Origins of HARA

H.A.R.A stands for Heart Aligned Response Acting; the touchstone of the school’s training program. With a strong focus on creating great actors who will become great filmmakers, the intention of the school is to give high-school students interested in pursuing a career in screen acting an incredible edge for when they go off to college and beyond.

The school is founded by Michael Buffo , an alumni of Monterey High School and graduate of another school that made the Carmel Youth Center its home. F ounded by local legend, John Farmanesh-Bocca, the Performing Arts Conservatory of Carmel, or PACC (1998-2002) was a university-level conservatory with an emphasis on a physical approach to acting for the stage.

Michael has experienced first hand how valuable a program like this can be for young actors and his acting career has proved it.

At the Lionheart West Institute Michael received personalized advanced teacher training through a Body/Mind Certification where he apprenticed for Laura Fine, the creator of the Energy System of Acting and the author of “The Exceptional Actor,” the textbook for HARA Motion Pictures training program.

With the help of partner and Co-Founder of the HARA school, Brittney Kalmbach , he developed his HARA Acting Technique for weekly Los Angeles workshops and held a guest artist teaching position at the drama department of Diamond Bar High School. During the past six years in Los Angeles, along with appearing in dozens of Shakespeare plays, he has written, directed, and edited numerous short films, a collection of commercials, and a tribute documentary to his father’s life.

Actor training is life training. By teaching a curriculum that engages the youth physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, teenagers receive valuable skills in preparation for a career making or acting in movies.

Outside of the HARA Conservatory no program on the Monterey Peninsula offers high-school students hands-on experience in creating their own films and/or cutting-edge acting for the camera techniques.

By giving students experience in all elements of film-making, we strive to prepare them to book work for modern mediums i.e. movies, commercials, and new media content.

The founders of the HARA program both trained in the theater and found that the vocational world demanded they pay attention and learn to create in the newer forms of storytelling as well.