Theatre Arts Course Listing
Acting 1
Prerequisite: None
Through fun theatre games you will unlock your creativity, imagination and freedom of expression in order to use all of you in your work. The goals of this course are to help you learn more about acting and theatre, to learn exercises that may help your sense of ease and confidence in group situations, to learn more about yourself and TO HAVE FUN! If you’ve been interested in learning more about acting, but are a bit shy, this class is for you!
Acting 2
Prerequisite: Acting 1, Improv 1 or equivalent and placement verification
Now that I got the role, what do I do? This scene study class will offer you a step by step approach to the process of being in a play. The emphasis will be on actions and objectives in scene work. What does your character want? What do they do to get it? “Keep it active” is our goal!
Audition Techniques
Prerequisite: Acting 2, performance experience in Second Stage or Mainstage Musical, or two or more plays at your school or community theatre and placement verification
Whether you are planning a theatre career or want to improve your auditioning skills for the next school or community play, this class is for you! The class will be structured as an advanced acting workshop. The basic skills developed in acting, dance, musical theatre, and performance experience will be used to support effective audition technique. Monologue selection and performance, cold reading technique, effective selection and performance of 16 bars of song for a musical audition, basic dance combinations, and basic interview questions will be covered. Discussions will be held about résumé preparation, appropriate photo “head shots,” schools and conservatories, and casting agents. Goals include preparation for community and high school production auditions, as well as auditions for undergraduate school entrance.
Directing
Prerequisite: Any level of acting or dance class or performing in high school productions or recitals
If you’ve ever said to yourself, “But what I really want to do is direct,” then this course will get you started. With hands-on experience in a laboratory setting, you will explore the many functions of a theater director. You’ll learn about blocking, coaching actors, theatrical pace and rhythm, visual composition, working with designers, casting, and interpreting plays. Using your classmates as performers and collaborators, you will fill the “empty space” with your own scenarios, expand and refine, and then begin to stage text. Step-by-step, you’ll follow your vision as it develops from concept to reality on the stage.
Improvisation 1/Fundamentals of Improvisation
Prerequisite: None.
Students will learn the fundamentals of improvisation: how to accept and not block offers, how to work intuitively rather than intellectually, how to rely on storytelling rather than jokes, understand status work, and the basics of scene building—character, physicalization, careful listening, the importance of opposites, building trust, high stakes, environment, and creating a beginning-middle-end. Simple warm-up games and exercises will be used to practice these skills. Students will also watch film and/or video of professional improvisers, and may bring their own games and ideas to class.
Improvisation 2/Intermediate
Prerequisite: Improv 1 and placement verification.
Improvisers will begin to experiment with longer, more complicated handles (games with particular structures and rules) leading to long form improvisation. Building on the principles in Improvisation 1, students will begin to enhance relationships, status and plot and perform longer open scenes. Students will be given greater theatrical problems to solve alone and in groups. More attention will be given to working interactively with audiences, analyzing the effectiveness of scenes, listening, and taking time to build a story.
Improvisation 3/Advanced Ensemble and Long Form
Prerequisite: Improv 2, performer maturity and placement verification.
Improvisation 3 emphasizes performance before an audience and performance opportunities will be created by both Trollwood staff and the class. The emphasis is on forming a solid, interdependent performing ensemble which takes risks onstage, supports each other with generosity, works interactively with audiences, listens deeply and takes the time to build a satisfying story for those watching. Improvisers in this class must be extremely proactive. Building on the principles in Improvisation 2, students collectively study and analyze the effectiveness of scenes, using rigorous exercises to strengthen Relationships, Status and Plot. Students will be expected to show mastery in the elements of storytelling, using their skills and daring to solve advanced theatrical challenges both alone and in groups.
Martial Arts for the Stage
Prerequisite: None
Welcome to the fascinating world of Martial Arts! With dedication and a little sweat, you’ll advance in coordination, grace and flexibility. Learn the basic kicks, punches and blocks used by most of the Asian-based arts of self-defense. Then, use these techniques to choreograph short fight scenes guaranteed to get gasps from any audience! Whether or not you plan to pursue the marital arts, you’ll be proud of your accomplishments. Besides, it’s great exercise.
Movement and Voice for the Actor
Prerequisite: Acting 1 or equivalent and placement verification
Do you feel “wooden” or awkward onstage? Do you have a hard time projecting and articulating your lines? Do you feel like your voice and movements aren’t expressing your full range of emotion? Then this class is for you! Learn how to release inhibitions and integrate movement, sound and emotion in your performance. This class introduces students to the basic voice techniques of Kristin Linklater and the dynamic approaches to movement and stage relationships in Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints. Learn how to increase your stage through with greater freedom and more emotion.
Multi-Media Theatre History—2008: Commedia Dell’Arte!
Prerequisite: None
As artists, it’s important to understand not only theatre history, but also how art movements developed in response to world events. Each summer we’ll study a country or region from Asia, Africa, the Native Americas, Europe, or European America. This exciting course will explore, through hands-on activities, the common links between theatre history and these major world cultures. We’ll express our knowledge throgh creating original performance pieces and other works of art (i.e. painting, sculpting, sewing, writing, etc.) Annual course topic country will change, focusing on one world culture and its corresponding theatre history, presented through an interdisciplinary arts curriculum.
For 2008, explore the Italian Art form known as Commedia dell’Arte, also known as “Italian comedy. It was a humorous theatrical presentation performed by professional players who traveled in troupes throughout Italy in the 16th century. Performances took place on temporary stages, mostly on city streets, but occasionally even in court venues. It is unscripted but uses stock characters, masks, music, dance, witty dialogue, and all kinds of chicanery contributed to the comic effects. Subsequently the art form spread throughout Europe, with many of its elements persisting into present-day theater. In this multi-media Theatre History class, you will create Commedia for today using hand-son activities, and you will be able to explore your creativity.
Stage Combat
Prerequisite: None
There are few things as thrilling as watching a well-executed fight scene in a movie or play. In addition to the thrills, stage combat can serve as an essential tool to inform character and advance plot. The tricky thing is how to pull off these complicated moves without getting hurt, or hurting your partner! The answer is proper technique, control, and practice, practice, practice! This class will introduce students to the basic elements of Stage Combat, starting with simple partner exercises and progressing to punches, slaps, kicks, and grappling. Students will learn how to tumble and fall (safely!). Finally, if time permits, students will review common weapons and learn basic movement with the Quarter Staff. Students will also choreograph a short fight scene as a final project. Be prepared to sweat!
Note: Appropriate clothing and supportive/athletic footwear required.