FUNDAMENTALS OF ACTING | ACT II INTERMEDIATE ACTING
Take the next step in acting with the exploration of character and truthful behavior using Uta Hagen's "Object Exercises" and the study and performance of monologues and group scene readings. We will develop tools for creating precise, focused, relaxed and truthful characters on stage. Through the use of Hagen’s exercises, as well as monologue work, students will revisit key basics: objectives, text analysis, listening, relaxed awareness and focus. Next, students will read and discuss scenes with our "online ensemble." Finally, students will explore a second monologue that is a character with extreme circumstances, behavior or characteristics. Using specific exercises, they will also hone such skills as concentration, body awareness, emotional freedom and specificity, actions, play, heightening emotional connection, self-awareness, self-confidence, commitment, comfort, confusion, fear, character physicalization, memorization and storytelling. In this class, we work, we read 2-3 plays, we discuss, we laugh and we learn a great deal.
Prerequisite: at least one semester of actor training.
Online Recommendations: a computer with a built-in camera or an iPhone that can be put on a tripod, clear and focused lighting, a good internet connection, and the ability to download Zoom to your computer.
TUESDAYS 7-10 p.m., Jan. 26 - March 16, 2021
Jenna (Jan) Cole is an actor, educator and director who has taught in SCR’s Theatre Conservatory since 2006. She appeared on SCR’s Julianne Argyros stage in Christopher Durand’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and in the Theatre for Young Audiences family series show, The Wind in the Willows. She currently teaches acting at Orange County School of the Arts and has also taught at Geva Theatre Center, Pomona College, Chapman University, Point Park University and West Virginia University; her teaching expertise includes voice and speech, beginning and intermediate acting, text analysis, playwriting, acting Shakespeare, acting style, scene study, acting for the camera and advanced directing. As a director, she has helmed productions of As You Like It, Under Milkwood, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, La Ronde, The Beard of Avon, Blithe Spirit, Old Times and The Shape of Things. As a longtime resident artist at A Noise Within, Cole taught Youth Acting, Summer With Shakespeare and Acting Internship programs; she also performed in numerous plays including The Way of the World, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Hay Fever, The Three Sisters, The Seagull, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Design for Living, A Flea in Her Ear and Tartuffe, as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. She has performed at the Pasadena Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, Shakespeare Orange County, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, Geva Theatre Center, Arizona Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pittsburgh Playhouse and PlayMakers Repertory Company, among others. On television, she has been seen in shows such as “Picket Fences,” “The George Carlin Show,” “Pros and Cons” and “Her Last Chance,” along with numerous commercials, voiceovers and DVD narration. Cole holds an MFA in acting from the American Conservatory Theater and is a certified associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework.
ACTING FOR THE CAMERA
The focus of Teaching Artist Jay Scully’s class is on-camera work, with an emphasis on current industry trends including the art of self-taping and auditioning for the camera in general. Scully balances Zoom classroom work with individual coaching, which is what he does professionally. His professional coaching work includes Steven Spielberg (
West Side Story), Quentin Tarantino (
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Jay Roach (
Bombshell) and many high-pedigree television shows like Amazon's "Carnival Row," NBC's "This Is Us" and HBO's "Westworld." This class uses Zoom, Skype or Facetime, whichever technology is comfortable for the students.
Enrollment is limited.
Prerequisite: At least one year of actor training and ability to memorize.
TUESDAYS 6-9 p.m., Jan. 26 - March 16, 2021
Instructor: Jay Scully
Scully spent three months in 2018 coaching the main cast of the feature film SuperFly for Sony Pictures, Joel Silver and Director X in Atlanta. He has cast over 50 feature films and television shows, and worked extensively on set as an acting teacher and coach. Recent coaching work includes Paradise Pictures, a pilot for USA Network, The Fosters (Freeform), as well as features for directors J.J. Abrams (Super 8), Judd Apatow (This Is 40), and James Wan (Furious 7). He has coached a number of Hollywood's top actors privately, including Frieda Pinto, Moran Atias, and the late Paul Walker, as well as NBC Sports Color Commentators. As a writer/director he most recently co-created and directed the pilot presentation Big & $ave. His feature script The Overview Effect is in development at Bad Robot. Jay received his MFA in Acting from Brandeis University and was a founding cast member of Expanded Arts, a theatre company in New York.
IMPROVISATION | IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP
This is a class for students who have moved beyond the basics of improvisation and want a more intense experience. Instructor Greg Atkins' no-nonsense, high-energy approach to improvisation will help students break through fear of the unknown and prepare for any acting (or life) challenge, whether on stage or off. Using the beginning improv class as a springboard, this class will show students how to:
- liberate spontaneity
- think quickly on their feet
- enhance creativity
- make exciting dramatic choices
As Atkins says in his best-selling book
IMPROV!, "There are only four areas in which improvisation will help you: auditions, performances, business and life."
Prerequisite: Advanced Improv and/or permission from the instructor.
This class will be available if we are able to hold classes in person.
Please email education@scr.org if you would like to know when/if it becomes available.
Instructor: Greg Atkins
Atkins has written and/or created shows for Dream Works, Buena Vista, Sony, Fox, Universal Studios, Sea World, the Torch Ceremonies for the Atlanta and Salt Lake City Olympics, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, the Walt Disney Co., as well as numerous corporate clients and was a consultant on "Whose Line is it Anyway." His book
IMPROV! is in its 19th printing and his many published plays are produced around the world (see samuelfrench.com, bakersplays.com, and hitplays.com). As a director/performer, Atkins travels with an international team of improv actors to exotic locals such as Prague, Singapore, New Delhi and Irvine. He has worked at SCR as a playwright, director, actor or teacher for more than 30 years.
Learn more about Atkins.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACTING | ACT III ADVANCED SCENE STUDY AND CHARACTERIZATION
This online version of the class digs deeper into creating more believable, focused and truthful relationships, rooted in story and text. By this point, students should feel comfortable with the language of the basic tools and will work toward more consistency in the ability to apply these tools. Among the skills we concentrate on are: relaxation, commitment, listening, truthful response, characterization and speaking heightened language. There will be time to address any individual blocks actors might be struggling with. By working multiple scenes over 8 weeks, students learn how to make committed choices in a relatively short period of time, which is one of the hallmarks of the professional actor. Prerequisite: completion of two semesters of actor training.
Online Recommendations: a computer with a built-in camera or an iPhone that can be put on a tripod, clear and focused lighting, a good internet connection, and the ability to download Zoom to your computer.
TUESDAY 6-9 p.m., Jan. 26 - March 16, 2021
Michael Matthys has been teaching acting for the past 12 years at institutions including San Diego State University, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Stella Adler Academy and the Actor's Studio of Orange County. He specializes in a hybrid approach of Stanislavski and Meisner, known as Seven Pillars, as well as being a Viewpoints expert and Designated Linklater Teacher. He began his professional career as a member of the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, Minn.), straight out of graduate school, and has never looked back. Among his leading roles on stage are Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Treplev in The Sea Gull, Treves in The Elephant Man, Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, Alan in Equus, Levin in Anna Karenina and, most recently, Mike Dillon in Good People. On TV, he is most famous for portraying Dr. Kent on "Grey's Anatomy." Other TV appearances include "Buffy," "Saved by the Bell: The New Class" and "Profiler." He has appeared in several feature films including Full Blast, Destiny Turns on the Radio, BASEketball, and Nightwatch and the House of Deadly Secrets (both on Netflix). His latest feature film endeavor, Stan the Man, is slated to be released in 2020; in it, he plays a Russian mob henchman named Dimitri. Check out michaelmatthys.com for more.
ACTING SHAKESPEARE
Students will perform and analyze monologues in order to explore Shakespeare’s use of language and create text-based characterization. This is the class serious acting students have been waiting for. But even those who attend the program’s evening classes in order to overcome shyness and gain spontaneity, can now add a little Shakespeare to their developing skills.
Prerequisite: completed Act I and II at SCR, two semesters of acting training elsewhere or permission from the instructor.
Look for this class to be offered in a future session
Instructor: Hisa Takakuwa
Takakuwa is a classically trained actor, director and educator. She has worked at many theatrical institutions around the country including the Sundance Children’s Theatre, The Music Center on Tour and the Indiana Repertory Theatre. At SCR, she appeared in
The Man Who Came to Dinner and in 14 seasons of
A Christmas Carol and Education Touring Productions. As SCR’s Theatre Conservatory Director, she has directed numerous Players productions including
Metamorphoses, Hard Times, Cinderella, Mansfield Park, Into the Woods, Snow Angel, Seussical, Annie, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins and
Bliss. While a longtime resident artist at the classical repertory company A Noise Within, she appeared in many productions including
The Triumph of Love, The Comedy of Errors, The Misanthrope, Another Part of the Forest, The Seagull and
Our Town. She directed
Henry V, Twelfth Night and
Shooting Stars at the Actors Co-op theatre in Hollywood. She holds a BA from Smith College and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.