"Ivana taught me how to take my emotions and everything that has happened in my life, and use it to make me an effective actor."
Charlize Theron Academy Award winner
The method
The Chubbuck method, from Los Angeles to Geneva
A structured acting technique, taught worldwide and used by Oscar-winning actors — brought to you by the first certified Chubbuck studio in Switzerland, and enriched by the direct legacy of the Actors Studio.
Certified by Ivana Chubbuck
Actors Studio legacy, via Jack Waltzer
Classes in English & French
Where the technique comes from
Born in Los Angeles, proven on the world's biggest sets
The Chubbuck technique was developed in Los Angeles by Ivana Chubbuck, one of the most influential acting coaches in the world. She works with Halle Berry, Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Gosling, among many others, and her studio trains certified teachers on five continents.
Its power lies in one idea: emotion is not an end — it is fuel. Instead of waiting for something to happen, the actor learns to turn personal experience into playable objectives, scene after scene. You don't suffer the emotion: you put it to work, to win something.
This is the approach Christophe teaches in Geneva, through direct transmission: since 2024 he has been studying with Ivana Chubbuck, who chose him to teach her technique. Arthouse became the first certified Chubbuck studio in Switzerland.
« Ivana Chubbuck is the premiere acting coach of the twenty-first century. »
Halle Berry · Academy Award winner — public quote
"The Power of the Actor", Ivana Chubbuck's book, lays the technique out in twelve steps. A reference bestseller on the craft of acting, translated into some twenty languages.
Twelve tools to play to win
The technique breaks the preparation of a role into twelve concrete steps. Twelve questions you answer script in hand — turning text into living behaviour.
- 01
Overall Objective
What the character wants to win on the scale of their whole life.
- 02
Scene Objective
What they want from the other person, here and now, in this scene.
- 03
Obstacles
Everything standing between them and their objective. That's where the stakes are born.
- 04
Substitution
Inwardly replacing your scene partner with a real person from your life who creates the same need.
- 05
Inner Objects
The precise images you see when you speak, listen or think.
- 06
Beats and Actions
Breaking the scene down into playable intentions, line by line.
- 07
Moment Before
What has just happened — and throws you into the scene with urgency.
- 08
Place and Fourth Wall
Charging the space with a personal reality to break down artifice.
- 09
Doings
Keeping the body busy with concrete actions that make the acting believable.
- 10
Inner Monologue
What you are really telling yourself while the other person speaks.
- 11
Previous Circumstances
The character's accumulated history, loading every scene with its weight.
- 12
Let It Go
Preparation absorbed, you stop controlling: you play, you don't execute.
In class, these tools never stay theoretical: every participant applies them to scenes worked on stage, with individual feedback at every session.
The lineage
A direct transmission, from master to student
No book replaces transmission. What is taught at Arthouse was received in a direct line, from the studios of New York and Los Angeles to Geneva.
- The sourceConstantin Stanislavski
The first to turn acting into a discipline: living truthfully, rather than performing.
- New YorkThe Actors Studio — Strasberg, Adler, Meisner
The American Method: real emotion, listening, imagination in service of truth. The school of Brando, Pacino, De Niro.
- The teacherJack Waltzer
Lifetime member of the Actors Studio, trained by Adler, Meisner and Strasberg, teacher of Dustin Hoffman and Sigourney Weaver. Christophe trained with him for nearly ten years.
- Los AngelesIvana Chubbuck
Coach to Halle Berry, Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Gosling. Since 2024 she has been training Christophe, and chose him to teach her technique.
- GenevaArthouse Acting Studio
The first certified Chubbuck studio in Switzerland: the depth of the Method, the structure of the Chubbuck technique — taught in English and French.
In class, concretely
Every week, you work
- One 3-hour session per week, in person in Geneva or online.
- Everyone works at every session. No spectators: scene work, exercises, and individual feedback.
- Two levels, Introduction & Advanced, in English and French, in small groups.
- Grounded in today's industry: auditions, self-tapes, role preparation and on-camera work.
In their words
A technique with a proven record
"Her technique could be boiled down to: take the pain in your life and find the most effective way to accomplish a goal with it."
Eva Mendes Actress
"A new, terribly powerful and useful technique that every actor should know."
Derek Robin Actor · Arthouse participant
Public quotes about Ivana Chubbuck and her technique. Also read the testimonials of our participants in Geneva.
Work the method, on stage
The technique can't be learned from a book. Join a group, work at every session, and leave with tools for an entire career.