Quarterly Classes
2008
MONDAYS
AUDITIONING FOR THE STAGE—MARK PECKHAM
Mondays, July 14-August 18. 6:30-9:30 PM. 6 Weeks. $160
Taken a few classes? Dying to get on that stage already? Auditions are actors’ marketing opportunities. But…you don’t have a headshot, resume, or monologue—or at least not one that really works. And what about cold readings? Mark has the know how to help you get started from guidance in monologue choice to selecting the right photographer. Coaching, mock auditions, and discussion of sample headshot/resumes prepare you for real world situations. This class is also great for experienced performers who want to make sure their marketing is up to date.
Mark Peckham
Most recently, Mr. Peckham performed in Buried Child at Boston’s Nora Theatre Company and directed Orpheus Descending at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren, RI. Last year, he played the Ghost of Christmas Present in Trinity Rep’s A Christmas Carol and directed Line for Perishable’s Women’s Playwriting Festival. Other directing credits include On the Verge, Full Hook-up, Talking With…, Anything Goes and The Unnamed. He has worked extensively as an acting teacher and theatre instructor with Providence College, RISD, 2nd Story Theatre, All Children’s’ Theatre, Mr. Peckham was co-founder and co-artistic director of Wickenden Gate Theatre in Providence. |
TUESDAYS
PLAYWRIGHT’S CHALLENGE—
David Eliet
Tuesdays, July 8-29. 7-10 PM. Four weeks, $115.
Open to all levels. Write four plays in four weeks! Each week a specific theme, setting, situation, or cast of characters will be assigned. Each writer's challenge is to write a ten-minute one act based on those parameters. Assignments will be read aloud and discussed in class. Bring pen and paper to first class to write the first play. Ready, set, write....
David Eliet is a professional playwright, director and theatre educator. He was the founding artistic director of The Perishable Theatre, director of the Cleveland Play House Lab Company, and the Circle In The Square Suitcase Theatre and Acing Ensemble. He was the a co-founder of The Trinity Rep Conservatory. David recently returned from Ukraine where he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Kirovohrad Social Pedagogical Institute and Pedagogical University. Currently he is the RISCA Playwriting Fellow. |
INTRO TO ACTING—Alex Platt
Tuesdays, July 15-September 2.
6:30-9:30 PM. 8 Weeks. $200
This is a fundamental course for anyone interested in acting on stage or screen. It focuses on basic skills using exercises, improvisation, monologue work, and scene study. Some work outside class is required, but no prior experience is necessary. You’ll finish the class prepared for more in depth training and your first auditions—and you’ll have a great time along the way.
Alexander Platt is Artistic Director of Elemental Theatre Collective. With Elemental Theatre he has directed six productions over the past two seasons and performedin A Bright Room Called Day and King Stag. He recently appeared as Officer Anthony in Providence Black Rep’s production of The Etymology of Bird and as Ed in Falling Up in Perishable’s 2006 Women’s Playwriting Festival. Other credits include Judas in The Pathological Passion of the Christ (La MaMa, NYC), Caliban in The Tempest (Trinity Summer Shakespeare), Hank in Fall (Studio 42) and Roux in Marat Sade (Trinity Rep Conservatory). Alex has an MFA in acting from Trinity Rep Conservatory.
WEDNESDAYS
VOICE, BODY, BREATH, CHARACTER—Claudia Traub-Cooper
Wednesdays, July 16-August 20.
6:30-9:00PM. 6 weeks, $160
As an actor, how do your body and voice support the script? How do your choices affect your availability to your scene partner, your physical freedom and comfort on stage, and your character development? Using techniques from yoga, pilates, meditation, and more, you’ll observe your own breathing. Then you’ll learn to overcome tensions and how to use that breath to support scripted work. You’ll enhance your ability to act spontaneously & creatively, to be “in the moment,” and to have your body and voice ready for anything—without risking strain or injury.
Claudia Traub-Cooper’s 23 years of experience in theatre include performing, writing, teaching, voice-overs, and more. Three of her one-woman shows have been produced in NYC and Massachusetts. Claudia also worked as a casting associate on Broadway for shows like RENT and Capeman. Since 2000, she has taught voice, movement and acting at URI. She is a graduate of Trinity Rep Conservatory.
PLAYWRITING: FINDING YOUR VOICE—Sam Marks
Wednesdays, July 16-August 6
7-10 PM. 4 weeks. $115
What’s different about writing for the stage instead of a short story, poem, or novel? How can we write a play that’s compelling and powerful? Dramatic writing involves constant negotiation between conscious and unconscious, impulse and design. Sam will get you started reading and writing plays—figuring out what they do, how they work, what excites you about them, and what kind of play you want to create. Lots of in class free writing will unearth your creativity. Students will be encouraged to take risks, play, experiment and have fun with their scripts. They’ll also help each other. Each student will develop a short play culminating in script-in-hand readings.
Sam Marks’ plays have been seen or developed at such national theaters as Arena Stages, Woolly Mammoth, Portland Center Stage, New York Theater Workshop, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, and A.R.T. Last fall, he received his Off-Broadway premier when his play The Joke was produced last fall at Studio Dante. He has taught playwriting at Brown, Harvard, Providence College, and URI. He is a graduate of Brown’s Literary Arts program where he studied under Paula Vogel. He is first ever recipient of Brown’s John C. Russell 91’ Fellowship, last year he was the visiting Briggs-Copeland lecturer in Playwriting at Harvard University.
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