Berkeley Repertory Theatre Announces Spring Classes

In celebration of the upcoming world premiere of Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature, which consists of original monologues about and for girls, Berkeley Repertory Theatre offers a host of new courses this spring that allow students of all ages to share their personal stories. At Berkeley Rep's School of Theatre, teens can take Writing Monologues with Melissa Hillman; adults can mine their lives for stories with Joel ben Izzy or get a primer on Solo Performance with Sara Felder; and school kids can act out their favorite fables in a class on Fairy Tales and Adventures with Erica Blue. And there are dozens of other classes as well! 

Enrollment is now open for the spring session, which begins April 2, and for the annual Summer Theatre Intensive for teens as well. Both budding artists and seasoned performers can survey this spring's courses at the Sunday Sampler on March 18 at 1:00 PM. For two hours, participants can try three different classes – entirely free! Like all activities at Berkeley Rep's School of Theatre, the Sampler is held next door to the Thrust Stage at 2071 Addison Street in downtown Berkeley.

"Eve Ensler's work creates a platform for people around the world to share their own stories on stage. We are thrilled to provide our students with similar opportunities at the School this spring," declares Rachel Fink, director of the School of Theatre. "In connection with Emotional Creature, several new courses focus on staging and sharing personal stories. Of course, we are also offering our standard performance curriculum. I encourage everyone to attend our Sunday Sampler to get a taste of all the classes we offer."

The 10-week spring session begins April 2 and features 39 fun activities:

• Classes for kids (preschool through grade 4) include explorations of Aztec, Mayan, and Incan Mythology; Fairy Tales & Adventures; a new take on an Italian folktale in the Gelato Spectaculo; and an immersive course in ensemble collaboration that culminates with a  special performance.
• Classes for middle-school students (grades 4 through 9) include a performance ensemble exploring a Russian folktale called The Firebird and Fashion Funway, a clothing design class. Musically inclined students will delight in the School's Glee Club performance workshop of Bye Bye Birdie or Swing, Song, and Shakespeare, an adaptation of the Bard's Much Ado About Nothing. The School also offers private voice lessons, as well as an Acting Intensive for serious young actors looking to take their work to the next level.
• Classes for teens (grades 9-12) include Acting Violence (small sword), Acting Shakespeare, Improvisation, and Writing Monologues: Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature. Private voice lessons and one-on-one audition coaching are also available.
• Classes for adults include Acting (beginning through advanced), Acting Shakespeare, Acting Violence (small sword), On-Camera Acting, and One-on-One Audition Coaching. Berkeley Rep has also diversified its improvisation courses, with a new class about cutting-edge techniques and a special section for mental health practitioners in addition to ongoing offerings for beginners and intermediates. Two playwriting courses are on tap this term as well, introductory and intermediate, and special seminars include Alexander Technique and Linklater Voice, Introduction to Performance Art, Movement for Actors: Creating Physical Language, Physical Archetypes: Embodying the Hero with a Thousand Faces, Solo Performance: The Art of Juggling the Truth, and Storytelling: Mining our Lives for Stories.

The Summer Theatre Intensive provides a fun-filled, enriching, affordable camp for teens – right here in Berkeley. Participants work with master teachers to learn basic theatrical techniques such as acting and improvisation, and they learn from Berkeley Rep's artisans about design disciplines such as costumes, lighting, props, and sound. They also select their own specialties with electives in topics such as directing, hip-hop, musical theatre, playwriting, and video. In a process that mirrors the professional method that Berkeley Rep applies to develop new plays, students work with professional playwrights to adapt their own original work. Those shows are performed for an invited audience of family and friends on one of the Theatre's renowned stages.

With different sessions for different ages, the Summer Theatre Intensive offers a rare opportunity for youth to open their imaginations:

• The first session, for students entering grades 6-8, takes place on weekdays from June 18 through July 13.
• The second session, for teens in grades 9-12, is held July 17 through August 10.

Tuition is $1,150 for session 1 and $1,250 for session 2. A limited number of financial-aid scholarships are available. The only requirements are an open mind, an imagination, and a desire to collaborate, work hard, and, of course, have fun.

Additionally, teens can take advantage of the new Teen Actors Studio, the School's latest summer offering. Advanced high-school students will work with a professional director and mount a production onstage at Berkeley Rep! Admission is by audition, and tuition is $800. Don't miss this terrific new course for talented teens, which runs from June 25 through July 7. 

Berkeley Rep's School of Theatre provides a wide array of programming for individuals of all ages. In addition to classes for youth and adults, the School offers Story Builders, a drama workshop for elementary-school classrooms; the Student Matinee Series for middle- and high-school students; in-school residencies; teacher training; and a variety of outreach programs that encourage lifelong learning through hands-on, cross-curricular, in-class workshops. The School also hosts the Teen Council, which allows youth to participate in all aspects of the dramatic process: on stage, backstage, and in front of the stage. 

For more information on any of these activities, or to register, call (510) 647-2972, e-mail school@berkeleyrep.org, or visit berkeleyrep.org/school.

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