Over 50 years of experience as a director, actor, producer, and teacher, both live and on-camera! Let's go!

Hello! I'm Dennis J. I've been producing, directing, acting, writing, and teaching for all levels of performance for over half a century. My considerable expertise includes stage acting, on-camera acting, voice acting, improvisation, face acting, movement, choreography, singing, pantomime, script analysis, playwriting, screenwriting, songwriting, and more. I've directed and produced hundreds of shows. I've acted in thousands of performances. At this stage of my life, I love using my extensive experience to teach and help others become better at any form of presentation that they desire. Read what my students say about our classes: Denise Dennis is awesome. He took me on, (a person with no talent) and stuck with me and believed in me. I have finally recorded my demo and have started auditioning. Bryent Very helpful feedback! Looking forward to my next lesson. Ty My first session was great and Dennis is an awesome person to work with. Very patient and attentive. Can't wait to continue and hone my craft with a great teacher. Robert It was an amazing session! I highly recommend Dennis as a teacher. What can I say, he knows his stuff! Rosalind He is very thourough and breaks down the information in a way that's easy to digest! Rosendo First lesson was great. He made it very easy to feel comfortable and open up. It was very fun and it was easy to catch on to everything with his explaining and examples for you to follow. Brian One lesson down and I expect many more! Dennis is a fantastic teacher, and very knowledgeable on several subjects. Paul Dennis offers great information, and gives wonderful guidence through the process of voice acting. I enjoyed his online class, and recommend others to seek his advice. Kasey Dennis is a fantastic coach. He came highly recommended for good reason. I'm excited to continue working with him. Caleb My 16 yo met with Dennis for an introductory lesson. I'll let Isaac's words speak. "He was really kind. He had a lot of different voices. He really loves what he does. I learned a lot from him. Dad, make sure you give him 5 stars." My son usually doesn't share many details so I was impressed. Very thankful for Dennis's instruction and looking forward to working more with him. Ashley 5/5 Steven Dennis is a very professional voice acting coach! This was my first lesson with him and I absolutely love it! I would love to sign up for his next lesson. Jordan Seriously the best instruction I have ever had. Really fun and informative! I look forward to continuing my journey into voice acting. Teagan Dennis was very patient and kind, if there was a better rating I would give it to him. Byron great teacher, very informative Monika Excellent! Dennis is a great professional, knows how to work with children. Super friendly. My son loved the class. Joanne Dennis was a great teacher. He’s both patient and highly informative by breaking down the aspects of our speech into key elements. matthew Organized lesson plan, and confident competent teacher. Dennis knows the method, and how to teach it. Approachable, human, and disarming. His sessions truly feel like an expert coaching session. Scott My brain has been racing since my conversation with Dennis. What a joy! How delightful and, yet, peaceful :) As for next steps, I agreed to: - Share my song, “Ode to ADHD” (see attached) - Share more about PPA (see attached PDF deck) - Share the book “Deep Survival” Thank you! I’m looking forward too working with and learning from Dennis. He is clearly are a renaissance man :) Lorna Dennis is a stellar coach with exceptional experience. My first session was an absolute delight, packed with creativity and good humor. After one session, I already can tell that his guidance will not only improve my improv skills but will boost my confidence and presentation skills in everyday life. He created a supportive atmosphere where I felt comfortable taking risks, and I look forward to future sessions. Theresa Excellent introductory class that covered many helpful basic principles, and I got to practice a lot in the session. Really looking forward to the next class. Rebecca Dennis is great. He's a very authentic, kind & helpful teacher. I’ve enjoyed learning improv from him! Rowena Dennis was wonderfully encouraging. It was a pleasure learning from him and , YES, I am definitely looking forward to next week's lesson. Derick Great first day. It was a pleasure working with Dennis. I'm looking forward to working more with him. Vicki Dennis is a true professional. He was prepared, insightful and so very competent! Within minutes we were doing exercises to help me with my voice tone, speed and pitch. I am so grateful for his guidance! Can’t wait for my next lesson! ethan I cannot say enough good things about working with Dennis! He is patient and thorough and really takes the time to educate as well as demonstrate. I have already learned quite a great deal and look forward to learning more. benjamin Great teacher, very supportive, great sense of humor and very patient. His form of teaching is definitely interesting. He knows his craft. I recommend him. Luke Very impressed. Dennis is friendly, kind, encouraging and clearly knows his craft well. Thanks! chris A. Great coach and will stick with him for a long time Antoinette G. Dennis is an excellent teacher and all around nice person. Very professional and knowledgeable in his craft. My daughter has progressed exponentially, and continues to learn. He is teaching her to be a well rounded actor/voice actor and is personally committed to seeing her succeed. Highly recommended! Alex d. With his years of experience, Dennis provides a great deal of insight to the industry for someone unfamiliar. He emails the next day a recording of the lessons for personal review so that you can always relisten to how you sound and improve. With his lessons you can expect him to help reinforce your strong points, explore aspects of interest, as well as challenge other territory you may not have thought to delve into. Last but not least, his sessions feel more like edutainment. They're informative but also fun. Its not rigid or strict for what the rules are, moreso what to avoid doing so you can s... Show more Rachel M. Dennis is a fantastic coach with expertise in a multitude of genres! He is responsive to my needs as an artist and has a personable style that is really contributing to my growth in voice acting. I appreciate his patience, support and enthusiasm! Weslley P. Dennis is a great teacher. Very animated and just a great person in general. He’s welcomed me with open arms and has shared with me his great experiences of acting. When I started taking classes with Dennis, he helps me a lot with what I want to learn and what I need to learn. I guarantee he will not disappoint! Christine A. Working with Dennis has been incredibly beneficial to my growth as an actor. His ability to dissect a scene, work through the nuances of the character, and the sub-text and communicate this on camera with techniques that set you above the amateur actor, has helped me tremendously and opened up not only opportunities but my confidence as well. Dennis approaches the actor as a whole and understands there are parts to this whole and each part—the body, the speech, the mind—is just as important as the next. I wouldn't be the actor I am today if it weren't for Dennis. Elizabeth N. Dennis is extremely passionate and knowledgable about every topic relating to acting and voiceovers. His classes are friendly, warm, funny, inviting and are always very positive. Although his classes may be challenging, he focusses on preparing his students for the real world and is passionate about putting his students best foot forward. A few things he covers in classes are improvisation, analyzing monologues and analyzing film. He is reliable and flexible with busy schedules and makes an effort to teach life lessons as well. I feel extremely lucky to have found him and to have access to his classes and film and voice over editing skills. He is a gem. Derek B. Dennis has been a mentor and friend now for over 15 years. He is a knowledgeable and passionate advocate for the arts who gives his all to each student. Working with him is always challenging and fun. Laura M. There aren’t enough good words to say about acting coach Dennis. Personally, I have had the pleasure of working with Dennis for 5 years and his commitment, knowledge and ability to guide his students to top performance levels in the acting world is unbelievable. With Dennis’ help I was able to win for the State of NH two years in a row for the nationwide Poetry Out Loud competition, land several lead roles in community theater, gain my own teaching experience in his acting workshops, etc., but more importantly I gained a whole new level of confidence that I didn’t have before. Working with Dennis was one of the best decisions Ive made and the skills that I learned from him still compliment everything I do today. Bob T. Dennis brings decades of performing experience to his students. Through improvisation, script analysis, on-camera technique, audition training, and facial and voice control, Dennis gives the acting student the tools with which to gain expertise and confidence when auditioning for roles and acting on stage and in film. His classes are always fun and informative. My work with you on acting, depending on your level of experience and your situation, can be broad or intensive, and can include any or all of the following: Effective use and synthesis of the 4 actor tools - Voice, Body, Face, and Mind. Script Analysis - Keywords; meaning; beats; character intent; meter; pronunciation; emphasis; author intent; exploring the entire work that includes your script. Character - How to analyze your character; identifying objectives; playing objectives; the only three things we know about a character; choosing a style; choosing a voice; the suitability of choosing costume pieces and props; how your character moves overall; how your character walks; what emotions does your character exhibit; how to use animal characters; working from outside in vs from inside out. Face Acting - Understanding your face; constructive use of the degrees and elements of the 7 universal emotional facial expressions; what your neutral face says to others; different applications for auditions for live gigs, on camera gigs, mic-only gigs, comedy, drama, multi-character auditions, and monologues. Gesture - The wide variety of uses of your fingers, hands, arms, torso, head; identifying opportunities for gesture; creating a gesture; choreographing a gesture; the timing of gesture; co-ordination of gesture and dialogue; use and avoidance of gesture repetition; applying artistic discretion to gesture. Voice - Pitch; loudness; speed; rhythm; tone; prosody; variables and variations; character elements; use of dramatic and comedic pauses; emotion; enunciation; emphasis; pace; intervals; nasal continuents; u-glide; musicality; and more. Improvisation - Using improv to push the boundaries of your imagination, to help you learn to be effectively expressive in any situation, to be able to entertain on the spot using wit, humor and creativity without a script. The Art of Telling the Story - The specific aspects of "tell the story," which any performance or audition should do. The Art of Physicalization - How to physicalize your audition, take it beyond the multifarious elements of physicality, and make it come to life. The Art of Realization - Shepherding your audition from the ideal to the practical, from the alpha to the omega. Pre-audition Preparation - How to prepare to make an impact; getting the best from your headshots and resume; choosing your audition piece (if applicable); specifying what you want to achieve; how to rehearse your audition; cultivating the proper attitude; handling nervousness and stage fright; developing consistency; familiarizing yourself with the director and/or casting director; how to use info about the producing company and their products; the importance of what you do the night before the audition. Presentation - Arriving at the audition; how to conduct yourself; entering and exiting an audition space; reading the room; how to relate to the auditioners; what to say and not to say; what to wear; what to bring; your interaction with other auditionees. Post audition - Critical analysis; self-assessment; objectivity vs. subjectivity; digesting the experience as a whole, and any feedback; making corrections; emotional distancing; anticipating and preparing for callbacks; moving on. And much more! Every acting session of mine is tailored-made for each participant, so I'll know much better how to proceed specifically for you once I know a bit about you and we have had the opportunity to meet and work together. I look forward to hearing from you, and helping you! Here is an essay of mine on acting: Acting is like building a house. It starts with a wish, a dream, a concept, a need. Then the builder has blueprints made. The building materials are selected. Perhaps oak, maple, pine, glass, concrete, steel. Then the materials are purchased, the construction undertaken, and the house is built. The plumbing is in, power is in, the windows are in. The roof is on, insulation in… It’s a house! But it’s not finished. Of course, the interiors must be designed, finished, and furnished. Perhaps the floors will be carpeted. The outside must be painted or sided or caulked. And so on until… it’s ready to be lived in. I see three anti-analogists have just walked out. But that’s okay. This analogous house is our acting careers. We actors are in various stage of this analogy. For some of us, we have just started to have a wish. For some of us, our house is just being plumbed. For some, after years of dedication and perspiration, we are living in that house. The house is what you make it. If you choose inferior materials, the house will be less. If your blueprints aren’t accurate, your house can be off-kilter, or more expensive, or not what you imagined. As an actor (and I might add we stand on the shoulders of a long line of actors down through history, great actors, insane actors, and actors made great or insane by the very art that gives others such joy), you are at the disposal of the writers and directors. You can’t rewrite dialogue for a bad script. You can’t change the blocking for a poor director. You are just paint on their brush. Sometimes it’s glorious, sometimes it’s embarrassing. And it’s that dichotomy that led me to strike out on my own, like a young Moliere touring the provinces for a decade. Or 5 decades in my case. I didn’t want to be subservient to others' ideas. But I still wanted to be an actor. So, I started my own touring company with skills learned in college, became a director, and along the way incorporated interactive/immersive, improvisational theatre with the realization that it is, of all forms of entertainment, the most versatile, the most vast, and the most personal. I don’t mean personal as in someone looking in your wallet or in your drawers. I mean personal as in making those in the audience feel as if they matter as individuals in the show they are attending, and not just barely connected observers. That kind of personal. The kind wherein the audience feels like the performances are true for each of them, are real for each of them, involve each of them, are of the moment for each of them. Being an actor, or actually, any kind of artist in America, and perhaps the world, is sort of like being a pariah, unless you’re among the tiny percentage who are very successful. You will be poorer than most, more looked down on than most. I mean, really, couldn’t you get a steady job? How the heck are you contributing to the economy by being a struggling artist? And all artists are struggling. Even the ones at the very top. It’s just that there the struggles are different. As Jim Carrey said, “That you can still be unhappy is a shock when you have accomplished everything you ever dreamt of and more.” Success does not equal happiness, although most of us have been, or are, willing to take that risk. Still, as an actor, try to find ways to be happy in your work now, no matter what. As you grow older you may discover that what you thought was a struggle for happiness earlier in life, was actually a missed opportunity for realizing happiness that was yours all along, but now is gone forever. Take that lesson and build a new happiness quotient for yourself and your artistic expression now. It's never too late. And if you need some artistic assistance, please let me know. I’ve been there. I can help.