MOVEMENT FOR ACTORS
This is an important four-semester course for the actor. This technique is designed to support the Meisner training. The goal of this work is to produce a free, released and aligned body that can process experience.
VOICE & SPEECH
The focus is on vocal technique with daily homework. Topics covered include alignment, finding and releasing your natural voice, organic breathing and correct sounds of non-regional Standard American English.
WESTERN CANON
This course is designed to acquaint the student with the major plays of the Western Canon, preparing them for Script Analysis in Second Year.
SCRIPT ANALYSIS
The class is designed to help the actor learn how to engage the text of a play by using basic script analysis techniques. Students will discuss 1 to 2 plays per class, all selected from the Western Canon. Each student is expected to read and digest the assigned plays and to bring the text to class. The actor discovers how a play functions as a whole and understands how the characters fit into the play and best serve it.
COLD READING
The course is designed to help the actor learn to apply the fundamentals of the Meisner work to the auditioning process so that the audition is a very alive and free experience. The class provides the actor with a transition from the classroom work to the professional world.
MICHAEL CHEKHOV ACTING WORKSHOP
PSYCHOLOGICAL GESTURE-CHARACTER
The workshop introduces the actor to the principles of the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique. Topics include character archetypes and psychological gesture.
PSYCHOLOGICAL GESTURE – ADVANCED
A continuation of the introductory workshop described above, bringing the psychological gesture to the action and the objective.
MONOLOGUE
The class is designed to help the actor learn to work on monologues. At the completion of the workshop, each student will have two monologues which can be used for professional auditioning.
ACTOR-DIRECTOR RELATIONSHIP
The goal of this class is to help the student bring their training from the classroom to the requirements of the professional rehearsal. The workshop is designed to help actors develop and strengthen their ability to work with different kinds of directors. Students will audition and be cast in 2 one-act plays. With each play, the director will be functioning in different directorial styles so that the student can begin to handle himself in different situations.
ACTING SHAKESPEARE
This class is an intensive course covering how to approach the reading, speaking, and acting of classical text. During the course, the student will learn to understand and to speak a sonnet as well as several speeches, one of which may serve as a monologue.
THE BUSINESS OF ACTING
This workshop is designed to help the actor understand the business. Some of the topics are: introduction to interview technique; evaluation of monologues and interview technique; individual work with cold reading and monologue; in-depth research of the business; individual feedback on pictures and resumes; and development of an individual goal and overall plan.
