Jonathan Drahos to Lead 'Method' Acting Class at Rubicon Theatre, Begin. Today

Rubicon Theatre Company offers a new acting class taught by professional actor Jonathan Drahos, which begins today. This program, entitled The Acting Intensive, will be the newest addition to Rubicon's extensive offering of summer educational workshops. Now celebrating their 11th year, these programs have focused on developing skills and techniques such as: basic theatre terminology, confidence building, stage presence, proper voice techniques, developing an awareness of body language through character work, and other fundamental techniques through improvisation, scene study and theatre games. Nearly 100 students each year have participated with nearly 60 percent of them receiving some form of financial assistance.

The Summer Acting Intensive will open students up to discover creative, inspired acting choices, using the "method" techniques of Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner and Uta Hagen. They will learn how to use movement, voice, and heightened "actions" to bring a scene to life. These unique techniques give actors a "tool kit" to use when approaching a variety of texts from Neil Simon to William Shakespeare. With a limited class size of 12, this course offers close interaction and individual attention. The workshop will culminate in a final presentation of the students' work for family and friends.

The tuition for the class is $310 and is open for ages 17 and up. The class will meet for eight 3-hour sessions beginning today, July 22 to August 14. Classes will be held at Rubicon Theatre Company on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6pm to 9pm. For more information and to register online, please visit the Education and Outreach section of www.rubicontheatre.org. The registration deadline is July 17, 2013.

JONATHAN DRAHOS has been dedicated to professional acting and directing and to the theoretical, historical and performative study of classical and Contemporary Theatre for the past twenty-five years. As an actor, he has worked in all media including Broadway, Off-Broadway, television and feature films. As artistic director of the Uprising Theatre Company -- and as an independent director -- he has extensive experience directing and vocal coaching a wide range of styles and periods, including Shakespeare and Musical Theatre. Since joining the Rubicon staff last summer, Jonathan has directed the Theatre Camp musical Captain Louie Jr. and served as the Dramaturge/Verse Coach for the Fearless Shakespeare production of As You Like It, as well as the upcoming Romeo and Juliet. He is a Stanislavski-based acting and directing teacher and has broad experience with the Alexander movement technique, stage combat, and Linklater-based voice and dialect techniques. Jonathan holds a B.A. and M.F.A. in acting and directing, as well as a Ph.D. in Drama, Shakespearean and Marlovian Narrative Verse Acting from the University of Birmingham, UK. He was recently published in the Shakespeare Institute Review Journal and currently teaches courses in Acting/Voice/Movement in Theatre, Audition Technique, Theatre Ideology and The American Musical Theatre at the University of Worcester, UK. Previously, Jonathan spent three years teaching Shakespeare, Early Modern British Theatre History and 17th Century Literature at California State University, Northridge.

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