Ongoing Scene Study Class
Due to the success of our initial 8-week pilot, we will be continuing weekly scenes study classes on a month-to-month basis. Although we prefer to work on passion projects or to help develop work long term, we know the reality of the actor's life. We can be your gym. We can keep you in shape when you aren't working, work towards short term goals like auditions or polishing for upcoming projects. We ask for a month's commitment at a time to keep consistency for the class and scene partners.
WHEN
Ongoing Monday evenings at 7pm for 2-3 hours depending on enrollment. There is an expectation that you will commit time to working on your scene outside of class at least once a week. Students can continue to enroll on a month-to-month basis and the class will be ongoing or break into additional sections on additional evenings.
WHERE
The Theater at the Gem Center for the Arts
COST
Regular price: at $100 monthly
Pilot price: $75/monthly via check, cash, paypal or venmo (jires21@gmail.com).
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS CLASS
This class focuses on student or working actors, college level and above. These are performers who have taken other acting courses and performed in plays, and who hope to work/are working with some frequency in the field – although not necessarily solely as performers. You should already have the ability to perform basic text analysis and be familiar with the idea of scene “beats”, objectives, obstacles, and with making strong and committed choices for your character. Our initial focus will be on contemporary plays, but as we move out of the pilot period, we may extend the class to other areas of study including classical, American classics, progressive theater, audition technique, etc.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This class is about acting and your time on stage is of paramount importance. We will do our best to build an ensemble and discuss larger issues of acting technique and events in the theater world at large as they arise. But most of our time will be spent performing and reworking scenes. We want to make the best use of your time, which means getting as many of you up to work as possible in a given class, while also taking the time and space necessary to ensure you are each improving and growing as performers and finding new, illuminating moments within the scenes you choose. Ideally, you would perform every other class and observe/critique on the days you do not perform.
CLASS EXPECTATIONS
Show up. Don't cancel last minute, be respectful of your class and especially of your scene partners. We know life happens, but we ask, given the caliber of work being done in the class, that you make it a priority
Know your lines. We are happy to work on first-reads, but once that initial part is done, come in knowing the piece well enough that we can play with it, experiment with it, tweak it
Commitment to the Company. Think of your classmates as a company of actors. An ensemble. A team. You stand and fall together. Your work is never yours alone. You learn from both your experiences and observing others. Your responsibility extends beyond the confines of your own standards. Great theater is born out of that sense of communal power.
Maintain a Safe Haven. As actors, we must allow ourselves to trust in our extended family of the theater. This classroom is a play space. This class is a home for everyone. Neither negativity nor arrogance has a place here. Leave the world outside and keep what happens in the classroom safe, pure and sacred.
Work Is Always about the Work. You will be asked to analyze and respond to the work of fellow company members. These discussions must be kept objective and focused on the performance work. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Similarly, you must process criticism as observations about your work and not as personal indictments. Progress requires that you speak with objective tongues and hear with objective ears.
Have Fun. In the end, it is hoped that one loves what one does, that one’s vocation is also one’s avocation. Remember: We call them plays for a reason. So play. Play seriously — but play.
