hbpStudio Reviews

Very artistic place. Its a good place to learn the method. You can take a single class or as many as you can afford.

I can't believe how naive I was years ago when I went here for singing class. I was so sad because I never progressed and the teachers did not help me at all- they would only answer questions I directly asked, not offer any new information. Overall, the education AND experience you will get at this school is minimal. Like, 95% less than I expected, and I will tell you why.

When I came to class, the student body was mostly foreigners, from countries I never really heard of. It kind of looked like 90 day fiance in there. Some of the foreigners were even in their 40s and over, and came to class here even though they already had established careers in their country of origin. Which I thought was a bit odd, but I was 18, there was a lot I did not know about the world. This was so deleterious because out of a class of 25 people, you would find maybe 3 that took the class seriously and seemed like they practiced. Often a student would get up and sing a song, very badly like they didn't care at all, with the lyrics on the sheet right in front of them- like at a karaoke bar. If you want to get better, you get around people that are better than you, or that work really hard- and at this class a serious student is a rare rose.

Let me tell you why I point this out. You can go on youtube right now and look up the show "UK Border Force." It's a show about UK airport immigration. Boy, did this naive American learn a whole lot from that show!

Apparently, in Britain this information is well-known, but in America's politically correct atmosphere, this very important information is hidden. To come to America legally, someone needs a visa. The F-1 student visa is for a full-time student coming to America to learn a trade, often that is not offered in the student's country of origin. Are acting lessons and singing lessons such a specialized skill that an unaccredited 'acting school' would be granted the F-1 student visa program? For medical school or a school like Juliard I would understand- but a cheap little acting studio in Chealsea, in a small building, with no professors, that charges $300 for an unaccredited class? Does that sound right to you?

This school is nothing more than a VISA MILL. This is why so many older people came here as "student." This is basically a phony college that can get someone a visa for cheap. Of course it's in New York- what an easy way to get to America, overstay the visa (as most do) or scoot over to Long Island to squat in a sanctuary city. Wow. I can't believe I didn't notice this before. I went for an education and boy did I get one- just not in singing.

Highly recommend. Talented and intelligent teachers. Basic but good facilities.Good value for money. Learnt so much from Laura Esterman. Really interesting mix of international and domestic actors who are professionals and come to class prepared to work!

I attended an acting class as an auditor, I really enjoyed the professional atmosphere of the class, the class was lead by Vincent Pastore and Maureen Van Zandt, I was impressed by the information and level of experience that they were able to share, each class member did a monologue and their expert advice and concern for the students was priceless, I highly recommend the class, I also felt the studio had the right atmosphere and was a comfortable environment, I also found parking pretty easily on a Tuesday night on the street, which was a big plus in NYC

Actors explore, discover, ask questions of life. Fail thru failure grow. HB offers this oportunity. PLUS !!! And they have for many years...Any one that has a negative comment, should not consider acting as even an interest , let alone a possible career..( go watch a movie, look into being a movie critic..)

Where to start? Hb Studio was and is the only reason I temporarly moved to New York. The Variety of different acting teachers, classes and workshops spoke for itself when I researched Hb Studio back in Germany.

Both my initial reachout and the continous support of the international office were suggesting a warm welcome. And the actual arrival went exactly as I hoped; The staff is openminded and very helpful. They even assisted me with non-school-related problems which really helped me put my feet on the ground. That kind of service become rare these days!

The same goes for the 9 different teachers that I am able to study with. While being supportive and understanding they push every student individually to new limits. Beside different techniques and approaches of the teachers I also learned a lot about myself which already directly influenced my acting. The classes are reasonably sized and allow propper, structured exercises aswell as a trustful, troupe/ensemble-like atmosphere.

The whole community is diverse, welcoming, understanding and supporting through all instances. From the comilitones over the staff to the teachers, I felt accepted and welcomed throughout my whole term. Being a future Alumni makes me both proud and thankful.

I am glad to have choosen this school and can only recommend it to everyone who is willing to invest in her/his selfdevelopment!

I have studied playwriting for years and have had a number of productions. While at HB, I valued studying alongside so many talented, supportive playwrights. However, after writing several drafts of a play, I was denied an in-class reading, something granted to every student who follows the guidelines. Also, when the instructor initiated "the basement series," she asked every student but me to submit one of their plays. Even the students questioned the omission. The toxic atmosphere the instructor created even caused her "pet" to address an email to "the playwrights," but to address me separately; he did so to suggest that I am not a playwright. As the tuition is quite high, no student at HB should encounter anything less than a professional environment. No one has time for petty people.

I was taking the voice class with Ilse Pfeifer. She is a very weird and sensitive woman, who is extremely hard to communicate with. She likes to make herself like a queen. She could hold a grudge to her least favorite students, and make them extremely painful every class. Taking her class is super painful. She is very bad at communicating with students, and she is also very bad at explaining what she is doing, and why she does that. She speaks without a filter. She called one of her least favorite students "a vampire", and she was very mean to students she didn't like and made them cry in the class!

Her class is not structured at all. She even doesn't know what she is saying and what she is doing, but she likes to blame everything on students if something goes wrong. But the truth is that most of the students cannot understand what she said in the class, just simply because her communication is very poor!!! She is one of the worst teachers I've ever met. She is not professional at all! I really don't understand how she can be a teacher. Is her job only to mislead and cause harm to young people?

She always likes to act like she is better than every student, but she will be extremely nice to students once she knows they're rich or they have a good career. She lives in her own bubble. Every time students ask her questions, she always asks them to stop, and keep the questions to themselves, and don't ask her again... She would never answer any questions. She simply doesn't know how to answer those questions and then that is why she was acting in this way. She never replied to my emails. Taking her class only makes people very confused and painful.

Don't waste your money on her!