YNOT – James Bartholet, an adult industry publicist, radio host and mainstream and adult performer, will conduct an acting workshop in West Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 28. Bartholet told YNOT the four- to five-hour class is designed to help adult performers develop and sharpen their acting skills so they may pursue a broader range of roles in the new breed of “porn parodies” many studios are filming.“We’re doing a lot of parodies and features in the adult industry now, and with many performers wanting to make that transition into mainstream, this will be a good workshop for them to take,” Bartholet said. “We will do scene study, character development, improvisation skills, cold reading and audition techniques, and we will tape a scene that the students pick from a mainstream film, television, or stage production so they can have tape of themselves doing a mainstream scene.”

A professional actor for 35 years, Bartholet’s credits include a recurring role in the third season of Cinemax’s Co Ed Confidential. He also appeared in the mainstream movie Mommy & Me directed by Jennifer James. He received a 2010 AVN Awards nomination for his non-sex role in Hustler’s This Ain’t Happy Days XXX and has appeared in a number of other adult titles.

Bartholet studied at ACT in San Francisco and with several other groups on the West Coast, where he received instruction in the methodologies espoused by Meisner, Nina Foch, Stella Adler and Lee Strasburg. In recent years, he has taught acting classes to both adult and mainstream performers, some of whom have gone on to acquire roles in features and parodies.

The workshop, which costs $25, will begin at 1 p.m. sharp. Bartholet said he expects to attract about 10-12 students.

Interested parties may register or obtain more information by email.