Acorn Productions Announces New Collaborations

Acorn Productions, a non-profit theater education company located in South Portland, announces the company's first full schedule of acting classes in their new home at 528 Main Street in the Thornton Heights Neighborhood.The conservatory-style acting school, now under the guidance of veteran director and teacher Jared Culverhouse, is offering classes for all levels of actors from beginning to advanced, along with a playwriting class. Acorn's popular free Intro to Acting workshop also returns on Monday, November 4th. A collaboration with Portland's Snowlion Repertory Company rounds out the schedule with two classes taught by Snowlion's co-founder Al D'Andrea. Additionally, Acorn is piloting a new after school program at the neighborhood's Skillin Elementary School where LearningWorks AfterSchool will bring elementary school students to Acorn's studio once a week after school. Information about all of these programs, along with registration links for the classes, is available on Acorn's website at www.acorn-productions.org

New Acorn Director of Training Jared Culverhouse is the founder of Working Man's Clothes Productions, a theater company which he started in 2005 in New York. As an actor Jared has been seen in multiple productions including To Nineveh (Best Ensemble NYIT Awards), Derby Day (Clurman/Theater Row), and New Country at the Cherry Lane Theater. Jared received his BFA in Acting from Texas State University and his MFA in Directing from UMass Amherst. As an educator, Jared has worked at The New York Film Academy and the Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He relocated to Portland al little over a year ago and assumed the helm of the Acorn Acting Academy from founding director Michael Levine this fall. "There is a great buzz right now with Acorn," says Jared, "Between the new after-school program, the full slate of classes, and our partnering with Snowlion Rep, Acorn is continuing to grow and develop our new space and identity."

Acorn Productions was founded in 1998 in order to engage and educate the Greater Portland community in the performing arts by operating a dynamic and fun hub of theatrical activity that increases people's confidence and self-esteem. Over its history, Acorn has collaborated on the rebirth of both the Parish Hall Theater at the St. Lawrence Arts Center in 2001 and more recently the Ballroom at Mechanics Hall, in addition to an eight year residency at the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook. The company has also offered dozens of professional productions of classic and new plays at various venues throughout the Greater Portland area. Acorn has always served as a creative catalyst in the community, introducing scores of actors to life on stage, training dozens of actors to work with Shakespeare's language, developing hundreds of new plays, and inspiring artists to create new collaborative projects. In all its work, Acorn strives to engage members of the Southern Maine community in the performing arts by providing a bridge for involvement in theater through educational programs that inspire people to explore their creative selves.

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