Home of the Harper Method

Acting Student - Wai Purdy

In “Holes,” the 2025 film.

Our kids can ACT.

Classes Offered

Beginner Scene Study for Kids & Teens

In just 8 weeks, your child will learn the foundational tools that got my students their first Netflix, Disney Channel, Hulu, and commercial roles:

  • Substitution & Place/Person/Feeling – how to make every scene feel 100 % real by using their own life (no fake acting)

  • Just “do” – drop the performance and live the moment

  • Listen & React – the secret every working actor uses to look natural on camera

  • Action & Beats – how to find the exact moment everything changes in a scene

  • “What do you mean?” – the one question that unlocks truthful emotion every time

Intermediate Scene Study for Kids & Teens

You’ve got the foundations. Now we go pro.

In this weekly class, your child learns to take their acting to the next level:

  • Deep Substitution with layered Place/Person/Feeling stacks

  • Creating a powerful Moment Before that fuels every entrance

  • Ruthlessly pursuing the Objective so the other character has no choice but to change

  • Mastering Beats and turning points that make casting directors stop scrolling

  • “What do you mean?” taken to the next level: unlocking subtext and unspoken stakes

  • Just “do” under pressure: cold reads and self-tapes that feel lived-in on the first take

Harper Method Masterclass

Invitation-Only · Ages 10-18

A private, ongoing weekly intensive for young working actors who are already professionally represented and hold real on-screen credits (series-regular, recurring, or lead roles on major platforms).

2.5 hours once a week · Live online worldwide

This class is where my series-regular kids become leads.

By invitation or submission only. If your child is repped and credited, email us a reel + résumé for consideration.

Masterclass is currently full.

Sign up

In-person classes capped at 10 and online classes capped at 6 students. New classes offered in January 2026. Get on our waitlist now!

About the Method

Developed by Sydney Harper-

The Harper Method is the exact on-camera system Sydney used as a child actor herself in the Film and TV industry, and the same one she’s used to coach hundreds of young actors into real bookings for Disney Channel, Kidz Bop, Nickelodeon, NBC, CBS, etc...

Six tools. That’s it.

  • Substitution + Place/Person/Feeling

  • Listen and React

  • Objective

  • Beats and actions that change everything

  • “What do you mean?”

  • Stop Acting, Just “do”

No crying on cue. No big “acting” faces. Just the truth that hits the lens the first time the camera rolls.

We don’t care if students are six years old in their first beginner class or seventeen with a series-regular credit—you get the real tools from day one. The only thing that changes is how deep we go and how much our actors are dedicated to their craft.

Hundreds of kids walk out of our classes and straight onto real sets because they have the skills to make a compelling performance on take one of their audition.

Limited spots. Real work. Real bookings.

That’s the Harper Method.