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Youth Classes
Register Now for Spring Classes
Spring Registration is now open!
Story Circus (ages 4-6)
8 Sessions
Instructor: Melissa Bryant Charles
Dates: Tuesdays, 4/9 - 5/28, 5pm-6pm
Location: Rehearsal A (123 East Water Street, 4th floor)
Tuition: $88, $79.20 for Friends of Live Arts
Register online HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.
Does your child beg to wear dress-up clothes to kindergarten? Would your pre-schooler rather play imaginative games than eat? In this playful forum for creative exploration, budding young actors will join in dynamic theater games that celebrate the imaginative child’s desire to make-believe! Our youngest thespians will create a theatrical retelling of a classic fairy-tale or folk-tale, through exercises and games that will help the children develop skills in storytelling, attentiveness, listening, and creative expression. This workshop will culminate in a 10 minute demonstration of some of the games and exercises the children play.
Kids on Stage (ages 7-9)
8 Sessions
Instructor: Miller Murray Susen
Dates: Wednesdays, 4/10- 5/29; 5pm-6pm
Location: Live Arts Rehearsal A (123 East Water Street, 4th Floor)
Tuition: $125, $112.50 for Friends of Live Arts
Register online HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.
In this introduction to acting, children will learn the fundamentals of an actor’s craft through fun games, improvisations and acting exercises, which will build their confidence, self-esteem and stage presence. The class will end with a short demonstration, based on familiar poems or stories.
Simply Shakespeare (Ages 10-13)
Instructor: Thadd McQuade
Wednesdays, 4/17 – 6/5, 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Location: Rehearsal Z (1108 Forest Street, 2nd floor)
Tuition: $180, $162 for Friends of Live Arts
Register online HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.
In this introduction to Shakespeare’s plays, students will experience the glory of Elizabethan theater as they rehearse and perform scenes from the great plays penned by the “Bard of Avon.” This class will culminate with a 15-minute performance of sonnets and monologues.
Family Tap
8 sessions
Instructor: Jennifer Schindler
Spring class: Tuesdays, 4/9 - 5/28, 6pm-7pm
Location: Rehearsal A at 123 East Water Street.
Tuition: $80, $72 for Friends of Live Arts ; For "families" of 2 or more, $70 per student by email only bree@livearts.org.
Register HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.
The family that taps together... makes a whole lot of noise together. Try something new with your kids this year and Shuffle off to Buffalo! In this class, students ages 8-88 will develop rhythm, style and sound through Broadway-style tapping. Designed for the newbie-tappers, these classes will focus on building flexibility of the knee and ankles, coordination, speed of movement, and above all, having fun! (This class is open to individuals as well as "families" who may or may not be of actual relation.) Please wear comfortable clothing and tap shoes.
Beginner/Intermediate Tap (ages 13+)
8 Sessions
Instructor: Geri Carlson Sauls
Spring class: Wednesdays, 4/10 - 5/29, 6pm-7pm
Location: Rehearsal A (123 East Water Street, 4th Floor)
Tuition: $80, $72 for Friends of Live Arts
Register HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.
In this class, we will work on proper technique for shuffles, flaps, paddle and rolls, pullbacks, maxiefords, and a myriad of other steps. Classic combinations such as the shim sham shimmy and BS chorus will be taught/reviewed, as well as some show tap (Broadway style) combinations. Be prepared to have fun! Prerequisite: You should know the basics of tap, or at least have a class or two under your belt. Please wear non-restrictive clothing and tap shoes to class.
Live Arts Refund Policy
We offer 100% tuition refunds for courses canceled by Live Arts.
We offer a 100% refund, minus a 5 dollar processing fee for withdrawal made at least 7 days BEFORE the class begins.
We do not offer any refund for withdrawals made in the 7 days before a class/camp begins or thereafter.
ABOUT OUR INSTRUCTORS:
Melissa Charles has returned to Virginia to spread her love of the performing arts. This member of Actors Equity Association (AEA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) began performing in professional theatre as a child at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia. She is the owner of Dreams Made Real Adventures (DMR), which offers training, consulting, and production resources and implementation in the performing arts. Melissa is also the founder and Artistic Director of the Union Street Theatre, the first black box theatre and only designated performing arts space in Danville, VA. Shows produced include Alice in Wonderland Jr., High School Musical, Disney's the Jungle Book Kids, Annie, and 101 Dalmatians. Broadway Adventure also offered a Broadway Masterclass with Leslie Goddard, and a variety of musical theatre and audition classes.
Boomie Pedersen was born and raised in New York City and was for many years a professional-track scholarship student with the Joffrey Ballet. She gave up the dance to attend Princeton University, where she eventually majored in English and Theater and won the Frances LeMoyne Paige Prize at graduation for both theater and dance. She spent 10 years on and off in Tokyo, Japan, where she did professional voice-over work, was Artistic Director of Tokyo Theater for Children, was actor, director and board member for Tokyo International Players. When she relocated to Charlottesville in 1995, Ms. Pedersen became involved at Live Arts both as an actor (Scrooge, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Assassins, Edward the II, Copenhagen, Noises Off, Old Times) a director (Three Tall Women, Buried Child, Play About the Baby, The Underpants, Glengarry Glen Ross – which production traveled to the Hamner Theater in Oct. 2009.) and choreographer for The Wild Party. She has worked with Offstage Theater, Four County Players, Piedmont Virginia Community College, UVA's Drama Department, Heritage Rep and Wintergreen Performing Arts. She is at present Theater Advisor at Old Crozet School Arts and teaches theater and Improv. Boomie has been Co-Artistic Director of the Hamner Theater with Peter Coy since the theater opened in 2005 and has directed and produced over a dozen productions there.
Geri Carlson Sauls has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years. Past shows that she has choreographed include "The Producers" here at LiveArts, and "Annie" and "Cabaret" at Four County Players. In California, she choreographed "Forty Second Street", "Crazy for You", "A Chorus Line", "West Side Story", "Brigadoon", "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", and too many more shows to mention here! She has advanced training in tap, and tries to take at least one master workshop a year to keep current!
Kelley Schoger earned her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy at VCU where she taught Introduction to Stage Performance, Audition Technique, Movement, Puppetry Arts and Effective Speech, and served as Associate/Assistant director on several main stage productions. In greater Richmond she appeared as Lenny in Crimes of the Heart, Ruby in Stage Directions and Carla in Sailor’s Song. Kelley is also a second year teacher trainee of the Alexander Technique at ATTC- Charlottesville, having relocated to Charlottesville this summer to complete her training. Prior to moving to Richmond, she taught drama and puppetry on Tortola, British Virgin Islands and before that worked as an actor and puppeteer in New York City (La Mama, Theatre for the New City, The Culture Project, Mabou Mines, Aisling Arts) for ten years. Kelley is very excited about becoming a part of the Charlottesville arts community!
Miller Murray Susen grew up in the Charlottesville theatre community, appearing in over 30 productions before she turned 18. She attended the summer arts camp in musical theatre at Interlochen Center for the Arts, and was a delegate in theatre to the Virginia Governor's School for Visual and Performing Arts. She attended Cornell University, where she directed student-run theatre and music groups. Then she wandered in the wilderness of academic publishing and professional web design for a long, sorrowful period. In recent years she has found her way back to her first love, appearing on local stages at Live Arts, Play On, Four County Players, The Bridge, The Jefferson, and the parking lot of the Blue Moon diner, and teaching youth drama classes at Live Arts and Venable Elementary school. She delights in introducing children to the creative discipline that has brought so much happiness, friendship, and fun into her life.
