Currently, our studio is on hiatus while we search for a new home!  If you can help, please contact us.  
Molly Lyons is always available for private lessons or to visit your city for workshops.


The Green Wood Studio, a classic acting conservatory, was founded in 1995 by Molly Lyons, with the purpose of providing a safe place for actors to grow and develop their craft. The Studio offers training for actors of all levels or non-actors to explore the craft. The Studio's traditional classic conservatory program is one where the entire instrument of the actor is trained: mind, body, voice, imagination, spirit and emotional availability. We offer training for movement/presence, voice and speech, analyzing/interpreting the text, scene work, improvisation, auditioning, and more. Please visit our workshop description for more details.

Bottom line: We want you to be a fully-rounded artist whose entire instrument is available to the work. In a safe environment of encouragement and discipline, we give you the tools to take your work to the next level. We want you to have a healthy technique that will last you a lifetime. All that while doing what we love: having the time of our lives on stage! We believe in giving the actors the opportunity to perform frequently, after all, it is a performance art. To not discover the relationship with the audience would be like a painter with a finished canvas hanging in a closet!

Green Wood Studio, Inc., is a non-profit organization.  To make a donation to support the work of the studio, please contact Molly Lyons. 
(Our full charitable organization information will be posted on the newly remodeled webpages SOON!!) 
UBI Number: 602-530-177

Performances :: EXCELSIOR! Stage
Open House/Showcase: Every quarter we offer an open house performance showcase for the students to show the art they have been creating with us.  

Developing New Works: We have had the opportunity to help artists develop new works. What better atmosphere than a classic acting conservatory to help playwrights and performance artists develop future classics? Excelsior! has hosted artists from NY, LA and Seattle developing new pieces. Many, like Director Molly Lyons' solo show A Most Notorious Woman, have moved onto New Works in Fringe Festivals & World Premieres as fully developed pieces of new theatre. Excelsior! -- meaning "ever higher", forward, avanti (and, ironically, is also a green tree!), is the place where we encourage artists to go forward with their new works.

Students over the years have said:

"I came to a showcase and knew this was the studio in Seattle for me!"
Staci Singer, now a Chicago actress

"I learned more in one 6 week course at The Green Wood Studio than I did in two years at a training institute."
Melina Pyron, Mezzo Soprano, Chicago Lyric Opera

"Molly, come back to LA again and again. You are so good at what you do!"
Maty Monfort, Los Angeles actress & TV host

"I just came from a History Channel shoot and I was treated like a king. (They pampered me) So I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work in supporting, loving, and pushing me to become an actor... I swear I did my best work today, and I owe you and your studio a big hug for all your support....One of the main reasons I love your studio is that its such a safe place to work....a person can take risks and not be afraid."
William Michael Paul, Seattle actor

"I had my first audition since I've been back and I got the part! I cannot tell you how different my experience was. I was so much calmer and 100 times more confident. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Stephanie Pottruck, Los Angeles actress

"I cannot thank you enough for the freedom I now have as a singing actor ... The inspiration that comes to me in the moment of creation is awesome. I perform with reckless abandon and calculated intent. Plus, I had a ball."
Clayton Brainerd, International Operatic Baritone

"I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy the studio. I learn so much. I love the technique because it gives me something I can do, instead of something to think about. At a recent audition , I got onstage and instinctively felt myself going into neutral.... then I remembered what I had learned in class.... and just let go. Instant callback, got the job, great reviews!"
Holly Venable, Los Angeles Actress.