TACT Academy Announces Winter/Spring & Summer Programs

The TACT ACADEMY is pleased to announce both its Winter/Spring and Summer schedules. We begin in January with a series of monthly WEEKEND ACTING INTENSIVES for High School students. Though each workshop is self-contained and stands alone, they have been designed to also work as a cumulative series, so they may be taken either separately or as a group. The Academy is also offering a week-long TEEN INTENSIVE for High Schoolers to correspond with this year's Spring Break vacation.

Our program for Middle School Students starts up again in March with our 6 week program in ways of working with a script we call BREAKING THE CODE.

We are also pleased to announce our Summer schedule of WEEK-LONG WORKSHOPS for students in 9th to 12th grades.

TACT ACADEMY programs take place at the TACT Studio at 900 Broadway in NYC. This professional rehearsal and presentation loft space is conveniently located just north of Union Square and just south of the Flatiron building and is where the TACT Company rehearses all its productions and presents its staged reading series.

All TACT ACADEMY classes, workshops, and intensives involve performance-based learning and culminate in an open performance for friends and family.

WINTER WEEKEND WORKSHOPS
for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (9th to 12th grades)
Instructor: Jenny Bennett, with professional actors from the TACT Company.

JAN 15/16 - MAKING AN IMPRESSION: MONOLOGUES
Saturday & Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm Break from 1:30pm to 2:00pm
$250 (or two or more workshops at $200 each)

Whether it's preparing a monologue, a speech, or a presentation for an audition or a college application, working by oneself to create a character in a theatrical moment has its own unique challenges. This workshop will concentrate on techniques for making an indelible impression. Whether you bring in your monologue, discover a new one, or create your own: you'll discover new ways to approach the material that help bring you closer to the character, The Situation, and the moment.

There will be an open performance for friends and family at 4:30pm on Sunday.

FEB 12/13 - "PLAY'S" THE THING:
THEATRE GAMES & IMPROV
Saturday & Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm Break from 1:30pm to 2:00pm
$250 (or two or more workshops at $200 each)

You can't have theatre without 'play'. Like athletes, actors train skills and practice technique, building their "actor muscles" so that when it's Game Day and they're out on the field, they can use those strong muscles to play their best. This weekend intensive focuses on the playing, but playing to a purpose. Through theatre games and structured improv, students will begin to hone their skills in concentration, action, observation and character development. Sure, the games are fun, but they're also sneakily building your experience and acting abilities. After all, "Play's" the thing!

There will be an open performance for friends and family at 4:30pm on Sunday.

MAR. 12/13 - IT TAKES TWO: SCENE STUDY
Saturday & Sunday 10:30am to 4:30pm Break from 1:30pm to 2:00pm
$250 (or two or more workshops at $200 each)

Participants will be assigned scenes from great plays to experience the artistic process from beginning to end, starting with table work, moving through acting choices and coaching, and ending with performance. This intensive weekend is a crash-course in how an actor prepares, creates a character, works with a scene partner and director, and delivers a final, finished performance.

There will be an open performance for friends and family at 4:30pm on Sunday.
BREAKING THE CODE: SIX WEEK COURSE for MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS
6 Week program for students in 5th to 9th grade. Beginning the week of March 8 / 10, 2011
Instructor: Jenny Bennett, with professional actors from the TACT Company.
$300

The only elements needed to create great theatre are a plank, a passion, and an idea to convey. In our modern theatre culture those ideas typically come from the script of a play and it is the actor's job to mine that text to discover the life and soul of the characters. TACT ACADEMY'S focus is the training of young actors in a variety of methods and modalities all of which center on creating theatre from the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life - a core principal of the TACT aesthetic.

Using exercises, theatre games, improvisation, and special rehearsal techniques designed to increase vocal and physical expression and confidence, participants will emerge from this program armed with a reliable action plan for understanding and communicating any text, theatrical or otherwise.

This special Spring program will focus on TACT's Mainstage production of 3 MEN ON A HORSE by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm. Working alongside the professional actors from the company, students will explore this delightful Depression Era comedy, discovering its rich vernacular and mining its raucous humor. The program includes a complimentary ticket for the student and a discounted ticket for one parent or guardian to attend a special performance of the TACT production at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row.

6 Week course for Middle School students: 4:00pm to 6:00pm

2 SECTIONS
SECTION 1: Tuesdays: March 8, 15, 22, 29, April 5, 12
SECTION 2: Thursdays: March 10, 17, 24, 31, April 7, 14

There will be an open performance for friends and family at 6:00pm on April 12th for Section 1 and on April 14th for Section 2.

SPRING BREAK TEEN ACTING INTENSIVE
for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (9th to 12th grades)
Week of April 18th
Monday to Friday 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Instructor: Jenny Bennett, with professional actors from the TACT Company.
$400

Geared for students 13 - 17 years old, this Spring Break Intensive will focus on the variety of methods and modalities used in creating theatre from the text and the actor's craft - a core principal of the TACT aesthetic. Working with members of our acclaimed company and actress/theatre educator, Jenny Bennett, this one week workshop will look at unlocking the secrets of the script and using those discoveries to create a character and a performance that comes alive on the stage. With exercises, theatre games, and special rehearsal techniques designed to increase vocal and physical expression and confidence, participants will emerge from this workshop armed with a reliable action plan for understanding and communicating any text - theatrical or otherwise - and they'll have a great time doing it!

Whether you have an interest in acting, a passion for the theatre, or simply a love of language, TACT's TEEN INTENSIVE is right for you.

There will be an open performance for friends and family at 5:00pm on Friday.

SUMMER SCHEDULE
SUMMER INTENSIVES in ACTING
for HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (9th to 12th grades)
July 11-15 : Focus on Scene Study
July 18-22: Focus on Monologues
July 25-29: Focus on Tackling the Text

Aug 1-5: Focus on Character Monologues (Student-generated)
Aug 8-12: Focus on Scene Study (Student-generated, developed from improv with other characters)
Aug 15-19: Focus on Play Creation (Student-generated)

ALL INTENSIVES are
Monday to Friday 1:00pm to 5:00pm
These week-long INTENSIVES are designed to stand alone but can also be taken cumulatively. Students can take one week, multiple weeks, or all six weeks.

$400 for one week/ $375 Early Bird registration by March 1, 2011
$750 for two/ $725 Early Bird registration by March 1, 2011
$1100 for a series of three/ $1000 Early Bird registration by March 1, 2011
$1800 for all 6:
MEET JENNY BENNETT
TACT Academy's Instructor

JENNY BENNETT, a fourth-generation actor and Theatre educator, recently returned from seven years in Taiwan. There she founded Mindful Phoenix Arts, an NGO company with full seasons of plays, workshops and an exciting Theatre curriculum for young and less-young members of the English-interested community. As a Lecturer at Shu-Te University, she ran the annual two-semester Theatre Project, training language learning for EFL students. In addition to many workshops for various high schools, she's been an Artist Educator for First Stage Theater Academy in Milwaukee, Metro Theater of St. Louis, and the Delaware Governor's School for Drama. Jenny has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MFA from the PTTP at the University of Delaware.