Quirky Characters! Create, Write, Recite!

This class will mix performance and theatre with creativity in writing and practicing collaboration with other students. 

I have an English Education degree and have published a book so writing is my passion, but I've been teaching theatre since 1996. I  have produced countless shows with cast after cast. There are a few basic lessons that every new actor must learn before they are ready to audition for a play and receive a script. This class will cover those basic lessons so that students can then create characters to write about and develop dialogue for.

Class #1: Creating an Original Character, voice, body, emotion
Variety in Voice: In this class, we will work with using the voice to find a character. Experimenting with high/slow, fast/slow and accent is a good way to start. All exercises are with teacher modeling and mimic so students will feel comfortable (basically, I'm so silly that no one worries about looking silly themselves!)

Body Consciousness
Mostly this class will be learning to use one's body to convey a character. How does this person walk? What do they do with their hands? How would they stand/sit/move, etc? We will also explore Emotion and Story in a Character

Class #2: 
Students will get a chance to introduce a new character (or two or three) that they made up from their very own imaginations! We will use class time to write character summaries of the original character and compile the characters for our writing projects. We will brainstorm ways to incorporate the characters into scenes. 

Classes #3-#5
Students will write about their original characters interacting with their classmates' characters, focusing mostly on dialogue. At the end of each class we will read aloud our creations, learning to recite dramatically using character voices and facial/vocal expression. We will use the lesson from Class #1 to present the characters’ lines theatrically.