Written by Patrick Chavis

Patrick: So the Actor’s Studio of Orange County focuses on acting. Is there a big difference between acting on stage versus acting on television?

Sonya: I believe that acting is acting is acting. Good acting is good acting. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing it for theatre, commercials, the internet, film, or television. If you are acting with authenticity, that’s good acting, and that should be the standard for all mediums. There are slight adjustments a theatre actor makes for film and television, but these adjustments pale in comparison to the real work of learning how to act.

Patrick: How did you become the owner of the Actors Studio of Orange County?

Sonya: I actually interviewed to teach at the Actors Studio of Orange County when I was in grad school, and the owner, Ken Garcia, had just passed away. He left the studio to his wife, who at the time was going through bereavement and had to raise their child by herself. It was the worst of circumstances.

Sonya: It is such a testament to Ken Garcia and the community that he developed because when he passed away, all of his top students rose to the occasion and started teaching his classes and didn’t ask for a penny from his wife Ronny when she was doing this.

Sonya: Ronny wanted to pass the school on. She knew it wasn’t her passion. It wasn’t her dream; it was her husband’s dream. She wanted to sell it. This is the miraculous story.

Sonya: At the time, I was renting space there where I would teach the students I still had in Orange County. I would commute on a Monday and teach for 10 hours. [One] Monday was Labor Day, and I almost canceled it, but instead, I decided to go in.

Sonya: Ronny was off from her day job, and she was at the studio vacuuming. I said, “Hi Ronny, how are you doing?” She says, Sonya, I want to let you know that I’m selling the school. She said it to me like I’d be disappointed, but the day before, I had a moment of clarity–that I wanted to focus more on my teaching – and I had a meeting with someone earlier that wanted to invest in me teaching. It was a miraculous moment of synchronicity, I would say.

Sonya: I had no prior business experience, but I found myself actually considering buying the school. I walked through every hoop, and by December 2013, I bought the school.

Sonya: Ronny told me, even though I had never met Ken, that Ken would have wanted me to do it. She felt my passions were similar to his, and I could carry on his baby.

Patrick: You mentioned a moment of clarity about your life. Could you elaborate?

Sonya: I was having a deep anxiety about pursuing acting, and it’s because I don’t really care about my career. I’ve never been patient about my own career. I care about acting technique; it’s always been my passion. I still act, but where I fail as an actor is that I don’t care that I’m acting. You need to care.

Patrick: What’s the acting process taught at ASOOC?

Sonya: I’ve been developing an acting technique called the “7 Pillars Acting.” It’s a comprehensive system of acting training that was inspired by Sanford Meisner. Each pillar is taught in a month’s time, and the students go from pillar to pillar month to month and learn very deep and important tools. Then, they are taught to put all of those tools into one performance.

I developed the “7 Pillars” when I was doing theatre, film, and television. I don’t think there’s a difference. We focus on film and television because we have the wonderful opportunity to work in Hollywood. It’s a lucrative way to make a living, maintain their lifestyle, and stay creative.

http://www.asooc.com/

https://sevenpillarsacting.com/book/