exercises through breath and movement, and construct an ecologically-balanced system for actors to thrive in the industry. Humor, whimsy, and play are also fundamental parts of our ethos, uniting through joy even as we boldly acknowledge the struggles of our humanity. Informed by my 20 years of experience in the industry, Sustainable Actor Collective offers acting workshops, audition & role preparation coaching, Creative Wellness coaching, On-set Intimacy and Distress Coordinating, and in Fall 2023, Consent Education for industry professionals.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I believe our community and work in the industry will grow immensely in the next 5-10 years. We, at SAC, are impacted, inspired, and informed by leaders in Social Justice, Equity, Ecological Sustainability and Rewilding, Decolonization, Mental Health and Wellness. What’s more, my on-set work as an Intimacy and Distress Coordinator directly connects SAC’s vision of wellness to the industry itself. There is so much being reclaimed, dismantled, and rebuilt in the interest of personal and collective well-being. As that movement for sustainable living grows, so must we.
Pricing:
- Weekly Sustainable Actor Zoom classes: $160
- 6-week SA Atlanta On-Going Workshops: $285 (beginning 2/20/2023)
- Private coaching: $65 / 30 minutes, $100 / 1 hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sustainableactor.com/
- Instagram: @the_sustainable_actor
Image Credits
Alexis Dickey Justin Powell Esben Melbye
