Progression: Fundamentals I

STEP I: INTRO

D. Kennan, M. S. Kaminski, S. Reynolds, A. Toutonghi
Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer; 8 weeks

Acting is a process that can be learned and practiced by anyone at any age. In the Intro class, you develop fundamental acting tools: playing an action, living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, and working with a partner. No matter your experience, you learn acting in an exciting and safe environment. This is the first class in our three-step acting progression.

Summer

Saturdays 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.; July 12 - August 30. $365. A. Toutonghi. (Class held at Antioch University, 2326 - 6th Ave.) FULL. To get on the waiting list for this class, call the Freehold office at (206) 323-7499.

STEP II: ACTING WITH TEXT

M. S. Kaminski, A. Thone, S. Reynolds, A. Toutonghi
Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer; 10 weeks (5 in summer)

The focus is on scene work. Applying the tools from Intro I, you will deepen your experience with given circumstances, hone your action on stage, and develop a sense of play and creativity in order to bring life to a major character in a script.

Prerequisite: Step I: Intro or equivalent

Summer

Mondays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.; July 14 - August 13. $425. M. S. Kaminski. (Class held at Antioch University, 2326 - 6th Ave.) FULL. To get on the waiting list for this class, call the Freehold office at (206) 323-7499.

STEP III: SCENE STUDY: TEXT

M. S. Kaminski, A. Toutonghi
Fall, Winter, Summer; 10 weeks (5 in summer)

Building on skills developed in Intro I and Intro II, students work on two-person scenes with an emphasis on text analysis as a way to unlock the relationships and inner lives of the characters.

Prerequisite: Accelerated Intro or Step II: Work with Text.

Summer

not scheduled

M. S. Kaminski, A. Toutonghi, J. Moscou, T. Piggee
Fall, Spring, Summer; 10 weeks (5 in summer)

You will learn to give a scene life through text analysis and improvisation. Continue to broaden and deepen your understanding of rehearsal techniques and create enough rich work with your imagination so that you are compelled to act and react. In the Spring Quarter, special emphasis is placed on dramatic literature by Afircan-American playwrights and scene work will be particularly inclusive with roles for all ethnicities.

Prerequisite: Intro II or equivalent

Summer

Tuesdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Thursdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.; July 17 - August 19. $425. A. Toutonghi.

 
Progression: Fundamentals II

ACCELERATED INTRO I AND II

G. Lewis
Fall; 9 weeks

This class, meeting twice a week, combines Step I and Step II of the acting progression. In it, you will develop fundamental acting tools: playing an action, living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, and working with a partner. Then you will apply these tools to a two page scene, deepening your experience with given circumstances, honing your action on stage and developing a sense of play and creativity. You'll develop a practical method for approaching scenework, and get to explore the possibilities of rehearsing and staging scenes. This class offers a more intense introduction into the craft of acting for students willing to make a greater commitment.

Summer

not scheduled

ADVANCED SCENE STUDY: CLASSIC REALISM

B. Murphy
Winter; 10 weeks

The course focuses on "playing action" in service to the play. In the context of a scene study class, the actor will explore detailed script analysis, the actor's experience of "being in the moment," and the task of creating character through the playwright's "given circumstances." Each actor will work on two scenes from the genre of Classic Realism. Great for students who have completed the Meisner progression or similar advanced training.

Prerequisite: Scene Study: Text, Meisner, or comparable training.

Suggested: 3 Quarters of Scene Study

Summer

not scheduled

REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE

S. Reynolds, G. Lewis
Spring, Summer; 8 weeks (6 in summer)

This class gives actors a chance to use the skills you have been developing through Freehold's Fundamental Progression. Students will learn to apply acquired tools and develop a process to bridge the gap between rehearsals and performance culminating in a final performance of a play.

Prerequisite: Basic Scene Study, Scene Study Text, or permission of instructor

Summer

Sundays 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Mondays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.; August 3 - September 13. $610. G. Lewis. (Tech rehearsals and performances, September 8 - 13.)

M. Smith
Fall, Winter, Spring; 8 weeks

Learn spontaneous storytelling through improvised scenes via games, exercises, lecture and open scene work. Experience the art of honest connection to the moment and to your scene partner. Learn to trust your own authentic responses while you discover your spontaneous voice. No experience required.

Summer

not scheduled

 
ADVANCED IMPROVISATION

G. Schwartz
Winter, Spring; 8 weeks

This class will explore the Spolin approach to scene improvisation. Spolin's Theater Games are simple, operational structures that are each built upon a specific focus or technical problem. The games have a liberating effect for the player. There are games to free the actor's tension, games to cleanse the actor of subjective preconceptions of the meaning of words, games of relationship and character, games of concentration - in short, games for each of the areas with which the growing actor is concerned. The key to this work is creating a direct experience with a strong focus. Keeping a strong focus creates presence and allows you to be free and releases you from old frames of reference and clichˇ story and character that just rehash what you've seen before. This most essential ability is the bedrock of true improvisation. This is a valuable training for improvisers trained in other methods, giving you ways to avoid being trapped in story, allowing you to create new moments for yourself and your audience.

Prerequisite: Previous improv class or by permission of instructor

Summer

not scheduled

 
VOICE

K. Wisniewski, L. Norman, G. Hammond
Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer; 10 weeks (5 in summer)

Students will move through a series of voice/mind/body exercises aimed at freeing their natural voice and strengthening their connection to vocalized sound. You will develop a set of tools for vocal development that draws on an understanding of human anatomy and how to apply that knowledge of physiology to voice work. Students will acquire ease and power in their vocal skills that will enhance their vocal potential.

Summer

Tuesdays 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., Thursdays 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.; August 5 - August 28. $325. G. Hammond. (Class held at Antioch University, 2326 - 6th Ave.) FULL. To get on the waiting list for this class, call the Freehold office at (206) 323-7499.

 
VOICE II

K. Wisniewski, G. Hammond
Spring; 10 weeks

This class will move you through a series of voice/mind/body exercises aimed at freeing your natural voice and strengthening your connection to vocalized sound. Discover your vocal potential and learn tools for vocal development.

Prerequisite: Voice for Actors, or equivalent

Summer

not scheduled

 
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

L. Compton
Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer; 8 weeks (7 in summer)

Use the Alexander Technique to live more fully in imaginary circumstances. Leave behind your personal idiosyncratic patterns and become more available to responding to the imagined environment. Hallmarks of the Alexander work are an easeful flow in movement, ever increasing physical and vocal range and flexibility, development of clarity of presence and expansion of creativity and spontaneity.

Summer

Sundays 3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.; July 13 - August 24. $225. L. Compton. (No class August 3.)

 
ADVANCED ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

L. Compton
Fall; 4 weeks

These four sessions are for continuing and returning students of the Alexander Technique. We will explore and play with the Technique, applying it directly to your artistic work and personal life.

Summer

not scheduled

 
Progression: Movement

MOVEMENT

G. Lewis
Fall, Spring; 8 weeks

Based on the Biomechanics of Vsevelod Meyerhold, this class emphasizes training in which the actor "begins to understand him/herself in spatial terms, acquires physical self-control, develops elasticity and balance, and realizes that the merest gesture resounds throughout the entire body." Explore acting in a state of physical extremity, using physical constructions (ramps, stairs, and tables), basic aerobatics, props (sticks, balls, and everyday objects), partner interplay, and dynamic vocalization.

Summer

not scheduled

MOVEMENT II: GENERATING POWER

G. Lewis
Winter; 10 weeks

This class, based on Meyerhold's Biomechanical training, is a study/exploration of intentional displacement and affectability. Actors will develop a stronger expression of physical presence, a wider range of movement and rhythm dynamics, and an enhanced ability to move with power and grace. There will be a strong emphasis on moving while speaking, on using text in physical extremity.

Prerequisite: Movement I

Summer

not scheduled

MOVEMENT III: THE IMAGINATIVE BODY

G. Lewis
Spring; 12 weeks

The emphasis is on lab exploration and experimentation that exercises the actor's creativity from the inside out and the outside in. Students enter the creative process through a physical and preverbal vocabulary, and then "grow" into existing text and the development of new work. Through image-based explorations of the body's mobility, the physical dynamics of space and relationship, and physical approaches to character, the actor stretches his/her ability to transform physically, emotionally, and vocally.

Prerequisite: Movement II

Summer

not scheduled

G. Lewis, K. McDonald
Winter, Spring; 8 weeks

This class is an approach to character that involves taking the part of oneself that is most private and hidden, and expanding it to the ridiculous. It is an in-depth investigation into that deeper source of comedy: the tragedy of the character's failure. This work emphasizes physical articulation and expansion of the actor's every impulse and serves as an introduction into elements of physical comedy. The process is readily applicable to any role one may play as a way of discovering whole other dimensions of character.

Summer

not scheduled

 
INTERMEDIATE CLOWN

G. Lewis
Fall

For students who have already created their own personal clown, this is a chance to deepen the character in different improvisational contexts and to develop structured improvisations towards generating original work.

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

Summer

not scheduled

 
PHYSICAL THEATRE

C. Khambatta, G. Lewis, C. Khambatta, J. Perrine
Winter; 10 weeks

Suzuki Physical Theatre Training and The Viewpoints are paired together as a comprehensive skill and performance building set for performers. They are the "Yin & Yang" of physical theatre, complimenting each other to greatly expand the physical choices available. Suzuki builds a performer's core strength and self knowledge, as well as building ensemble cohesion and spatial awareness. The Viewpoints are a material-generating set of exercises for honing and exploding a performer's improvisatory impulses, bringing full physical creativity and expressiveness to the forefront. These two very different disciplines are two halves of a whole, and when used together, greatly expand the palate of physical choices available to a performer & ensemble.

Summer

not scheduled

 
SHAKESPEARE

A. Thone
Fall, Spring; 6 weeks

Come explore the power and rhythm and energy that are in the heart of Shakespeare's language and plays ... In this class, everyone will memorize and work on both a soliloquy and a scene from Shakespeare's canon as a means of personally experiencing this master playwright. We will work together to identify and embody a "state of readiness" that is the prerequisite for the full exploration and enjoyment of this actor-ready text. We'll speak and de-construct and play and search. We will work with the balance between a naturalistic acting approach and Shakespeare's heightened words and situations. We will mingle with Shakespeare's words and people and hopefully come out with a deeper sense of our own language and humanity.

Summer

not scheduled

 
SHAKESPEARE II: CLASSICAL TEXT

H. Ryder
Winter; 10 weeks

For the actor, Shakespeare has left keys to unlocking the secrets of the text. Includes text analysis, rules of versification, metrics, but more importantly, what they can mean to one's acting. How does this 400-year-old language work on its feet? The exploration through the playing of the text, using sides, culminating in festive Elizabethan showings of merriment and fabulous language.

Summer

not scheduled

 
SHAKESPEARE: SPEAKING THE VERSE

J. Shahn
Winter, Spring; 6 weeks

This class seeks to give you the opportunity to speak Shakespeare's text as if it were your own! By connecting language with the whole body, voice, emotions, as well as intellect, each actor will explore a soliloquy in depth. Group work and solo work will be combined in order to free your voice through Shakespeare's text. Judith Shahn, a designated Linklater voice teacher, Shakespeare coach and director, will guide you in finding your breath, vibrations, range, clarity, nuance, and mining for details within your soliloquy. Experience at all levels is acceptable.

Summer

not scheduled

 
REFINING THE ACTING PROCESS

M. Jenkins
Winter, Spring

This studio class offers the advanced actor an opportunity to practice and integrate the means by which you approach, internalize and rehearse a role. The class also focuses on working with a partner and physically accomplishing the goals of your character. The actors will work on one scene over a six week period meeting twice a week. This class is specifically designed for experienced actors who want to commit to a greater responsibility for their process.

Prerequisite: By audition

Summer

not scheduled

 
Progression: Meisner

FOUNDATION: STEP I

R. L. Smith
Fall; 12 weeks

Through cumulative exercises based on the work of Sanford Meisner, the actor learns to be habitually available to and affected by life that is actually happening in the moment, and to fully release instinctive, uninhibited responses. The class culminates in a work with text.

Prerequisite: By interview

Summer

not scheduled

INSTRUMENT: STEP II

R. L. Smith
Winter; 12 weeks

Students continue the exercises from Foundation, supplementing them with work in personalization, preparation, and other tools in order to access a meaningful inner life and "make real" the text and imaginary circumstances.

Prerequisite: By interview

Summer

not scheduled

TEXT: STEP III

R. L. Smith
Spring; 12 weeks

Applying the work from Foundation and Instrument to scenes, students focus on detailed, in-depth text and character work -- analysis, subtext, particularization, and moment-to-moment process work on scenes.

Prerequisite: By interview

Summer

not scheduled

G. Hammond
Summer; 1 week

Fitzmaurice Voicework is a comprehensive approach to voice training that can include, as needed, work on breathing, resonance, speech, dialects, impromptu speaking, text, singing, and voice with movement. Fitzmaurice Voicework explores the dynamics between body, breath, voice, the imagination, language, and presence. It encourages vibrant voices that communicate intention and feeling without excess effort. The work brings together physical experience and mental focus resulting in increased freedom and focus allowing for a wider range of vocal expression without strain. This work has been helpful to actors as well as individuals in the corporate and professional worlds as aids to effective speaking and to clinicians in the rehabilitation of injured or dysfunctional voices. Fitzmaurice Voicework is taught at Yale School of Drama, and Harvard University/American Repertory Theatre's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, as well as numerous other institutions and theatres in the United States and abroad.

Summer

Sundays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Mondays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Tuesdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., Wednesdays 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.; September 7 - September 10. $250. G. Hammond.