Interview: Michael Campayno Shares Details About Training the Next Generation of Actors Through 'The Collective'

Michael Campayno is known for his many roles in the worlds of both TV/film and theater, including Fiyero in Wicked, Rob Camilletti in The Cher Show, and Rolf Gruber in The Sound of Music Live! to name just a few! One of Campayno's biggest passions is educating and helping to build up the next generation of young actors, and during the pandemic, the busy performer has found a way to create something inspiring.

Campayno founded The Collective, a theater program teaching young actors the foundations of acting through song, character development, and text. In a socially-distant, safe, and nurturing environment, The Collective's classes take place live in Pittsburgh at the Andrew Carnegie Music Hall in Carnegie, PA. Through a personalized mentorship, and individualized growth-focused process, The Collective allows students the space and time to learn the foundations of acting and express themselves through their craft.

Classes are available for students ages 10-18, and include a Musical Theater Core, which features 'Advanced Acting a Song', an Acting Core, featuring Advanced Acting a Monologue, and much more to help students reach their full potential under the brilliant tutelage of Campayno.

For more information on The Collective, visit: https://www.wearethecollectivepgh.com/

We spoke with Campayno about his passion for teaching, what The Collective offers young performers, how kids can get involved and more!

---

When did you first get the idea for The Collective?

This idea has been in my head for probably 5, 6 years, and of course, the pandemic allowed me time to fiscalize it. I was doing a TV show right before we got shut down, and then we got shut down, and everybody started popping up with masterclasses and teaching, which I thought was so amazing because all these kids are learning from people doing it in the industry right now. And I had the idea from there. I always knew I wanted to create acting classes that really allow high school kids to learn the technicalities of theatre, and also how they really relate as an individual to it. So, we got shut down, and I was like, "I really want to give kids a lot of time and a lot of space, as opposed to just doing masterclasses of my own, to really dive into the formula and the artistry of theatre." I'm from Pittsburgh, and I know it really well, and I've always been really inspired here, it was where I went to college, high school, and it's where I started as an actor. I have a very good friend here who helps me with the business, his name is Rob Michael, and we just spent all summer creating this curriculum, creating the vision, the mission.

So, literally all summer we would spend 10am to 8pm on the computer, and then we launched our first fall semester in September. There were so many variables with COVID, and with space, and how we were going to do it. The thing we mainly wanted to do was create a community, so we wanted to do live, in-person classes, super small and intimate, only 6 kids a class. And we have a space that's 2500 square feet, so it's super spread out and super safe the whole time, and it was kind of just creating theatre in a new time. And keeping art alive, I think that was a big thing we wanted to do, we wanted to create a community for these kids because, obviously, all their schools were shut down, and we just kept the idea of, "How can we do this live so they can have some sense of community, and that physical life of acting?" So that's really where it began from, it definitely was a real change for me, because I wasn't planning on leaving New York any time soon and now I'm kind of back and forth from there.

So, break it down for me what does The Collective do? What kind of classes and training do you offer?

I really think the vision, and what we formulate our classes from, is process before product. I really wanted kids to learn all the responsibilities of an actor, so we don't just get in there and learn our lines and sing our song, there's so much more technicalities, tools that they can use, and an idea for them to also create their own process. One of the things I do in the consults is ask them why they love acting, and not one of them has been like, "I want to be famous, I want to be this." They all have a really deep attachment to empathy and trying to understand characters, and to their imagination, which I wanted to harp on.

We basically offer two cores, there's a Musical Theatre Core and there's an Acting Core, and within the core they do a workshop, so they have a chance to really explore a process from beginning to end. And I help them with everything with that, from character development to text work, to how when we go into rehearsals or when we perform, it's still a process that they're learning through. Then, we also do Acting a Song and Acting a Monologue, and we have electives like On-Camera.

So, the main core of it is in-person, we have about 20 kids this semester, and we don't have more than 7 in a class this time. We do offer virtual options as well of all of our classes, and we actually did a virtual one in the fall too and it went really well. The interesting thing about the in-person is the community that they're making and exploring. I talk to them all the time about it and about how they're feeling, and we make sure everybody is safe. Of course, we take temperatures, I get tested every week. The way they light up, and the spark when they get there is pretty insane, it's a community aspect of it that I wasn't even paying attention to, I was really focused on the training, that I didn't actually realize that they need a community in this time. That's the part that interested me so much, I think they missed the community of theatre so much, so when they come they're just ecstatic about it.

How can kids get involved? What do they need to do to get into this program?

Our core programs are audition based and we do offer a-la-cart classes to anybody. We have a junior program coming up, it starts February 15, and that's 10 to 13 year-olds, it's called Playground, and that's not audition-based. The core classes which just started were audition-based, and it was dope, we had about 35 kids audition, and it was only our second semester. It's such a challenging time, so I'm not trying to push anything or push anybody, I definitely want to give a space to kids who feel comfortable with it. The information is mostly on our website or Instagram!

Do you do one-on-one training as well?

Yeah, I private coach as well, for sure. I really, really love teaching, I'm super passionate about it. And I was just so seen at Carnegie, they didn't try to make me into anybody else or a type. I was such a hesitant person, and I was always like, "What's right, what do I do right, how do I make the right choice?" And they really broke me out of it by just allowing me to be myself and teaching me foundations. So, I learned the foundations of everything and the technicalities and then they safely allowed me to break out of my shell and make choices. And I think I never did [before] because I was just like, "What is the right way?" They really allowed me to see there is no right way, it's just what I think about it, what I feel about it, my opinions about it. I think when I see kids, and we're working, and we're really present, I see myself in them a lot like, "Is this the right thing? Where do I go?" And once they just take that step and express in their own individual way it's so beautiful to me, it really affects me, and I think it affects me all the way back to myself in college, because I remember that feeling of being like, "Oh, yes, this feels better," as opposed to me trying to impress my teachers. So, I do one-on-one individual coaching.

Very cool! Are you the only teacher for The Collective at this time?

Yeah, I run the whole program! We have about 7 classes this semester and we're they're 4 days a week. The space is so great, and they keep it super clean and clean it after every time. I can't comment enough on how safe we're trying to be in a space of allowing them to be in physical classes. The students are really diligent about it. I was like, "Oh my gosh I'm going to have to police these kids about their masks," but they have been so safe and so amazing about it, so it's worked out really well, we haven't had any issues. I think what I also want to teach them by teaching all these classes is there are skills and technicalities and formulas of everything. I teach on-camera, I teach acting, I teach musical theatre workshop, and I really do love it, but I also want them to know there is a base to all of it, which is acting. I hope to keep growing and adding teachers. We did a masterclass last fall with my best friend Kyle Selig from Mean Girls, he actually came in in person. So, I definitely bring in people from Carnegie, and we're going to have a huge masterclass month this March with a bunch of people. So, I definitely want to bring in like-minded actors and hopefully grow and continue bringing in teachers. We definitely had some people ask if they could work with us, but we're in such a foundational building phase. But, I do teach all those classes it's been a lot of work! [laughs].

Speaking more to that, how would you like to see The Collective grow going forward? It's amazing to have all these connections and these talented people to help nurture these students!

Yes, for sure, all of my friends... Kyle and Erika [Henningson] are two of my best friends, and Zach Adkins is a best friend of mine, and everybody has been so supportive. Zach actually helped promote a lot of my promo stuff. So supportive of the next generation. And who knows where this industry really will go after we re-open, and hopefully we do get normalcy soon. I just wanted them to know we still can create artistry, and art doesn't die when the world is shut off. Unfortunately there hasn't been enough funding within the arts. But even if we're not on the huge, top-tier stage level, some of the most beautiful moments of my career have happened in these classes, of them having breakthroughs, or them just really expressing. And the amazing thing is, they've all been so supportive of one another after somebody works. I'll allow them time to say what they liked about it and what they did really well, and I've never experienced this in my career, but there's been no competitiveness or jealousy edge or anything. It's just this group of 20 kids, who obviously come at different times, and really support one another. It's almost like taking time to realize what's important. That was a big thing for me too going into New York, I compare myself all the time. I think what they're learning is it's so individual, and their expression comes from them, and that's the beautiful thing, and there is space for everybody. We're trying to create the next generation for sure!

On that note, what advice would you give to kids who are looking to get into musical theatre, or just graduated college and had to put their careers on hold during this time?

I think that you are your own business, and you are your own happiness. It took me a long time to realize that the heights of my career were really amazing goals, and then there's still more and I have to work on that happiness a bit. There was a time in New York where I really forgot why I loved acting. I was getting so into the business, and I was so focused on "What's my next gig? How can I be bigger than what I did? How can I keep growing?" And what kind of went away was my love for acting, because I wasn't focusing on it, and when I would go into auditions I was like, "What do they want to see? I can be whatever they want." And I think a lot of high school kids have that mentality too, and a lot of parents do too, they're like, "Okay, just impress them, impress them, impress them," But, it takes away from why you really love acting and why you started.

I think what I teach my high school kids, are all the colleges and all these jobs are so individualized, and even though I've had a billion auditions in New York and gotten maybe 3 of them, I just wasn't technically right, and it's nothing about me. I think for now, you have to continue getting into class. You just have to keep finding your happiness and express the way you want to express. I think the idea that art is alive all the time, in the most beautiful things, in the smallest things, whether it's me doing this in Pittsburgh or wherever. I think what really matters is at the end of the day, this one kid gets up and expresses and connects and has this breakthrough of, "Oh, this is what I wanted to tell, this is my story." I think that's the win.

---

For more information on The Collective, visit: wearethecollectivepgh.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.