Teaching

I have been an active arts educator since 2016, covering a wide range of subjects and styles. I believe that the best way for a performer to release into their art and imagination is for them to have a strong technical foundation.

“Everything is beautiful if you do it on purpose” — so we must build the tools which allow us to make art purposefully.

Below are some descriptions of classes and workshops I have offered in the past.

Mask and Physical Theatre

The majority of communication is non-verbal. The way someone stands, the energy in their body, the quality of their gestures all add to convey meaning beyond what their voice is already conveying. Take advantage of your body for richer storytelling.

My training focuses on close attention to articulation and tension within the body. This is achieved through a progression of studies and exercises drawn from the work of Etienne Decroux, Jacques Lecoq, and Nancy Stark Smith. In-class exercises provide context for generating original work, shared with the class over the course of study.

Later training involves the exploration of neutrality, and eventually the specificity of character within masks. This culminates in a close study and performance of one of the masks found in Commedia del’Arte.

Voice and Speech

Everyone has habitual ways of speaking. We receive these from our parents, our peers, the television, the movies, and the radio – genetically and culturally. A performing artist needs to have utter control over their voice and speech faculties in order to portray any character that comes their way, but most importantly needs to be understood by the audience and be able to do so with power and sustained vocal health.

Voice: Training consists of a daily warmup based the work of Chuck Jones and Kristen Linklater. In-class work primarily focuses on building a connection between the thought and the voice — freeing the actor to express from a very deep part of their vocal system. If the words are coming from a “deep place” in their bodies, their words will be coming from a “deep place” in regards to the truth of their expression.

Speech: Through years of study in the work of Knight-Thompson, Edith Skinner, JC Wells, and independent research. This led me to write my own handbook for theatrical speech, as well as a digital archive of voices for everyone to be able to study freely at their own pace.

Scene Study

This course can be divided into two distinct subjects: criticism and practice. The actor must learn how to read a script critically alongside learning how to activate the script for themselves in portrayal. Acting, after all, is “doing,” but one must first know what to do.

The first class meetings focus on breaking down a script, and how each unit of action contributes to our understanding of the character. After this, class largely functions as a “studio” style class, where actors bring in prepared work to share. The work is given feedback, and then moments from the scene are rehearsed in class under guidance of the instructor.

There will never be any “acting exercises” in this class. Professional actors do not perform “exercises” in the rehearsal process. We should be preparing to do what will actually be asked of the actor professionally.

Material can either be assigned, or chosen by students. Preference is given to scenes from plays which were written in this century.

Chekhov

As the second-most produced playwright globally, playing Chekhov is an imperative skill — even if his work strikes boredom and fear into actor and audience alike. In many ways, the work of Anton Chekhov is dated, but in many more ways it is also a progenitor of the 20th century western dramatic canon. Learning how to effectively activate the text in a dramatic way builds skills which directly apply to the actor’s work in any other play they may come across.

The work begins with a group table read of Ivanov to investigate tropes and dramatic structure which Chekhov then refines over his four major plays. Class then progresses to a monologue exercise designed to give actors the raw ingredients of activating the thoughts within the text, and manifesting them physically. Finally, class progresses to scene study: actors prepare outside of class, then share work and receive feedback.

Shakespeare

Like it or not, William Shakespeare is perhaps the most important playwright to have ever lived. As much as we like to imagine that the Ancient Greek Tragedians are the beginning of western theater, the vast majority of practices in today’s theater and film industries are descendants of Shakespeare’s innovations. This, combined with the fact that Shakespeare “hires” more actors every year than any other, means at the very least an actor needs it in their toolbox.

Having worked with Shakespeare as an actor and director for over 10 years, including a span of nearly two years where I was either rehearsing or performing Shakespeare every day, I have developed a curriculum which achieves three main goals: meter, accessibility, and fun.

Meter: iambic pentameter is there to help you. It is not a traffic barrier restricting the actor’s expression. Rather it is the very tool that an actor can use to “play jazz” with the text… but first one must know their scales.

Accessibility: I have personally watched 6th graders understand and connect to a production of Shakespeare. The stories are not complicated. The characters, at times complex, are nonetheless relatable. The plot is often literally told to the audience. Shakespeare wrote for the groundlings. If there is a single person who does not follow along, it is the fault of the actors and the director.

Fun: I have often said to my students that Shakespeare has more in common with soap opera than anyone would like to admit. Watching Shakespeare should be fun — anything can happen at any moment. Playing Shakespeare should be fun for the actor — all they need to do is be present, and hop on the roller coaster.

The skills and freedom we find in training for Shakespeare relates to the presence and imaginative space of play which actors need to act anything else which might come across their plate.