Targeted Training Programs
Hey! Don't get caught up in the dog-day afternoons this summer! Our special summer-training issue offers a kennel of courses to get you barking with delight. Day and night.
We know there are a lot of courses out there for acting. But in this feature we wanted to move past those steady standard breeds and give you some exotics: special sessions for special professions.
Maybe you really want to be a director. A comic or a clown. Need a musical theatre workshop of note? Want to brush up your Shakespeare or brush off your soft-shoe? How about a loving course in combat training? We've a puddle of possibilities for playwrights. And a pool of selections--from workshops to camps--for young folks.
So paw through these pages. We bet there's a master (teacher) that will collar you. Probably when you leash expect it!
Summer With Shakespeare
By Robert Simonson
If you're looking to brush up your Shakespeare, summer may be just the season to do it. From California to the New York island, the country teems with crash courses in the classical vein.
Of the intensives offered this summer, the one to be found at the The Summer Training Institute for Theater Professionals, at The Mount in Lenox, Mass., maybe the most intense of all. In the words of Dennis Krausnick--a founder of The Mount's resident troupe, Shakespeare & Company, and head of the institute--the program is "rigorous and exhausting," involving 300 hours of relentless experience.
The summer begins with a June intensive, lasting from May 27 to June 22. Applicants should brace themselves for 14-hour days, beginning at 8 am. Those hours are filled with voice, movement, and combat classes; contemporary and Elizabethan dance; and classes in Alexander Technique, which aid in the "unpatterning of habitual movements," says Krausnick.
The "heart and soul" of the course is Shakespeare text study, as well as acting, monologue, and scene work. "A special emphasis is placed on the actor-audience relationship," explains Krausnick. "We work on scenes with a special attention to the audience's presence."
But before you catch your breath, wait--it's not over! After the June intensive, students dive into rehearsal for a performance of a Shakespeare comedy (this year's selection, to be directed by Krausnick, is "Twelfth Night"); students also essay bit parts and understudy roles in Shakespeare & Company's mainstage productions. All in all, the program doesn't end until the company's season does, in September.
Shakespeare and Company accepts 15 students each summer. The fee is $5,300, including housing throughout and board for June. (After June, students will have access to a kitchen.) Information: Shakespeare & Company, The Mount, POB 865, Lenox, MA 01240; phone: (413) 637-1199, ext. 112.
California may not strike you as Shakespeare country. Nonetheless, Ellen Geer has been running a summer Shakespeare seminar at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, Calif., since 1975. "The training of a renaissance actor creates a more pliable actor," holds the enthusiastic Geer. "It helps actors better understand the technical business of making theatre."
Geer says her five-week intensive, held this year from July 28 to Aug. 29, involves: movement classes, including physical characterization and classes in period movement; fencing and stage combat; rhetoric classes, which study the structure of Elizabethan writing and help to "take the text off the page"; and scansion and text analysis, for a "line-by-line understanding."
Each student is given a scene, which he/she performs before an audience at course's end. Additionally, everyone leaves the seminar with a "job-getting monologue," which is selected during the candidate's interview and shaped throughout the course.
The Botanicum accepts approximately 17 students a summer. Classes are held three days a week, 9 am-5 pm. The fee is $695. No housing is provided. Information: Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga, Topanga, Calif. 90290; phone: (310) 455-2322.
SUB: Stratford Upon Potomac and Hudson
The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., meanwhile, serves up the Bard by the Beltway. This summer, the company is offering a five-week intensive classical acting workshop, held from June 25 to July 25. Students will study with company members, learning scene study, text analysis, poetry, voice and speech, Alexander Technique, stage combat, and movement. The program culminates with a workshop production on the theatre's mainstage.
The workshop will accept 36 students. The fee is $2,000; limited housing is available at $500 extra. Information: Education Department, The Shakespeare Theatre, 301 E. Capitol St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; phone: (202) 547-3230.
Closer to Broadway, the National Shakespeare Conservatory will this summer once again journey up the Hudson River for its Summer Conservatory and Catskill Shakespeare Performance Project. Executive Director Pamela Hare says the setting--28 acres nestled in the Catskill Mountains, one half-hour west of Kingston, N.Y.--allows actors to forget the strains of everyday life and to concentrate on the work at hand. "You don't have to worry about the subway, about dinner, nothing but working on your craft," says Hare.
The four-year-old program leads participants through six weeks of training (held this year from June 15 to July 25) followed by a two-week rehearsal project (July 27-Aug. 10). Participants begin days with a pre-breakfast physical and vocal warm-up, followed by scene study and acting exercises.
"We do a lot of physical work, more than most programs," boasts Hare. "We find that that is the least-trained area. The body needs to support the text choices." Artistic Director Albert Schoemann concurs: "The strength of the program is that we do not value the internal process any more than the external, physical element." Physical studies include body alliance, body awareness, dance technique, and work with masks--meant to help actors communicate with their bodies alone. At the end of the day, actors are rewarded with a dip in the pool or a casual game of softball.
After the training period, students enter a two-week rehearsal period, culminating in a public performance.
Roughly 50 students are accepted into the program. A fee of $2,750 covers room and board for the first six weeks; an additional $350 is needed for room and board during the rehearsal period. Information: National Shakespeare Conservatory, 632 Broadway, 6th fl., New York, NY 10012; phone: (212) 260-8660 or (800) 472-6667.
Finally, for the New Yorker who doesn't care to cross a bridge or tunnel, there's the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab. The lab has been so successful in its first two years that this summer it has increased the number of intensives from one to two, including a six-week course from May 5 to June 16 and a seven-week version from June 30 to Aug. 18.
Training features classes in voice, speech, movement, Alexander Technique, scene study, text analysis, and combat, with instructors such as Peter Francis James and Barry Edelstein. Lab Director Rosemarie Tichler describes the course as "a conservatory approach to training in its rigor and dealing with all aspects of the human instrument," adding that "Teachers work very closely with each other so it's a very connected program."
Sixteen students are accepted into each lab series. The fee for the six-week seminar is $3,000, while the seven-week runs for $3,500. Housing is available through New York University at extra cost. Information: Administrative Director, The Shakespeare Lab, New York Shakespeare Festival, 425 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10003; phone: (212) 539-8525.
--RS
Making Music on the Coasts
By Michael Portantiere
The Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP 21) of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts operates one of the most extensive musical-theatre conservatories in the U.S. This year's summer program runs June 30-Aug. 8.
CAP 21's faculty comprises entertainment industry professionals who focus on new techniques and current challenges. The six-week summer session includes courses in acting/scene study, audition technique, dance, musical scene study, music theory, singing technique, and song interpretation.
In addition to the daily course schedule, weekly master classes address specific topics and opportunities. These master classes have been taught by Patricia Birch, Barbara Cook, Jim Dale, Graciela Daniele, Linda Lavin, Karen Mason, Ann Reinking, and Stephen Schwartz, among many others.
College credit for the summer program is offered to participants. Housing is available through NYU, whether or not the program is taken for credit.
To obtain an application, contact CAP 21 at 18 W. 18th St., Sixth Fl., New York, NY 10011; phone: (212) 807-0202. There is no specific application deadline but, according to conservatory director Wendy Waterman, "It's a limited-space program, so those who apply early have a much better chance of participating."
For those who find themselves singing "God, I hope I get it!" frequently, the Professional School for the Arts in Torrance, Calif., offers a six-week Music Theatre Audition workshop. The course is described as "a great introduction for newcomers to music theatre, and an excellent way for experienced professionals to return to the basics and re-examine their auditioning skills and tactics." At the culmination of the workshop, guest professionals are invited to critique the mock auditions of participants.
PSA also offers a 10-session Advanced Music Theatre workshop. Specifically intended for working actors who want to hone their audition skills, it features guest instructors.
Lisa Matsko-Hamilton and Gerard Babb are the school's principal teachers. Information: Professional School for the Arts, 1321 Sartori Ave., Torrance, CA 90501; phone: (310) 328-7664.
Summer in Close-Up
By Robert Simonson
New York City, the capital of independent filmmaking, is not surprisingly also the home of several summer intensives in film acting and filmmaking.
One of the oldest hands in town is Weist Barron Acting for Television/Film/Theatre, which has been in business for 40 years. Several courses are offered throughout the summer, from a 10-week film mastery seminar to a six-week film technique course to one-week shots in film and soap-opera acting. "People come to us to try to get an idea of what film acting is like," says Weist Barron Manager Valerie Adami.
The film technique seminar is designed to provide stage actors with their first taste of life before the lens. The course "gives the actors the idea of working within a frame," says Adami, "and how to work with their behavior instead of projecting their performance."
The film mastery seminar, meanwhile, is a Meisner-based course which begins with studies in relaxation and communication and goes on to aid actors in understanding the realism of film, while avoiding theatricality in their film performances.
Both classes meet once a week. The fee for film technique is $350; for film mastery, $500. Information: Weist Barron Acting for Television/Film/Theatre, 35 W. 45th St., 6th fl., New York, NY, 10036; phone: (212) 840-7025.
A more-recently established tradition can be found at the School for Film & Television, which has been running its summer acting intensives for only the past two years. Six-week courses are offered this year in both basic and advanced training; both take place from June 27 to Aug. 9.
The basic training course features a mixture of methods from Stanford Meisner, Uta Hagen, Stella Adler, and Stanislavsky, and includes classes in speech, improvisation, movement, and acting for the camera. At a performance final, each student will perform a scene he has prepared from class as well as participate in a prepared group performance from movement class. The evening is followed by a sunset dinner cruise on the Hudson River.
The advanced course focuses more on performance for the camera and other elements of film--such as acting for one- and two-camera setups. It, too, is capped by a performance and cruise.
Both basic and advanced students will be exposed to weekly lectures by professional agents, casting directors, and actors; topics are to include: commercials, soap operas, Broadway, and episodic television. Additionally, the summer intensives offer 12 college credits which can be applied toward a two-year certificate at the school.
"In six weeks, they're going to get an incredible amount of acting training and exposure to the industry," enthuses Administrative Director Mark Aronin.
The school expects to fill four sections of basic acting and four sections of advanced acting with 14 actors per section. Tuition is $2,665; housing is available at an additional $1,200. Information: School for Film & Television, 39 W. 19th St., 12th fl., New York, NY 10011; phone: (212) 645-0030.
SUB: The View From Both Sides of the Lens
For actors who want to learn something about the process that etches their features on the silver screen, there are the Manhattan Center for Theatrical Careers' filmmaking intensives, in which actors not only learn how to smile for the camera but also create a short film all their own.
The four-week course, run by Abagail McGrath, begins with a week of rehearsing with an acting coach. The next two weeks are spent shooting a film from a script written by McGrath specifically for the students in the class. Directors who have created these films in the past include such names as Slava Tsukerman ("Liquid Sky") and Leslie Harris ("Just Another Girl on the IRT").
The last week of the seminar turns each student into an independent filmmaker. Each actor is given the necessary equipment and is sent out to shoot and edit a one-minute film, experiencing every aspect of the craft.
And if you don't like filmmaking in New York in June, the identical course is offered in August on Martha's Vineyard.
The center accepts a maximum of 20 students for each intensive. Most applicants are actors, but there are also slots open for one director, one editor, and one cinematographer. The fee for either New York or Martha's Vineyard is $2,500, and an additional $2,500 for room and board. Information: Manhattan Center for Theatrical Careers, 1501 Broadway, Suite 1907, New York, NY 10036; phone: (212) 768-3277.
Martha's Vineyard's not far enough away from New York City for you? Another option for film study lies farther up country, at the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Me. Celebrating a quarter of a century in business, IFTW is offering a wide variety of workshops this summer.
For those with little time and money to spare, there is a one-week film-actors' workshop, held June 8-14 and Aug. 2-9. In seven days, actors of professional, student, or amateur status will learn the basics of acting on film. Daily exercises include moment-to-moment acting, improvisation, integration of subtext, internalizing, sense memory, monologues, and character development. Each actor will rehearse, block, and shoot scenes which will then be edited and critiqued for performance, continuity, and effectiveness.
Eighteen students are accepted to each section. The fee is $495.
For those with more time to spend, there's IFTW's Actors-in-Residence Program. In this program--intended only for actors with some professional experience or technical training (not necessarily in front of a camera)--participants will become part of a talent pool and be used in many of the workshop's directing and production classes. Mornings will be filled with classes and exercises, while afternoons and evenings will be spent working with film directors and production crews on everything from movies to commercials to corporate videos.
Residencies last from one to six weeks and are held all summer long. Up to 16 actors are accepted. The fee is $300 per week, including room and board.
All actors should arrive in Rockport with monologues and scenes they would like to work on.
Information: The International Film and Television Workshops, 2 Central St., P.O. Box 200, Rockport, ME 04856; phone: (207) 236-8581; fax (207) 236-2558.
--RS
Providing Drama by Slinging Steel:
A Summer of Stage Combat
By T.M. Hartmann
Phoning in from Center Stage in Baltimore, J. Allen Suddeth seems as content as a proud craftsman with the production of "Romeo and Juliet" he is currently working on. "There must be $15,000 worth of weapons on stage," he says, grateful that there was significant investment. As the production's fight director, Suddeth has been staging and coordinating the play's fight scenes for the last six weeks, and tonight the show previews for the first time. Luckily, the producers could afford to bring him in early enough, without being rushed. It hasn't always been so easy. "I've done 'Romeo and Juliet' in four days," Suddeth says. "It's a nightmare."
While the fight director's most fundamental job is to protect the actors from hurting themselves or the audience in a play, coordinating stage combat has developed into much more in recent years. "It's not an athletic event in the middle of the play," Suddeth explains. "It's more about revealing character through violence."
Suddeth, who has taught at the Juilliard School, and has directed fights on and Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, and for more than 600 television shows, has also served as president for the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD). He will teach at two different schools this summer: one in Maine and one in Las Vegas that's the site of a national workshop. "There's nothing worse than a bad fight," he says.
The University of Nevada in Las Vegas will host the 1997 National Stage Combat Workshops, as it has since 1989. The workshops are held in association with SAFD, and will run from July 14 through Aug. 1. "It's the largest thing of its kind in the world," says Suddeth. "Students come from all over the country."
This three-week workshop, taught by Suddeth and other top certified fight masters in the U.S., offers up to eight hours of instruction a day to beginners, or to actors with little experience. Each fight master is assisted by a certified teacher and journeyperson, and classes are limited to 10 pairs of students. Only 40 students are accepted each year into the workshop.
During the evenings there are seminars on weapons, safety, maintenance, and on the SAFD, as well as the opportunity to perfect the skills learned in class, under the supervision of a certified teacher and journeyperson.
Classes are one and a half hours long, and include rapier and dagger, broadsword, unarmed, quarterstaff, and smallsword. They run Monday through Saturday. The National Workshop costs $1,000, and housing on the UNLV campus is an additional $260.
An Advanced Actor/Com-batant Workshop takes place at the same time on the UNLV campus, aimed at 12 advanced students who have qualified by SAFD requirements. Admission is by application, and the course costs $1,200. Students study styles, and weapons such as sword and buckler, sword and shield, and sword and cloak.
Information: Linda McCollum, phone: (702) 895-3662.
Annually the Celebration Barn Theatre, in South Paris, Me., holds its Performers and Fight Directors Workshop, this year it runs from June 15 to 27. The workshop focuses on the practical and business aspects of fight directing, and working together with a pool of actors on scene study and technique. There is even "Battle Day," when an entire battle is staged with the entire company.
The workshop, now in its fifth year, will be joined by fight directors Suddeth and Rick Sordelet, who is currently working on the musical "Titanic" for Broadway. "We're hitting it so hard on the acting end," Sordelet says. "It's one thing to learn the skills. It's another to take the choreography and make it worth watching. A good stage fight tells a good story--when there's no gratuitous violence, or anything unsafe, too fast, ridiculous, or illogical to characters."
The workshop is small, with only 12 performers and six fight directors, but is open to beginners' applications. It costs $850, and includes housing and two meals daily. Information: Carol Brett, Celebration Barn, 190 Stock Farm Rd., South Paris, ME 04281; phone: (207) 743-8452; fax: (207) 743-3889.
Across the Atlantic from Maine, a stage combat course is scheduled at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. Derek Ware, a leading member of the British Academy of Dramatic Combat who is both a fight arranger and a stunt performer, will instruct.
The course runs within the school's full-time program , although there is a part-time option. For additional and contact information, see Birmingham's entry in "Studies in the Scepter'd Isle," page TK!!.
SUB: New York Swordplay
Back on this side of the pond, in New York City, students of stage combat will find various opportunities for acquiring or perfecting their technique.
Ricki G. Ravitts, a SAFD-certified teacher in New York, found her niche in the world of stage combat when a friend of hers had his nose broken on an opening night. "The guy just threw his head back, and boom!" Ravitts recalls.
The friend, Richard Raether, in an effort to avoid further injury, discovered Allen Suddeth's stage combat courses and eventually began teaching. Ravitts followed suit. "From that one broken nose, they got a fight master and a certified teacher," Ravitts says.
She will teach rapier/dagger on New York's Upper West Side, along with either broadsword, smallsword, or unarmed stage combat, beginning in May until August. Classes typically run between $10 and $12, or about $225 for a 20-hour course. Information: R.G. Ravitts, at (212) 874-7408.
The New York Fight Ensemble (NYFE, pronounced "knife") will hold specialized classes in stage combat, but logistics are still to be announced. While the group can accomodate up to 16 students per class, there are generally around 12 students at a time during the four-week course. It typically costs between $200 and $250, and takes place at the White Street Center, 43 White St., NYC. Information: (212) 946-1361 (NYFE Hotline). (Class and workshop information can also be found on the NYFE website, at www.geocities.com/broad-way/1612/nyfe.html)
At New York University, SAFD-certified teacher J. David Brimmer will teach an SAFD certification class, a five-week intensive that runs five days a week, four hours a day. The course is coordinated through the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU; contact: Summer Sessions Information, 721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003; phone: (212) 998-1811 (Tisch Summer Session Hotline); Internet: www.nyu.edu/summer.
Fight director and NYFE member Michael Chin is in the process of coordinating a summer workshop at Pace University, for beginners and advanced students of stage combat. Slated for either Aug. 21-24 or the Labor Day weekend, Aug. 28-Sept. 1, the four-day workshop should cost between $200 and $250. Information: (212) 946-1361 (NYFE Hotline), but give Michael a couple months to confirm definite scheduling.
The Simon Studio offers a special class in stage combat, from mid-May through the end of August. Founding director Roger Hendricks Simon hopes to attract R.G. Ravitts and other regional teachers from around the country to instruct the course. Classes are small, ranging from five to 10 students per class. "With stage combat, you really do need special attention," says Simon.
Information: P.O. Box 873, Ansonia Station, New York, NY 10023; phone: (212) 841-0204.
Playwrights' Delights:
Perfect Summer Places for Penning Away
If you've a writer friend who lives in New York City, don't be surprised if your phone call this summer meets with a recorded message something like: "I'm out of town for the month writing. Leave a message." Or "I'm busy finishing a script for a summer workshop. Call back in the fall."
Playwrights who want to fertilize the creative spirit can find summer training opportunities either in the Naked City or the leaf-clothed cool of mountains, on Midwest campuses, or at other sites offering both solitude and collaboration. Here are some examples ranging from the intense to the laid back.
SUB: Simon's Way
"We are strongly interested in involving playwrights--both young and adult--and developing new work," explains Roger Hendricks Simon. His New York City-based The Simon Studio for 19 years has offered actors, writers and directors a variety of training in theatre, TV/film, radio, script development, and production. "We've been working in terms of developing plays that are part of our classic training program, but are also produced nationally and internationally.
"Our writers not only have been part of our training and development program, but have also received funds--grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Public Radio--to produce work."
This summer, Simon will sign up writers for six-week residencies lasting from mid-May to the end of August.
"As opposed to a playwright's class or workshop with writers only, our workshop involves writers working hand-in-hand with professional actors, directors, and producers," Simon says. "So while work is being developed, the writer receives input from these professionals."
Writers spend most of their time writing on their own, then are involved in two lab sessions a week, each lasting three to four hours. "The labs are very much interdisciplinary," Simon notes. "Writers are involved, not only in their new works, but in watching and taking part with actors as they work on each writer's, as well as other, projects. It brings writers, actors, and directors together."
Simon also encourages writers--often known for much imagination and little body movement, acting, or directing--to try performance or direction. "The reality in this economy often calls for writers to direct their own work," Simon observes. "Or, if not direct, at least be savvy enough to know what the director and actor have to go through."
The best way to learn that, Simon believes, is to do as the actor or director does. So he encourages writers to join actors in working on voice, movement, and improvisation, or at least watching the actors. "Then we go on to the scenes and projects with the writers and directors," Simon says. "Seeing what the actor and director will do with a writer's script, getting feedback about how each felt, what worked and didn't work, can be invaluable," he believes.
Simon also believes in no age limit. He feels a teenage writer can learn from a senior-citizen actor, and vice versa.
For information on The Simon Studio's $325 six-week workshop, write P.O. Box 873 (Ansonia Station), New York, NY 10023, or call (212) 841-0204.
SUB: Just Writers, Just Fine
Playwrights who want to preen plays with peers only, will find excellent possibilities at picturesque Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio. The Kenyon Review sponsors The Writers Workshop, from June 24-July 4, where playwrights will find 10 days of independence and interdependence, depending on their desires.
"We offer four adult workshops, one on playwriting," reports the review's Doris Jean Dilts. "Workshops are each day, throughout the day, with featured speakers in the evening."
Dilts points out that each day of writing involves "intensive conversation, exercises, and detailed readings of participants' work. Just as important, the opportunity is offered for individual writing, and for personal dialogue with the workshop leader."
The overall playwright workshop leader is Wendy MacLeod, whose "Sin: A Contemporary Morality Play" premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre.
David H. Lynn, The Kenyon Review's editor, and executive director of the workshop series, keeps the workshops small, with about 12 participants. Cost for tuition, room, and all meals is $1,450. Information: David Lynn, The Kenyon Review, Sunset Cottage, Gambier, Ohio 43022, phone: (614) 427-5208.
SUB: If You Build It, They Will Come
Mark Nash has been a professional actor, playwright, director, producer, and teacher over the past 20 years. He's thrived in the action of New York City and other high-energy show-biz scenes. But he just inherited this piece of property, see. It's about 300 miles from fast-paced Manhattan, in rural Vermont. He's christened it "The Hill." "It's the whole bucolic scene," he says, including 30 acres of woodland, a river, a covered bridge.
"I realized it's a great resource, and wanted to open it up to fellow theatre professionals," remarks Nash.
He has turned the barn into an acting studio, and is providing weekend workshops in August, primarily for performers. But he feels the place also offers excellent space for "working, sleeping, and three meals a day to anybody who wants to come and get away from the pressures. It's $40 a night, includes three meals, and yoga and meditation if you want."
A playwright can easily perceive a place of peace there, Nash feels. And actors, of course, dig scripts. So if a playwright wants to offer a new project for workshop reading, "it's a definite possibility," says Nash. "It would be a matter of coinciding times when the actors are here; but it definitely can be arranged on a person-to-person basis."
Nash says playwrights can simply write: Mark Nash, The Hill, 205 Roscoe Road, Charlotte, VT 05445, or give him a call at (802) 482-2488, to "get clear on what we have to offer."
--RA
What I Really Want to Do is Direct
By Michael Portantiere
Budding directors have several summer-training options, both in the shadow of Broadway and farther afield.
The Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, co-sponsored by SDCF (Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation), is an intensive, three-week workshop held in New York each summer for directors working professionally in an early phase of their careers. According to Anne Cattaneo, director of the program, the lab seeks "adventurous directors from many artistic backgrounds, and with many points of view about the theatre."
Though some lab members have been graduates of university directing programs, this is not a requirement. Students currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate theatre programs are ineligible. Directors from outside the city who are chosen to participate in the lab must make their own housing arrangements, as these are not provided by Lincoln Center.
The dates of the 1997 lab are May 27-June 15.
Applications will be mailed in mid-February, and are due at LCT in late March. Successful candidates will be notified at the end of April. For an application or further information, contact Anne Cattaneo, Lincoln Center Theater, 150 W. 65th St., New York, NY 10023; phone: (212) 362-7600.
The Drama League offers a summer directing program that begins with three days of workshops in the city in late May, then continues with eight weeks at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, N.Y., where participants provide the artistic leadership of the Hangar's Lab Company. Directors are given a stipend, housing, and a meal allowance. Applications for the program must be submitted by Feb. 21.
"The Drama League has been at the Hangar Theatre for about six years," says Roger Danforth, artistic director of the league. "We choose four directors for the lab company, which is its own complete company of young professional actors, directors, designers, who are there to produce their own season of work. Each discipline has its own mentor. The directors are there for an eight-week period, and are given four two-week assignments: one assistant-directing assignment on the mainstage, one children's theatre show on the mainstage, and two short plays in the lab company's theatre, The Wedge."
Danforth points out that the Drama League also offers a New Directors/New Works program, in which directors and their artistic collaborators are given the opportunity to develop original work through the provision of rehearsal space and a production stipend. The workshop environment encourages "innovative material that is vital to the establishment of successful new works in the American theatre."
Information: The Drama League Directors Project, 165 W. 46th St., Suite 601, New York, NY 10036; phone: (212) 302-2100.
The Guthrie Theater, in Minneapolis, offers directing-assistant internships which give participants the opportunity to observe a professional director at work, and to experience the process of a production at a professional theatre. This is an entry-level experience intended for young professionals with pertinent training and experience in theatre and directing.
Interns begin their assignment on or before the first rehearsal date of the production; their commitment then continues through understudy rehearsals, which occur shortly after the show opens. The length of the internship may vary from five weeks to three months, depending on the repertory schedule, and an intern's responsibilities depend on the wishes and needs of the production's director; therefore, the nature of the experiences may vary widely. Prospective applicants are advised that, "while every effort is made to make internships a valuable educational experience, interns are expected to perform a variety of tasks, not all of which will be glamorous."
Productions scheduled at the Guthrie this summer are: "The Cherry Orchard," "She Stoops to Conquer," and "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" A typical rehearsal schedule is 12 noon to 5 pm, and 7 pm to 10 pm, six days a week. Interns' responsibilities may also include meetings and other duties outside rehearsal hours. The positions are unpaid, and do not include housing.
Information: contact Julie Mandery at The Guthrie Theater, 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (612) 347-1179.
--MP
Sit Down and Stand Up
By Robert Simonson
Living-room comics who want to spend their summer getting their stand-up acts on their feet, or professional comics seeking further refinement, can find a season's worth of instruction at The Stand Up Comedy Experience.
Director Steve Rosenfield will be conducting seminars in June, July, and September. Group classes are spent brainstorming about potential routines; students take turns talking about their lives, interests, and pet peeves. "A big key to it is getting people to talk about things that they feel strongly about, to get them off the idea of just telling jokes," says Rosenfield.
The sessions are taped and then reviewed and discussed with the students during individual powwows with Rosenfield. By the end of the course, guarantees Rosenfield, every student will be armed with a stand-up act.
The seminar culminates in a performance at Caroline's, in MIdtown Manhattan, which is videotaped; the eighth and last class is spent viewing the tape and critiquing the performance. (Students may purchase the tape at a cost.)
The fee for the workshop is $360; repeat students can enroll at a discounted rate of $295. Information: 1600 Broadway, Suite 614, New York, NY 10019; phone: (212) 247-5555.
--RS
Stepping Through Your Summer:
Studying Dance in NYC and Beyond
With the coming of summer, New York City will receive an influx of dancers from across the U.S. and around the globe, while many of New York's resident companies will export their expertise to colleges around the country. What follows are some dance opportunities around town and beyond, with words from fostering professionals.
Certain programs are ongoing, and dancers are invited to join right in. Others, especially at certain universities, are tailored for the summer season.
"A student coming in for this summer needs to find a safe, creative environment," says Rick Schussel, artistic director for New Dance Group Arts Center in New York. Dancers need to find openness and personal attention. "Who wants to study in a factory?"
The center, now in its 65th season, has ongoing classes in ballet, jazz, modern, ethnic, tap, and ballroom dancing. Special offerings include the Repertory Interdisciplinary Program, which caters to children ages 7-11, and In-Touch Professionals, a teacher-training program. "It's to help them come alive again," Schussel says. "Teachers kind of burn out. We even have principals of schools who take the course."
Some of the programs expand during the summer, and classes are typically $10, with a 10-class card for $90. Interested dancers should contact: New Dance Group Studio, 254 W. 47th St., New York, NY 10036; phone: (212) 719-2733.
Edith D'Addario, from her director's chair at the Joffrey Ballet School at the American Ballet Center in New York, describes how summer usually brings an international influx of dancers from Japan, China, Spain, or Brazil, eager to take advantage of the city's dance offerings. "Students have the freedom of coming to New York, and have the opportunity to come to different schools while they're on vacation," she says.
Besides the ongoing courses at the school, the Joffrey Ballet will be branching out around the country this year, running workshops in Flint, Mich., and San Antonio, Texas.
Information: Joffrey Ballet School, 434 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10011; phone: (212) 254-8520. On the other hand, New York dancers may find that a summer workshop in Middle Eastern dance may match the sweltering city's heat. The self-described leading authority on such matters is Carolina Varga Dinicu, also known as "Morocco," at The Morocco Academy of Mid-Eastern Dance.
"I do a week-long seminar in Middle Eastern and North African Dance," she says. An ethnic Gypsy born in Romania, "Rocky" was introduced to Middle Eastern dance in the 1960s by a Greek Orthodox priest. "It was the music," she says. "I just totally flipped for the music."
The summer seminar usually is attended by dancers from Canada, Europe, and the U.S., and runs Aug. 2-8, opening with a concert by her company, "Morocco and the Casbah Dance Experience." There is a review on the sixth day, as well as an opportunity to perform in New York's top Middle Eastern clubs, such as Cedars of Lebanon.
Information: 320 W. 15th St., New York, NY 10011; phone: (212) 727-8326; fax: (212) 463-7116.
The Summer Intensive Program at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center will be held for eight weeks, from June 23 to Aug. 15. The course is for highly motivated students, ages 15 and older, who hope to combine an in-depth study of dance with the excitement of a New York City summer. Intermediate-level students in this program may audition for repertory workshops that culminate in studio performances. The cost is $925, plus a $50 registration fee. Housing is not available.
Auditions for the Summer Intensive Program will be June 15, at 10 am, at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, 211 W. 61st St., 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10023.
Information: JoAnne Ruggeri, (212) 767-0940 ext. 510. Broadway Dance Center, with nine studios and 50 classes daily, runs open classes year-round. During the summer there will be many out-of-towners--dancers from countries such as Brazil, Israel, Japan, France, and Sweden.
The center features absolute beginner workshops in ballet, tap, and jazz, for adults who have never danced, or who danced as children and want to return. Information: Allison Ellner, Director, 1733 Broadway, New York, NY 10019; phone: (212) 582-9304; Internet: www.bwydance.com.
The goal of Jerri Garner's Dance Classes is to bring actors and singers who are beginners in dance to an audition level of "singers and actors who move well."
"I give people a very professional environment and then I push them like mad," she says. Garner offers a protective space so actors and singers can begin with the basics. "I start at just what is a step, just about."
In the summer she offers a daytime intensive crash course on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: fees average $180 for 10 two-hour classes in tap and jazz. Information: Jerri Garner's Dance Classes, 124 W. Houston St., New York, NY 10012; phone: (212) 254-3951.
SUB: Foxtrot, Flamenco, and More
The New School's summer program includes "The Magic of Creative Dance: Building the Kinthetic Imagination" based on the creative work of Barbara Mettler, taught by one of her disciples and based on improvisations. The school also offers classes in country-and-western, tap, and social dancing, like foxtrot, tango, waltz, etc. Information: The New School, 66 W. 12th St., New York, NY 10011; phone: (212) 229-5883.
Dancers from around the country will be invited to participate in the New York School of Classical Dance's ongoing program, says Janet L. Springer, the school's artistic director and founder. "We offer Baroque dance, character dance, Spanish, and Flamenco." Interested dancers can call Janet directly, send a video, or schedule a lesson so that they can be accurately placed. Classes are $11 each, or students can pay in advance by the month, which comes to $9.50 per class. There are 15 regular students at the school, with room for 15 more, and because students there are excited about importing talent, there is an opportunity for shared housing. Information: Janet L. Springer, New York School of Classical Dance, 944 8th Ave., New York, NY 10019; phone: at (212) 397-4852; fax: (212) 397-0939.
"Our summer program is very different, says Igal Perry, director of Peridance Center. "Many dancers, whenever they think about any summer program, think about classes morning 'til night. Here the program is more flexible. In between they can do something else. They don't have to be here the whole summer."
The program is taught by active choreographers, professionals who do not usually teach during the year. Dancers are chosen through application, and no beginners or slow intermediate students are permitted. A two-week workshop costs $190 for a two-hour technique class followed by a choreography or repertory class. Registering for longer periods can mean a discount of 5 to 10%. There are usually 15-20 students per class, excepting in the popular Jennifer Muller workshop, which typically draws 30-40 dancers. Muller's 12th annual workshop will be held at Peridance Aug. 11-23. Information: 132 4th Ave., 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10003; phone: (212) 505-0886.
There will be summer intensives at the School of Dance Theatre of Harlem--from June 23-Aug. 16, for a professional training program, and from July 7-Aug. 16 for all students. Courses are offered in ballet, tap, pas de deux, jazz, variations, pointe, men's, workshop, and others. The next audition date for the Professional Training Program is March 9, at 1 pm. Audition videos are accepted for students from outside New York City, but must be submitted by March 14. Information: Dance Theatre of Harlem, Inc., 466 W. 152nd St., New York, NY 10031; phone: (212) 690-2800; fax: (212) 690-8736; Internet: DnceHarlem aol.com.
Steps on Broadway offers special summer workshops and master classes, with an increasing number of guest artists and choreographers. In August special scholarship performances will showcase a summer student's talent. There are also children's classes for kids 4-16, which can be taken for month-long segments in July and August.
Information: Diane Grumet, Administrative Director, 2121 Broadway, 3rd Fl., New York, NY 10023; phone: (212) 874-2410.
Complementing the wide variety of courses taught by Roger Hendricks Simon at The Simon Studio is a class in movement that performers can take advantage of. Information: The Simon Studio, P.O. Box 873, Ansonia Sta., New York, NY 10023; phone: (212) 841-0204.
SUB: The World Beyond Manhattan
The Lim—n Dance Company will transfer from Broadway to Purchase College, in Purchase, N.Y., from July 7-25, and then will be in residence at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif., from Aug. 4-15. These intensives feature Lim—n Technique, Alexander Technique, repertory, composition, and a teachers' course.
Faculty include Gary Masters, Jennifer Scanlon, Sarah Stackhouse, Risa Steinberg, Clay Taliaferro, and the entire Lim—n Dance Company. Information: Lim—n Institute, 611 Broadway, New York, NY 10012; phone: (212) 777-3353; fax: (212) 777-4764.
A dance "retreat" for teens is available at the Muhlenberg College Teen Dance Intensive Workshop, in Allentown, Pa. The intensive for musical theatre will be June 23-25; the concert dance intensive is June 26-28. Information: Department of Theatre Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown, PA 18104-5586; phone: (610) 821-3335; e-mail: butler muhlberg.edu.
Summer Session 1997 at North Carolina School of the Arts, in Winston-Salem, includes ballet and contemporary dance in its five-week program, scheduled this year for June 22 through July 25. The minimum age requirement for children is 12, or completion of the sixth grade. Information: Summer Session at North Carolina School of the Arts, 200 Waughtown St., PO Box 12189, Winston-Salem, NC 27117-2189; phone: (910) 770-3204.
Point Park College's International SummerDance '97 will be held from June 23 until Aug. 2, in Pittsburgh. This intensive six-week program in ballet, jazz, and modern is for dance professionals and serious students aged eight and up. New York auditions will be held in March, when certain scholarships will be made available. A professional production at the Pittsburgh Playhouse caps the program, which can be attended from one to six weeks.
For information on tuition and available dormitory housing: Georgina Gutierrez, Point Park College, 201 Wood St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222; phone: (800) 321-0129 or (412) 392-3456.
For the past 10 years, Skidmore College, in Pennsylvania, has hosted a professional dance company for a three-week intensive for intermediate and advanced dancers. This year the Garth Fagan Dance Summer Workshop runs from June 8-28. Past companies which have been in summer residence at Skidmore include Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Taylor 2/Paul Taylor Dance Co., and Martha Graham Dance Company.
Tuition runs $880 for non-credit classes, and $10 more for college-credited classes. Room and board are $720 for the three-week workshop. Information: Maria McColl, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866; phone: (518) 581-7400, ext. 2264.
Finally, Philadelphia's University of the Arts runs a "pre-college" summer institute geared toward high school students who are interested in studying theatre in a university environment. The musical theatre portion of the program offers a dance component. Tuition is $1,400 for the four-week program, and housing is an additional $135 per week.
Information: University of the Arts Pre-College Summer Institute, 320 Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102; phone: (215) 875-3355; fax: 875-3374, e-mail: pcarts netaxs.com.uarts.-edu.
--TMH
Sweet Words of Youth
Summer-ized Acting Settings for Kids
By Roger Armbrust
For most young people, summer calls up images of immersion in ocean water or swimming pools. But to the kid drawn to a life of acting in theatre, film, and television, summer can offer the splendor of moving out of the regular classroom and diving into a hot pool of Performance Concentrate: better known as the summer training program.
The varied offerings exist in the confines of a steamy New York City, in the balmier hinterlands Upstate, in New England, and other areas around the nation. Here are a couple of examples of what today's youth can find both in and out of town.
SUB: In Studio in Town
ACTeen Summer Academy offers 11 different workshops covering theatre and film. "Our reputation has always been built on film and TV acting training," explains Rita Litton, ACTeen director, whose classes run the gamut from musical theatre, Shakespeare, scriptwriting, stage combat, movement, improvisation, and audition workshops, to film and TV scene study for students from all over the U.S., whose ages range from 13 to 20.
Each class is small, six to 10 students each, with "10 maximum," notes Litton, adding that she enrolls about 60 students, with 30 full time, and the rest taking individual classes.
"We have a wonderful staff of working professionals from Broadway to feature films, and also top vocal coaches," she boasts. They include the likes of actress Kimberly Williams ("Father of the Bride" and ABC's "Relativity") and Jon Seda, a veteran of 11 feature films, among them "Primal Fear." ACTeen also houses seven multi-camera studios near Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, where Litton says students are involved in "lots of participation."
Now in its 20th year, ACTeen offers individual workshops at $200-300 and a full program at $1,000 to $1,800, depending on the month and the courses taken during the July and August summer sessions. The four-week session dates: July 7-31 or Aug. 4-20. The Saturday-only program runs from June 28 through Aug. 16.
Fees for housing: Contact Litton, who said she can find living quarters for $150-$200 a week.
Registration and information: Rita Litton at ACTeen Summer Academy, 35 W. 45th St., NY 10036, phone: (212) 391-5915.
SUB: Love at First Scene
Sharon Richardson believes that "Kids Love Acting," which is what she calls her summer session at New York City's Weist-Barron Studios. "I wrote this program as an educator, and because I know that acting is wonderful for kids," Richardson observes. "It brings out creativity, nurturing, sensitivity, and it's very valuable for their sense of choice. Everywhere we end up in life is based on the choices we make; and nurturing acting training can help young people to overcome fear, make quick choices, then know that if they've made a mistake, they can dust off their knees and start over again. It helps you understand yourself and others better, making you a stronger person."
Richardson's method involves bringing in a wide range of performing arts professionals to work with the young. They include agency managers, directors, producers, actors: pros who can provide the aspirers with a sense of show business's real world.
Melding a nurturing environment with experienced professionals results in, Richardson feels, "a way to learn professional-quality acting. We work on subtext, motivation, improvisation, and different acting techniques. I also include parents, so they'll understand and know what to do in the industry. I think that, when children are doing such wonderful things, they want to share it with their parents."
Taping each session allows parents to sit with the child and share the experience. It also shows both child and parent that the process involves, not imitating teachers, but learning true techniques which children can carry into the scene, whether it's an interview or an audition, a theatrical, film, or TV commercial performance.
The result: children can perform naturally and with confidence because they understand and are familiar with what the business requires of them. And New York is the perfect place to market their talent because, Richardson says, "Agents are always looking for wonderful kids."
Kids Love Acting is open to ages seven through 12, with a special class for four- to six-year-olds. The full summer program preparing youth for movies, TV series, soap operas, commercials, and Broadway begins June 23 with an intensive two-week workshop; a four-week program starts July 7; and another two-week intensive starts Aug. 4.
For course options, call Sharon Richardson at Kids Love Acting at the Weist-Barron Studios, 35 W. 45 St., New York, NY 10036, phone: (212) 874-1081 or (212) 840-7025.
SUB: Out of Town, in the Mix
"We're firstly a theatre camp, and everything flows from that," remarks Carl Samuelson, who directs the Stage Door Manor Performing Arts Training Center/Camp in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y. "We produce 33 full-blown shows during the summer, 11 shows each three-week session. They're summer-stock quality, and run the gamut from standard favorites like 'Fiddler on the Roof' and 'Mame' to [Stephen] Sondheim stuff like 'A Little Night Music,' 'Into the Woods,' and 'Sunday in the Park With George.' We also do classics, like Shakespeare and Molire."
Samuelson prides himself, too, on introducing new shows. "We did the American premiere of 'Moby Dick,' the musical," he notes, a result of having one faculty member who also works for the highly successful theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh. Another faculty member, David Connerly, won an Emmy for his choreography of the Miss America Pageant.
The camp caps at 235 kids, creating a community and staff which is "all about theatre," Samuelson stresses. His graduates have included the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Todd Graff, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Helen Slater.
The camp, for boys and girls aged eight to 18, is located about 95 miles from New York City. The entire curriculum, including food and housing, runs $2,550. Contact Samuelson at Stage Door Manor Performing Arts Training Center/Camp, Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759, (914) 636-8578.
SUB: From Hartwick to French Woods
High school students grades 10-12 might take advantage of Hartwick College's Summer Acting Workshop. The three-week course (June 29-July 19) begins with physical and vocal techniques, moves into acting classes, and ends with a performance of theatre pieces featuring each student. Parents are invited to the finale, in which students display what they learned during the workshop.
Groups are "relatively small, usually 20-25"; they include students from all over the U.S.--and the last couple of years from Trinidad, according to Hartwick's Nancy Brandow.
Hartwick is located about 200 miles from New York City. The workshop includes weekend field trips to a nearby lake and to small area theatre companies. Fees run from $775 for commuters to $975 for room, board, and field trips. Information: Summer Acting Workshop, Hartwick College, Office of Special Programs, Dewar Hall, Oneonta, NY 13820, (607) 431-4416.
French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts gathers boys and girls ages seven to 17 in Hancock, N.Y., for sessions of one to three weeks. "While the kids are living at camp, they're really exposed, not only to working on a show, but to living with other people devoted to theatre," explains French Woods' Michael Baer. "We encompass every aspect of theatre, not only putting kids in the spotlight, but showing them behind the scenes and the technical aspects."
Campers are involved in 30 different shows throughout the summer: comedies, dramas, "a lot of musicals with a full pit orchestra," Baer notes. "We also have a tremendous number of theatre classes, both for stage and camera."
Information: French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, RR01 Box 228, Hancock, NY 13783, phone: (800) 634-1703 or (914) 887-5075.