Gian Bonacchi is Italian and began his acting career in high school at the famed Scuola Di Cinema Anna Magnani in Tuscany. After graduating, he would heed his calling all the way to Miami, getting signed with a talent agency in Delray Beach and enrolling at the New York Film Academy in South Beach. Today his ambitious to-do list includes writing, acting, and producing for several ongoing film and television projects.
"My dream is to be successful in this industry and one day open my own production company," Bonacchi tells New Times.
Me'Lisa Modestil was born and raised in Brooklyn and began her acting journey as a 6-year-old performing in local church plays. Naturally talented, she secured talent agency representation by the time she was in her teens. Still, her budding career was cruelly hampered at age 16 by her cancer diagnosis and her mother's prolonged battle with Crohn's disease.
"After all that, I focused a lot on mine and my mother's health, as well as college, but I never gave up on my passion for acting," she explains. "My dream is to remain a pursuant, dedicated, and successful artist, and see you at the 100th Oscars."
There's also Luis Acha, a Miami native who was recently bitten by the acting bug after attending performance courses at Florida International University. "My dream is to play characters in film or television that can bring hope to audiences," he says. "I plan to grow as much as possible in this art because I want to be the best possible actor and be able to perform as characters of that caliber."
On this particular evening in the studio, Bonacchi, Modestil, and Acha take turns rehearsing selected movie scenes as bigger-than-life coach Violet Tcherkin holds court from her director's chair. After the scenes are performed, Tcherkin draws each actor into a deep, psychoanalytic examination of their chosen character's innermost fears and motivations. Of course, this daunting process comes standard with the Chubbuck technique, of which Tcherkin is currently the sole accredited instructor in Miami.
The method was developed by Ivana Chubbuck, an eminent Los Angeles-based acting coach and author of the bestselling book The Power of the Actor. As a 21st-century evolution of the widely studied Stanislavski method, the Chubbuck technique applies psychology and behavioral science to help actors study and bring dynamic, emotionally complex characters to life. The technique is big in Hollywood, where Ivana has personally trained many A-list actors, including Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
"The technique has been demonstrated to work for almost four decades, producing highly regarded performers in the industry," Tcherkin says. "Our objective at Tcherkin Studio is to produce actors who stand out. We aim to give them the competitive edge that will unequivocally position them among the best in the industry."
"Our objective at Tcherkin Studio is to produce actors who stand out," Tcherkin says.
Photo by Sean Levisman
Tcherkin strongly believes that the Chubbuck technique has a transformative power far beyond attaining skills and professional success. She considers it a veritable life hack.
"It changed my life," she says. "It taught me how to use my emotions, pain, and trauma to overcome obstacles, both in my acting work and in real life. It also allowed me to discover who I truly am, my triggers, and mindsets that kept me victimized, disempowered, and diminished."
Tcherkin's students also vouch for these personal growth benefits. "Since I have been studying and applying the technique, I feel more deeply connected with characters, but I especially feel better as a person," Bonacchi says. "I feel more free and relieved, having recognized and solved issues that were affecting me."
"Studying there has helped me recognize things that have freed me and helped me become a better actress," Modestil says.
Miami generally lags behind the major cultural capitals of America when it comes to performance-art education. Only a handful of local studios and schools teach advanced acting techniques like Stanislavski's method and the Meisner approach. Thanks to Tcherkin Studio, Miami finally has a studio teaching the Chubbuck technique.
"I was always interested in the technique but never thought I would find it in Miami," Modestil says. "Once I heard about it, I jumped at the opportunity to join Violet's studio."
Bonacchi also finds Tcherkin Studio a godsend for local actors seeking to train in the technique and acquire its formidable performance tools. "When I found out that there is a Chubbuck studio in Miami, it was like a boom from the sky," he says. "Violet is so powerful, energized, and empathetic," he adds. "She really knows how to make you work."
Acha certainly shares his fellow students' sentiments. "Learning from Violet about the Chubbuck technique and learning more about myself through her coaching methods is an incomparable experience," he says. "Every day, I'm thankful that I can grow more and more because of her coaching."
It's telling that Tcherkin's sales pitch isn't only directed at working or beginning actors but also any closeted creative souls who have yet to recognize their embryonic potential. She dares you, whoever you are, to go on an audacious adventure of self-discovery in pursuit of self-growth.
"If you think you are not an actor, a creator, or a great collaborator for progress and innovation, think again," Tcherkin says. "Come experience for yourself how much you can contribute to a world desperately in need of exceptional people like you."
"Consider it," she says. "I'll see you in class."
