Live Arts Charlottesville

Spring 2012

SPRING ADULT CLASSES

Aerial Silks Class with Sage
Instructor: Sage Brodersen
Saturdays, 2pm-3:30pm
April 14-June 16, 2012 (8 classes; no class 5/12 or 5/26)
Tuition: $110, $99 for Friends of Live Arts

Aerial Silks is a trapeze-like circus art that involves climbing up hanging fabrics. The silks are then wrapped around the body allowing the performer to assume graceful poses, swings, flips, and falls while suspended in space. Aerial Silks Dance is a beautiful combination of grace and strength. In this class you will sculpt and tone your body in the air as you increase your flexibility, strengthen your core and engage your full body. This class is designed for beginners. We will begin with climbing technique, simple poses, and muscle building exercises. As the class progresses we will move on to more advanced sequences that allow you to flow from one pose to the next, and truly begin to dance in the air.

ACTORS’ LAB: The Basics (Spring Session)
Instructor: Carol Pedersen
Wednesdays, 12pm-2pm
April 18-June 6, 2012 (8 classes)
Tuition: $130, $117 for Friends of Live Arts

Explore the fundamentals of the actor’s craft through exercises, improvisations, and in-class text work. Class is open to those with or without previous training or experience.

ACTORS’ LAB: Acting Beyond Realism
Instructor: Carol Pedersen
Saturdays, 10am-1pm
April 21-June 9, 2012 (8 classes)
Tuition: $190, $171 for Friends of Live Arts

Some of the theater’s greatest plays require acting beyond the boundaries of realism. How does the actor approach a non-realistic character? Does “truthfulness” matter when the playwright creates an abstraction named “Mr. Zero” or “He”, two characters who will appear on the Live Arts* stage this spring? This session of the Actors’ Lab will explore these questions, using in-class exercises,improvisations, and mask work, designed to bring abstractions to theatrical life in scripted scenes and monologues. The class is open to those with or without previous training and/or
experience. (*The characters ”Mr. Zero” and “He” appear in Adding Machine and He Who Gets Slapped this Spring.

Beyond the Basics: Bigger, Bolder, Faster
Instructor: Laura Rikard
Mondays, 5:30pm-7pm
March 26-May 14, 2012 (8 classes)
Tuition: $110, $99 for Friends of Live Arts

In this advanced acting class the experienced performer will learn to make stronger choices, have more confident auditions, and work under pressure. How can you create a full, richly embodied character when you have only two weeks to rehearse a show? How do you make quick, strong choices at auditions? How can the script help you? This acting class helps you polish your technique, stretch your
creative strengths, and master the auditioning process through monologue, scene study and training. This class is intended for the experienced actor.

Shakespeare, From Page to Stage: How to Understand What Shakespeare Is Saying and Make It Come Alive
Instructor: Clinton Johnston
Thursdays, 5:30pm-7pm
April 19-June 7, 2012 (8 classes)
Tuition: $110, $99 for Friends of Live Arts

Working with monologues from Shakespeare’s plays, we’ll look at how an actor can parse Shakespeare’s speech for sense, for sonic components, and for rhythm with an eye to creating an emotionally vibrant performance where you work with the language and the language works with you.

Tap 101
Instructor: Jessica Wilbert
Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 6pm-7pm (1 class)
Tuition: $10, $9 for Friends of Live Arts

Never touched a tap shoe before? Has it been years since you’ve tried a shuffle? Take this one hour tap “crash course” to boost your confidence and give you a leg up in our eight week session. Become familiar with a few of the basic building blocks in tap. Totally non-intimidating! Bring tap shoes if you have them, or wear a comfortable leather soled shoe or sneaker.

Beginner-Intermediate Tap Class (Wednesday Group)
Instructor: Jessica Wilbert
Wednesdays, 6pm-7pm
April 18-June 6, 2012 (8 classes)
Tuition: $80, $72 for Friends of Live Arts

To take a cue from Jerry Herman, we aim to “tap our troubles away” in this eight week session. We’ll blend both Broadway and rhythm tap styles, while learning tap vocabulary and exercises and working on short pieces of choreography.

Beginner-Intermediate Tap Class (Sunday Group)
Instructor: Jessica Wilbert
Sundays, 4:15pm-5:15pm
April 15 -June 10 , 2012 (8 classes), no class on May 27.
Tuition: $80, $72 for Friends of Live Arts

T'ai Chi for Theater Folk
Instructor: Shawn Hirabayashi
March 25 - May 20 , 2012 (8 classes) for continuing Tai Chi students only.*
Sundays, 1pm-2pm
Tuition: $80, $72 for Friends of Live Arts

Theater folks are involved in an art form that is about the live actor being present in front of a live audience. Practice that works on the mind-body connection, is essential for any member of the theater community — not just actors. T’ai chi ch’uan asks that you focus on all the changes that occur in your body as you go through a fixed routine in a slow, relaxed way. This practice makes you more centered and alert, both physically and mentally. This course will introduce the basics of t’ai chi ch’uan and give you a daily routine that will enrich and deepen your presence on and off the stage. * If you are new to T'ai Chi, please contact Bree at bree@livearts.org for more information on a beginner's class.

Register HERE or call Bree at 434.977.4177, ext 100.

SUMMER CLASSES TOO!

IMPROV COMEDY: CHARACTER & SCENE
Instructor: Joel Jones
Summary: The course consists of 7 two-hour classes and a class show.
Dates & Location: June 11, 18, 25 & July 2, 9, 16, 23 in Live Arts Rehearsal Z; 6-8 PM
Class Show at Live Arts, July 31 [Time TBA]
Tuition: $110, $99 for Friends of Live Arts

This introduction to ‘Longform Improv’ will teach you how to create spontaneous, hilarious scenes inspired by almost anything and build those scenes into a completely impromptu, original show of strong comic characters infused with life! In seven weeks of exercises, games, and a final class performance you’ll learn to bring who you are, your interests, quirks, and experiences and apply it all to play fearlessly with other smart people in focused abandon. This is the comedy training of performers on programs likeThe Office, Parks and Recreation, Colbert and the Daily Show. You might just shock your friends and family at the class show by how funny you are!

Limited scholarships are available for all workshops and classes.

Please contact Bree Luck or call 977.4177, ext 100 for more information.

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.

Instructor bios:

Shawn B. Hirabayashi has been practicing t'ai chi ch'uan since 1993. His main teacher is Maggie Newman who is a senior student of Cheng Man-ch'ing who is a senior student of Yang Chengfu. Maggie deemed Shawn worthy to teach t'ai chi ch'uan around 2003. Shawn has been practicing theater since 1989. Though primarily a playwright (MFA Yale School of Drama and various off-off-Broadway productions in NYC), Shawn's done just about every job there is to do in the theater.

Clinton Johnston is a local actor, director, teacher, and playwright with an M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Virginia (having done an internship with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival). He switches those hats constantly both in Charlottesville and in the Valley. He has been doing theater most of his life, and loves Shakespeare just about more than anything else in the world.

Joel Jones: Originally a Charlottesville native Joel Jones has spent the last seven years in New York City studying Longform Improv, Sketch Comedy and Storytelling with the Upright Citizens Brigade, the People’s Improv Theater, and the excellent Magnet Training Center. He has performed regularly with Improv groups Mono-piece Theatre, Hell Buffalo, King Canute, and the Kicks. Jones has also appeared as a Storyteller at the Bowery Poetry Club, and the Moth. He was a founding member of the Storytelling group Campfire Stories, and Playwright-In-Residence of Third Man Productions. Last summer his solo show Life Insurance (produced with Nelson County’s wonderful Hamner Theater) ran in the New York Fringe Festival and Washington DC’s Capital Fringe Festival. Jones’ short plays, particularly his bar plays, have been widely produced in Charlottesville, New York, and Boston. He first got involved in theater during the beginning years of Offstage Theater and Live Arts, writing, performing and eventually directing and serving in leadership positions in both organizations. He is overjoyed to be returning to his hometown with his lovely wife Jennifer, and his new daughter Ellie.

Carol Pedersen brings to Live Arts a background in professional and educational theatre in New York, where she worked as an actor (AEA, SAG, AFTRA), director (Off-Broadway, regional theatre), teacher (Columbia University, Marymount Manhattan College) and acting coach for actors at every stage of their careers, from beginning students to working professionals. Here, she continues to work in various capacities--as actor, director, dramaturg, acting coach--with many of the theater organizations on the vibrant central Virginia theater scene, including Live Arts, The Hamner Theater, Offstage Theater, Horseshoe Bend Players, Heritage Theater, UVA, PVCC, Richmond Shakespeare Festival and Tandem Friends School. Carol is the founder/facilitator of the Live Arts Readers' Circle as well as founder and current instructor of the Actors' Lab and Basics class. She holds an M.F.A. in directing from Columbia University's School of the Arts and an M.Phil in theatre theory, history and literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Laura Rikard is an actress, teacher and director. As an actress she has worked professionally in regional theatre, New York City, Europe and in Film and Television. She has also performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Magdalena Festival and was in the British Premiere of Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights. She has had the privilege of working with Meryl Streep, Nora Ephron, Sam Mendes, and many more. She is trained in the acting styles of Stella Adler, Lee Strasburg, and Sanford Meisner. She has trained with physical theatre masters Eugenio Barba, Antonio Fava, Carlos Garcia, and Dody di Santo. She was trained in Strasburg work at the legendary Actors Studio in NYC with Elizabeth Kemp and Stella Adler work with Majorie Ballentine (private acting coach to Gary Oldman and more). She has shared the stage with Sir Paul McCartney at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts Anniversary Gala. She is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild and holds an MFA in Acting from UVa, an MA from the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts and a BA in Theatre from the College of Charleston. She has been teaching actor to students of all ages for over ten years.

Jessica Wilbert has been singing and dancing for as long as she can remember. She's studied tap, jazz, ballet, and voice, violin, and piano. Her most favorite thing is making music with her feet. She has taught tap to all ages and levels in DC, Maryland, and Charlottesville. She loves both the Broadway and rhythm tap traditions, and was mentored by one of the original dancers in Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk on Broadway. She has performed regularly at Live Arts, Four County Players, and Play On, and is thrilled to be bringing tap to the floorboards at Live Arts.

Forging theater and community in Charlottesville, Virginia

Classes for Adults

Limited scholarships are available for all workshops and classes.