In-person classes
Get in touch for details
Admission by interview only
info@zombiejoesuniversity.com
4850 Lankershim Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91601
This class was created in response to how many acting programs in Los Angeles have become overly safe, abstract, or disconnected from real performance. The focus here is practical craft: scene study, text analysis, repetition, and performance under pressure. Actors work in a room with history, a built-in audience, and clear expectations around preparation and presence.
A working theatre
Opportunties to audition
Be seen by professionals
Work every week
All levels welcome
The class is led by Rich Cassone, who served as Head Coach at Act Untamed from its founding in 2018. His approach emphasizes clarity, discipline, and truthful behavior onstage, with an expectation that actors engage fully with the work and with one another.
If you want a working environment within an established Los Angeles theater company, this is the place for you. We designed it for actors who want to be challenged, seen, and held to a standard.
Real opportunities to be seen
Learn to be honest.
Find out what you believe.
Show up. Be interesting.
Make a difference to people.
Learn integrity.
Rich Cassone leads all classes at ZJU. Previously, he was head coach at Act Untamed, founded in 2018. He is also an actor, traffic reporter, and life coach who teaches from real experience instead of theory. He’s spent years on sets, stages, and backstage crews, and his coaching is built around getting actors on their feet every week, paying attention, and doing the work.
"Rich has a gentle, knowledgeable approach to guide one to achieve what is needed for an audience to have an experience with the actor who is telling the story. He’s definitely a leader who will teach one to win."
"Rich has a way of connecting the missing pieces. Bridging the gap between me being stuck inside my head and expressing my true emotions into acting. Constantly pushing me to dig deeper into what I am capable of."
"Rich's coaching gets right to the truth of what makes us tick in a positive and encouraging space where everyone thrives."
"Rich is a phenomenal acting coach, who is only interested in bearing your soul through your acting in a modern and practical way. He doesn't rely on gimmicks or irrelevant exercises, just grinding away on the work itself. Guiding you to change as a person on the inside, while developing your acting into something remarkable. I would have it no other way."
"Rich is hands down one of the best teachers I have had the pleasure of working with. I felt “seen” and appreciated in class. Rich listens and lets you play. He also challenges you and keeps you on your toes. I broke through some old, bad acting habits I had been relying on."
“Rich is such a passionate coach about the art of acting and really helped me tap deeper into my work and play! He possesses a great gift of intuition on how to blend your personal connection to the roles, characters and stories."
“After taking Rich's scene study class, I really understand the value in someone being fully present with you. The passion he has for acting and teaching really inspired me to connect to new levels of awareness with myself and the characters he assigned. This class has helped me to grow so much and I am forever grateful.”
"What I love about Rich’s class is that he strikes the proper balance between nurturing my strengths, but still challenging me to stretch myself to be more effective in my work. I’ve grown so much under his tutelage, and am happy to report that I have been booking jobs!"
“One of the most exceptional talent development classes I’ve taken. I can honestly say that I have never attended any class or performance that did so much to identify and tap into an actor’s inner skills, challenges, personal obstacles, etc. … and apply them to fine-tuning their acting craft. In just a short time I’ve noticed significant improvements in all of the class members (myself included). His style is welcoming, supportive, and soft-spoken.”
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group aka Z.J.U. was born in August of 1992 in a small industrial garage in Northridge, California.
The Underground continues to push the limits of live progressive theater as a vital experimental art form in honor of the famous Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and George Lucas.
Now located in the famous North Hollywood Theater District, aka The NoHo Arts District, ZJU Theater Group continues to amaze patrons by providing new original productions that run year-round. LA Weekly’s Steven Leigh Morris named ZJU “Best of L.A. Theater companies for the decade.”
The NoHo Arts District is a one-square-mile community in North Hollywood that is home to more than 20 live, professional theatres, dance studios, art galleries, public art, music recording venues, acting and art workshops, international dining options, clothing and specialty shops, and businesses that create a myriad of art forms. NoHo is "Where the Arts Are Made."
Zombie Joe is the fearless Leader/Producing Artistic Director of Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group.
Zombie has mounted over 400 of ZJU’s signature avant-garde/experimental, original, classical and horror-based productions, incarnations, and Haunted Attractions in various cities such as New York City, San Francisco, and Edinburgh.
Since 2011, Zombie has been teaching Drama, Poetry and Arts Therapy to the wonderfully talented patients of Metropolitan State Hospital.