SoW Workshop Series Classes to Feature HAIR Cast Members
By: Eddie Varley Nov. 08, 2009
[SoW] is a series of classes designed to give you the skills you need to get into auditions, book jobs, and maintain your career and lifestyle as an artist. [SoW] will offer a wide range of classes taught by Broadway and Film & Television actors who experience this process on a daily basis and will expose you to all the tools you need to achieve your goals with confidence and endurance. [SoW] will serve as a community and a support system as you travel through a volatile industry.
Classes being offered through December 2009 are as follows:
The Musical Theatre Audition
The Musical Theatre Audition is a 3- week session that covers all aspects of the audition process. We will take you through proper audition etiquette, choosing and preparing material, and presenting your best audition possible. You will have the opportunity not only to travel through this process, but also to observe and learn from fellow artists in their processes. The breakdown of the 3 sessions is as follows:
1- The time between when you enter the room and present your performance is crucial in communicating to the creative team who you are as both a person and a professional. For the first session you will present your two best contrasting pieces as if at a Musical General audition. You will then receive feedback on your audition etiquette as well as the performance itself in order to discover how to bring the best of yourself into the room every time.
2- In the 2nd week you will return to the audition setting with a song of your choice in the style of a specifically assigned show. You will also be asked to bring in your book in case another song or style is requested of you, as is so often the case. Being caught off guard will give you a chance to work on your toes and flex your improvisational muscles. After the round of auditions each student will receive feedback on their professionalism, material choices, and overall presentation.
3- The final session will focus on mastering the callback. After session 2 you will be given callback material for your assigned show. After a week of preparation with new songs and sides you will return to a callback audition setting to make your final impression before the class and audition panel. You will then be given directorial notes to work with as you move through the callback process. After the round of auditions, each student will receive final feedback on their professionalism, presentation, and ability to take direction.
Song and Dance
We all know how to sing and we all know how to dance and we all know how to train these talents separately. But rarely is there an opportunity to hone both skills simultaneously despite the very foundation and requirements of Musical Theater. So, join Broadway's best as they teach you professional dance combinations as well as melodies and harmonies to incorporate. Breakdown of the 2 sessions is as follows:
1- For the first half of the class, you will be taught the song for the combination. The 2nd half of the class involves a physical warm up and learning the dance combination.
2- You will then review the song and apply it to the dance combination before getting up and performing.
*Students are required to bring recording devices to class so they can here the stability of their voices while performing song and dance.
Q & A Panel
Actors have plenty of questions about the audition process as it is, but what about life during and after auditions? What about being prepared for rehearsals, performances, previews and openings? What about working multiple jobs at the same time, or life between jobs? What is the life of a working actor and how do we deal with it? Furthermore what benefits and resources do we have available to us in order to be able to sustain a lifestyle as an artist? Come talk to working actors in the industry and turn your questions into answers.
IntenSati
This class is not just a workout! You will also:
CLARIFY what you really want.
CREATE new beliefs.
LEARN to GET OUT of your own way.
START taking INSPIRED ACTION.
IntenSati is a revolutionary workout developed by Patricia Moreno, fusing high-energy aerobics, martial arts, yoga, and strength conditioning. Combining spoken affirmations with simple choreography, IntenSati provides a heart-pumping, exhilarating workout that builds physical, mental, and spiritual muscle. It is fitness at the highest efficiency and empowerment--physically challenging and spiritually mindful. Courage, confidence, willpower, enthusiasm, self-respect, and a strong healthy body are all the results of this practice. The goal of IntenSati is to support total integration of the body and mind, allowing you to be and experience all you deeply want...right NOW!
You can expect to get an incredible workout. You can expect to feel inspired. You can expect to feel uplifted. You can expect to begin to think in a new way. And you can expect to feel more POWERFUL and CONFIDENT than you have ever felt before.
November 19th, December 1st & 8th
Times: 2pm-4:30pm
Price: $175 (includes 3 sessions)
Bio: Jackie Burns is currently in the Tony awarding winning revival of Hair (Black Boys trio/Shelia u/s). Ms. Burns other credits include, Rock of Ages, Unlock'd (NYMF, Best in Fest Award), Grand Night for Singing (CT Outer Critic's Award), Smokey Joe's Cafe, Sweeney Todd, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Singing in the Rain and Cabaret among others. Abroad, she has performed for Tokyo Disney, and Norwegian Cruise lines. She graduated from UConn with a BFA in Acting.
Caissie Levy teaches The Musical Theatre Audition
November 22nd, December 6th & 13th
Times: 7pm-9:30pm
Price: $175 (includes 3 sessions)
Bio: Caissie Levy currently stars as Sheila in the Tony Award winning Broadway revival of HAIR. Other credits include Elphaba in WICKED (Los Angeles, u/s Broadway), Penny Pingleton in HAIRSPRAY (Broadway, 1st National Tour), and Maureen in RENT (National Tour). She starred in The Yellow Wood at NYMF, and has played leading roles in countless pre-Broadway readings including Pretty Dead Girl, Bubble Boy, Crybaby, and Walker In Babylon. In concert she was a guest soloist for the United States Military Academy at West Point. Trained at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Caissie is also a seasoned audition coach. Given her extensive Broadway credits in both comedic and dramatic roles, Caissie offers insight into how to tackle all kinds of material, with heavy emphasis on preparation, risk taking, and having fun. For more on Caissie, please visit www.caissielevy.com
Song & Dance w/Ryan Watkinson
November 23rd and 30th
Times: 2pm-4pm
Price: $55 (includes 2 sessions)
Bio: Ryan, a Rockville, MD native, began studying dance at 5 years old. He trained in ballet, modern, jazz and tap styles with the Musical Theater Center and Ann Reinking's Broadway Theater Project until he was selected out of 700 candidates for a nine-member freshman class in Pennsylvania State University's Musical Theatre BFA program. Ryan made his Broadway debut at the age of 20 in the closing cast of the Tony Award-winning Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical MOVIN' OUT, and soon after joined the cast of the recent hit XANADU. Ryan is currently a member of the new hit musical HAIR.
Outside of Broadway, credits include extensive work at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, most recently in WEST SIDE STORY (Diesel) and CAROUSEL (Ballet Soloist), as well as lead dancing roles in the international tour of Bianca Marroquin's concert SOLO PIDO, and in GREENEYES, the New York Fringe Festival's 2008 winner for Best Musical and Best Choreography (by the Leopold Group). He will continue his work with the Leopold Group in the world premiere of their latest piece, to be presented in Chicago this spring. Ryan has had the privilege of working with such Broadway luminaries as Debra McWaters, Andy Blankenbuehler, Josh Bergasse, Ben Vereen and Gregory Hines, and continues to study and work professionally in New York City.
Song & Dance w/JAY A JOHNSON
December 7th & 14th
Times: 2pm-4pm
Price: $55 (includes 2 sessions)
Bio: Jay Armstrong Johnson is a native of Fort Worth, Texas where amidst the football and beer pong found a love for acting, singing, and dancing. Working professionally since the age of 13, Jay had amazing opportunities to work with some of Broadway's best at Casa Mañana performing such roles at John Darling in Cathy Rigby's Peter Pan, Baby John in West Side Story, Jeffery in Godspell, and Mark in A Chorus Line. Currently, Jay can be seen understudying the roles of Claude and Woof and swinging the Tribe in the hit revival of HAIR on Broadway. Other professional credits include Mark in the first national revival tour of A Chorus Line, Link in Hairspray (Weston Playhouse), Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Little Shop of Horrors. Jay was also seen as the title roles of Floyd in Floyd Collins and David in King David at NYU Steinhardt. PEACE & LOVE!
INTENSATI w/ERIN STUTLAND
November 19th, December 3rd, 10th, and 17th
Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm
Price: $16 per class
Bio: Erin's lifetime background in dance and other physical disciplines led her to IntenSati, which quickly became a practIce That would change her life. Erin attributes this practIce To helping establish new beliefs that generate consistent confidence, strength, and joy in both her career and in her life. Working closely with IntenSati creator Patricia Moreno, Erin became one of the first certified instructors on the cutting edge of developing its work. She has been selected as a Premiere IntenSati Leader, a small group that's on the front line of changing the way people feel about their bodies and their livesLiving in New York City, Erin works professionally as a writer, actress, and dancer/choreographer. She has guest starred on Mad Men, The Today Show, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, Chappelle's Show, and As The World Turns, along with several short and independent films. Her sketch writing has been featured on Funny or Die and Atoms Films and she recently premiered her one woman show, "The Last Good Girl" for two sold-out runs at the PIT Theater. She choreographed the sold-out cult hit "I Can Has Cheezburger, The MusicLOL" for the 2009 NY Fringe Festival. The pilot she shot with The Tenderloins sketch group will debut at the New York TV Festival this fall. More at www.erinstutland.com
Q & A Panel featuring HAIR cast members
November 22nd
TIME: 7pm-8:30pm
Briana Carlson-Goodman: A native Brooklynite, received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College in Boston. New York Credits include: Hair (Broadway), Wanda's World (Off-Broadway), Calvin Berger (Reading), and Moontides, with dance/theatre company The Movement Workshop Group. Briana is also thrilled to have played a "Cha Cha Coconut Tree" in the National Tour of Go Diego, Go Live!
Matt DeAngelis: Matt is very excited to be a part of Space on Whites workshop series. Credits: Broadway: Hair. Off broadway: The Rockae, The Flood (NYIT Award nom. Best Leading Actor). Regional: Hair, Altar Boyz, Buddy Holly, Evita. Studied at the Boston Conservatory. Proud Equity member.
JOHN MOUARO: John Moauro (tribe) first realized he was destined for the stage after seeing a production of Sunday in the Park with George in middle school. From that moment on his passion has grown and taken him across the country fulfilling his dream. After moving to NY he was cast in a 40th anniversary concert of Hair, starting his amazing journey to the Broadway stage. Favorite roles include Honk! (Ugly), Into the Woods (Jack), You're a...Charlie Brown (Snoopy), Hair (Claude). John is a proud graduate of Kent State University. LoVe!!
Kacie Sheik
Elliot Roth
Class Accompanist Pianist/Vocalist and composer Elliot Roth, known for his "silky smooth voIce That seems as if it is caressing the air" (New York Times) has entertained audiences throughout New York City and other areas along the East Coast; most recently seen in the Off-Broadway production, Our Sinatra. He has performed one man shows and original sets at such NYC venues as the Birdland, The Zipper Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Source among others. A masters graduate of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music Jazz Arts Program in jazz voice, Elliot has studied with grammy award winning artists' Theo Bleckmann, Kate Mcgarry and Peter Eldridge of New York Voices, as well as piano studies with Birdland Cast Party's pianist Ted Firth. He has had choral, instrumental, and dramatic works commissioned by such establishments as NYU, Attack Theatre and the award winning television series, "Back Country". He is a widely respected vocal and piano instructor; specializing in somatic singing/full body performance approach. Elliot recently completed a limited off-off broadway run of his original piece, "MidTwenties", also starring songstress Jenn Lederer and broadway music director/pianist Justin Mendoza .
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