Najah Imani Muhammad Teaches On-Camera Acting

Honors Theater class pivoted toward the silver screen on Friday, when actor, director, and educator Najah Imani Muhammad dropped in to deliver an interactive presentation about on-camera acting. Muhammad and Theater Instructor Elaine Lifter have known each other since Muhammad was a freshman in high school, and Lifter has previously invited her former student to guest lecture in her Public Speaking and Advanced Theater classes at Millbrook.

In Friday’s session, Muhammad spent a few minutes connecting with students over shared high school experiences before diving into the differences between stage and on-camera acting. She covered variations in body language, vocal projection, and preparation, offering practical tips for aspiring actors in the room on everything from minimizing eyebrow movement and script interpretation to setting up a camera for self-taped auditions.

Students also had plenty of opportunities to put the information they learned into action. First, they practiced portraying subtext by pretending to bite into cookies that tasted like lemons and welcoming each other to parties. Then, Muhammad chose a few students to turn song lyrics into monologues, delivering them first as if they were acting for theater, and then for closeups and medium shots on camera. Students responded with emotional and sometimes comical act-outs of lines from popular songs—including “Party in the USA” lyrics delivered in a somber tone at a funeral.

In a final set of exercises, students stepped up to a bluescreen to practice recording auditions. They began by listening to an off-camera student reader, using subtext to portray a secret in their reactions. Then, several volunteers acted out short scenes from popular TV shows and even a Doritos commercial. The thespians all performed brilliantly, but Ella Main ’26 stole the show with her commitment to the bit. Her scream as Eleven from Stranger Things was so loud it probably startled the inhabitants of the Trevor Zoo across the street! The class will watch the audition videos on the big screen in the Chelsea Morrison Theater next week and provide feedback to the actors.

Muhammad wrapped up class by reminding students to run through a mental checklist each time they act to ensure their work is believable, exciting, entertaining, and—most importantly—truthful.

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