“I used to think crying on demand required emotional pain or reliving trauma, but this class proved otherwise. From the very first session, I cried multiple times through a clear, step-by-step technique—without forcing anything or hurting myself emotionally. It’s a trainable, repeatable skill, and I’m excited to keep building it.”
Elena Kazantceva
“PEM has allowed me to be in a much more truthful place. I have found in my performances, I can drop intro a deeper place much more quickly. And since I started PEM, I have gotten the most compliments, that I give so much as a scene partner. It’s given me the gift to give.“
Shemeka Wright
Actress | Director
“From my first contact with PEM, I knew it was a game changing approach to acting – one that foregrounds the actor’s health and wellbeing without sacrificing rigor and expansion. I’m honoured to be the first certified teacher in the United States.”
Blake Hackler
Actor, Chair and Head of Acting,
SMU, Dallas,
Director of Yale University’s Summer
Conservatory for Actors, Certified PEM Instructor
“PEM is an exhilarating practice. I feel more alive and awake when I practice it. It’s such a joy to watch others discover the ease and specificity of sharing their emotional life with this body – and breath – centric practice. It has the added benefit of turning a room of relative strangers into kindred spirits in a matter of moments. Can’t wait to work this way again!”
Cynthia Bassham
Professor of Teaching (Acting),
Head of Undergraduate Acting,
Associate Head of Acting, University of California, Irvine
“Crying in acting scenes has always been so hard for me. I never imagined there could be physical exercises that actually make tears reliable. I’m once again in awe—and so grateful for Sarah and this method.”
– Richard Snyder
Crying on Demand
“I have never found a better acting technique that has allowed me to fully become a character with such depth, ease, specificity and nuance within the performance. “
– Shauna Grace
“It has been an amazing experience to learn about PEM. I am excited to continue participating in the workshops to learn more about PEM. It is an amazing “tool” for all actors.”
Henrique Machado
“The PEM (Perdekamp Emotional Method) teacher training was honestly one of the most useful and eye-opening experiences I’ve had as an acting educator. It takes all the mystery (and occasional madness) out of emotional access and replaces it with a clear, practical system that actually works , no trauma, no tears, just great technique. It’s scientific, safe, and strangely liberating to know you can call up an emotion on cue and then leave it behind when the scene’s done.”
– Person
