Are you itching to perform? In this five day summer camp, students will learn about five different theatre titans and have the chance to practice their acting techniques. Come with some experience with performing or none at all, the goal of our camp is to explore acting and have FUN!

Day 1:

We will begin the first day with introductions and getting to know each other. We will then move into a short presentation on our first thespian: Constantin Stanislavsky! Miss Lauryn will provide some background on who Stanislavsky was, how he got involved in theatre, and the main point of his technique, the objective. We will then take a brief break to stretch our legs, go to the restroom, and get a drink of water. This will also be a great time to socialize and check in with each other as we take a moment away from our work! When we return, we will have the opportunity to analyze a scene and determine the objective before acting it out on our own! We will explore how knowing our objective and committing to achieving the objective can influence our performance. Each student will have the opportunity to perform if they feel ready and confident, but will not be required to on the first day. We will end class by each reinforcing one thing that we learned that day and want to remember moving forward.

Day 2:

We will begin the second day with warm ups for the body and the voice (our instrument for performing!) as well as some games to wake up our creative minds. We will then move into a short presentation on our second thespian: Sanford Meisner! Miss Lauryn will provide some background on who Meisner was, how he got involved in theatre, and the main point of his technique, repetition. We will then take a brief break to stretch our legs, go to the restroom, and get a drink of water. This will also be a great time to socialize and check in with each other as we take a moment away from our work! When we return, we will learn and play the repetition game and discuss how this technique can help us to get out of our heads when we perform. We will then use the repetition game to help us perform a scene! We will end class by each reinforcing one thing that we learned that day and want to remember moving forward.

Day 3: 

We will begin the third day with warm ups for the body and the voice (our instrument for performing!) as well as some games to wake up our creative minds. We will then move into a short presentation on our third thespian: Uta Hagen! Miss Lauryn will provide some background on who Hagen was, how she got involved in theatre, and one of the best known exercises for her technique, The Basic Object exercise. We will then take a brief break to stretch our legs, go to the restroom, and get a drink of water. This will also be a great time to socialize and check in with each other as we take a moment away from our work! When we return, we will each attempt The Basic Object exercise and share observations about each other and how we think this might help us perform. We will end class by each reinforcing one thing that we learned that day and want to remember moving forward.

Day 4:

We will begin the final day with warm ups for the body and the voice (our instrument for performing!) as well as some games to wake up our creative minds. We will then move into a short presentation on our final thespian: Rudolph Laban! Miss Lauryn will provide some background on who Laban was, how he got involved in theatre, and his technique, the Laban Efforts. We will then take a brief break to stretch our legs, go to the restroom, and get a drink of water. This will also be a great time to socialize and check in with each other as we take a moment away from our work! When we return, we will explore how we move and understand the Laban Efforts, and then apply them to a scene that we perform. We will end class by each reinforcing one thing that we learned that day and want to remember moving forward, as well as sharing which thespian we liked best.

*Please note that any scenes/plays performed are written by the instructor or collaboratively with the students. These scenes/plays are NOT published works written by anyone other than the individuals involved in the class.