ELECTIVE COURSE LIST
Acting for Film and TV - Lights, Camera, Action! Hit your mark and pick up your cue in this exciting class where students will learn to refine their performance for the big and little screen. Using monologues and scene work, students will work both in front of and behind the camera to better understand and develop skills for multi-media performance.
Actor’s Studio – This class is an overview of the ideas and work of major theatre practitioners. Through the basics of famous acting systems, the young actor learns about wants/objectives, through-line of action, sense memory, place-work, and past circumstances, as well as improvisation, story-telling and theatre games. Students begin to develop a self-confidence that will stay with them wherever they may go, and have a lot of fun in the process!
All That Jazz - Find out what All That Jazz is about when you take this energetic and entertaining class that introduces you to the fancy footwork and strong movement that characterize Jazz dance. Class teaches fun and exciting routines from selected Broadway musicals. Learn the style of such Broadway greats as Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins.
Audition Techniques—Take the terror out of auditions by learning what to expect. In these classes, students will learn about personal presentation, audition techniques, choice of audition material (monologues and songs), and how to put together a résumé. They will also learn how to improve their cold reading and improvisational skills. In Auditioning for Musical Theatre, students will learn how to put together a song for auditions.
Blood and the Bard-
Shakespeare's audience expected their theatre to be immediate, bloody and exciting. This course will explore Elizabethan performance through a study of Shakespeare's acting style, special blood effects, and stock stage combat Students will learn about Elizabethan entertainment and discover how plays such as King Lear, Titus Andronicus and Macbeth actually worked on the Shakespearean stage.
Brecht – Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer, and one of the most prominent figures in the 20th-century theatre. In his works Brecht have been concerned with encouraging audiences to think rather than becoming too involved in the story and to identify with the characters. Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself. Such techniques included the direct address by actors to the audience, transposition of text to third person or past tense, speaking the stage direction out loud, exaggerated, unnatural stage lighting, the use of song, and explanatory placards.
Extending Character-- This is a class with character! Learn to develop a character from the “inside-out” through dialogue, inspiration and direction from the text, and improvisation. Then, reverse the process and create an exciting character from the “outside-in,” using observation and interview techniques, and inspiration from props and masks. Learn to transform yourself using physical and vocal expression.
Improv - This class will focus on the fundamentals of improvisational acting -- how to make something amazing from nothing at all. Students will learn to perform spontaneous scenes and plays, create strong characters, and develop dramatic action emotionally. This class will move away from the conventional "theatre game" approach, to give actors an unparalleled level of freedom. When you don't know what you're doing, anything can happen!
Masks and Mayhem - Learn to create your mask using everyday materials! Bring your mask to life through movement! Discover the postures, movements, sounds, and personality of any mask. Course includes special mask-theatre exercises, guided play, and a chance to perform.
Monologues—It’s all about you! Learn how to deliver a meaningful piece that showcases you, the solo performer. This class will help you prepare for auditions by teaching you the skills necessary to present a strong monologue and give you an individual/age appropriate piece to perform.
Musical Theatre Dance - Improve your dance skills and sequential memory through technique work and learning combinations and dances to great music from Broadway musicals. Class focuses on developing performance technique and facial expression.
Musical Theatre Ensemble and Musical Theatre Rock Ensemble—Just as actors learn about their body and how it moves, they must also learn about their voice, how it works, and ways to use it. In this class, learn about breath control, projection, diction, melody and harmony—all while singing songs in a group from great musicals. Older students will work on songs from great rock musicals such as Rent, Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. Younger students will get a more traditional perspective and work on songs from classic musical theatre productions.
Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry — recitation and performance. The class builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth. Poetry Out Loud invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the class. Through Poetry Out Loud, students can master public speaking skills, build self—confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
Political Theatre – Presidential campaigns, environmental issues, conflicts in foreign nations: these are the issues facing our world. Young people are often left out of these important conversations. Explore ways in which theatre can engage with contemporary and immediate political concerns and issues.
Playwriting—Where it all starts! Learn about dramatic structure, characterization and plot development by writing your own script. You’ll learn how to create great characters, interesting situations, and develop a final outcome you become a playwright.
Puppetry in Performance—Learn about the practical building and manipulating of puppets from a variety of cultures. In this class you’ll study the art of building and manipulating puppets. You’ll have hands-on experience building your own puppet, and learn about bringing it to life.
Riotous Youth – This class introduces students to the language, story, characters, and ideas in Shakespeare plays. The class incorporates voice, movement, acting, and theatre games to enable these young actors to explore the plays intellectually, physically, and emotionally.
Songwriting - This class explains in simple steps and with sound and sheet music examples how songs are written, how chords work, how scales are used, how to write a melody line and lyrics and how you can write your own songs.
Shakespeare’s Bad Boys and Vixens - From Mercutio to Lady MacBeth to Iago, Shakespeare has given us some of the most fun, diabolical and sometimes just plain rotten characters to play. In this class, appropriate for beginning and returning students, we will play with the villains and manipulators in Shakespeare through both scenes and monologues. Students will develop skills in basic acting, character creation and Shakespearean text. Prior wickedness not required.
Sketch Comedy—This class offers students the opportunity to turn their improvisational work into a polished sketch comedy scene by learning how to develop your ideas by identifying strong premises, dramatic arcs, and developing unique characters from improvised scenes.
Stage Combat – En garde! Learn fundamental techniques for staged fights. In this physical class, students will learn controlled and motivated movements as well as the precision it takes to create safe and realistic fight scenes. Students will begin with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers and move gradually to more complicated sequences that may include “weaponry.” Fighting for film will also be explored.
Stage Makeup* - In this class, students will learn how to create the magic of theatre with a tube of greasepaint! Learn how makeup artists create scabs and scars, facial hair and freckles, all with the flick of a brush. Note: Students must provide their own Ben Nye makeup kit for this course. This cost is not included in course materials.
Stage Tech – Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? This is a survey class with workshops on various aspects of production, including costumes, props, lighting, sound, and stage management.
Stomp - This class is about rhythm which is the basis of all music. We will use everything but conventional percussion instruments – trash cans, plastic bags, plungers, and hubcaps – to fill the stage with compelling and infectious rhythms.
Strength and Conditioning-- In a collaborative environment, students develop body awareness, strength, flexibility as well as balance and coordination.
Talking the Text—Do you want to be heard and understood? Do you want to have fun and play games? Learn how to use your voice and theater games to create and build a character. This course focuses on exercises that develop vocal flexibility, diction and projection, along with games to explore self-awareness, teamwork and to just have fun. Come dressed to roll on the floor, laugh, play, work hard and have fun!
Vocal Studio--This is an advanced conservatory level music class. Students receive instruction on how to get the most from their voice, and will have the opportunity to develop effective audition material. Class size will be small and each student will receive a great deal of personal attention. Prerequisite: Students wishing to take this class must have taken Musical Theatre Ensemble or Vocal Studio in the past, or had previous private voice training.