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GreenHouse Course List for Spring 2008
Portland Center Stage’s GreenHouse is a unique new school offering theater training and related studies for people at all degrees of involvement with the living stage. Our courses are taught by exceptional teachers drawn from Portland’s diverse community of talented professionals, many of whom are familiar to you from PCS’s productions and programs. Improve your presentation and communication skills by enrolling in our our Art of Business course, or unleash your inner playwright by joining The Dramatist’s Toolbox. Take the stage in one of our Focus on Acting courses, or delve into dramatic literature with a class covering Murder & Mayhem. Whether you’re honing skills you already have or nurturing new ones, GreenHouse has something for you.
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Focus on Acting: Process Work for the Beginning Actor III
Learn how to prepare for a role and expand upon the tools of training that lead to confidence. Building blocks include text and character analysis, inner monologue work, defining the relationship, increasing need, Meisner moment-to-moment work, expanding the imagination, and the basic concerns of actors as they begin scene work. Outside class work/rehearsals will be required. Instructor approval required.
Please note: this class is Part Two of a three-term course in acting. Participants are welcome to enter the sequence at the start of any term, but the full complement of three is designed to provide a solid foundation of actor training.
Instructor: Devon Allen is founder and artistic director of OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB. She teaches acting, directing, and creative process privately and at major universities in the United States and the U.K, and directs and acts professionally. Locally, Devon has directed The Heidi Chronicles for Profile Theatre, and with the Lab: Mee’s Big Love (at PSU), Chuck Mee Challenge 2006, Too Much Coffee Man Opera at PCPA, and Will Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing), for which she received a RACC Grant. In May 2008 she will direct the northwest premiere of Caridad Svich’s Labyrinth of Desire for Miracle Theatre.
Course dates: Saturdays, Apr. 12 – May. 31, 9-11:30am (no class May 3rd)
*One Monday class on May 26, 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Price: $250
Focus on Acting: Voice Acting in Theory and Practice
Benefit from Mary McDonald-Lewis’ 25 years of experience as a VO pro as she shares techniques for commercial copy analysis and interpretation, character creation, and recording booth skills, which you will apply in an ongoing workshop setting. Recording, playback and critique will be provided in a safe, intimate environment. This is a comprehensive course for beginning to advanced actors wishing to expand their craft. Please note: class size is limited to 12 participants. Instructor approval is required for admission.
Instructor: Mary McDonald-Lewis has worked as a professional voice actor since 1979. She was Lois Lane and Wonder Woman on Superfriends, Lady Jaye on GI Joe, Princess Goleeta on Galtar and the Golden Lance and had roles on myriad other cartoons, including Batman, The Mask, Where’s Waldo and more. Her voice has been heard on hundreds of commercials and now tells millions of people where to go as the voice of OnStar, General Motors’ global navigation system. MaryMac is co-artistic director of Readers Theatre Repertory, was seen most recently onstage in Metamorphoses for ART, and just finished directing A Doll’s House for Theatre Vertigo. MaryMac is Oregon’s national board member for SAG, and is vice president of Portland’s AFTRA council. She holds her MFA in Theatre Arts from the University of Portland.
Course Date and Times: Mondays, April 7 – June 2, from 7-9pm (No class May 26th)
*Class on April 7th is from 6:30 to 9:30pm
Tuition: $250
Topics in Playwriting: Play Tuning
Put simply, this course is for the serious writer who wishes to put his/her existing draft through the grinder. Both instructor and peer review will be combined with extensive exercises on how to re-draft a play. Radical rewrites and restructuring may take place. The goal: to walk out with the best possible version of the play, fine-tuned and ready for submission. The course also includes one individual session between student and instructor outside of actual class time.
(Pre-requisite: Play Sculpture, The Dramatist’s Toolbox, or instructor approval)
Instructor: Matthew B. Zrebski has had eight original plays produced in Portland, and/or Dallas, TX. He is a two-time recipient of the Rosenfield Playwriting Award and has been a guest instructor of playwriting for Portland Actors Conservatory, Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools program, and Portland Center Stage’s Visions & Voices program. Matt holds a BFA in Acting, Directing, and Playwriting from Southern Methodist University.
Please note: this class is Part Two of a three-term curriculum of playwriting. Though each course may be taken separately, the full complement of three is meant to provide a progression of writing development.
Course dates: Mondays, Mar. 31 – June 9, 7-9pm (no class April 21st, 28th or May 26th)
Tuition: $200
Topics in Playwriting: The Dramatist’s Toolbox
Designed as an intro for the beginner or as a brush-up for the seasoned writer, this course focuses on tools that will spark ideas on both what to write and how to write. Writer’s block will never again be an excuse as numerous prompts and techniques get introduced to keep the pen flowing and the key-strokes going. Each writer will end this course with a minimum of two ten-minute plays. They will also walk out with a notebook of exercises for future reference.
Instructor: Matthew B. Zrebski (see biography above)
Course dates: Saturdays, Mar. 29 – May 31, 9-11 am (no class April 19th or 26th)
Tuition: $200
Dialogue: Murder & Mayhem: Three macabre masterpieces of the English Renaissance
Shakespeare’s audiences had a sweet tooth for scary stories involving vengeful ghosts, damp dungeons and grisly undoings. These influential dramas prefigure the Gothic romances of the 18th Century as well as the horror movies of our own time. In this six-session theater appreciation course, we’ll delve into three of the genre’s greatest hits, all of which are still frequently performed today: Hamlet, by William Shakespeare; The Revenger’s Tragedy, by Cyril Tourneur; and The Changeling, by Middleton & Rowley.
Instructor: Mead Hunter is PCS’s Literary Director. He holds an MFA in Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism from Yale University and a PhD in Critical Studies from UCLA. He has served as production dramaturg at numerous theaters including the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory Theater, and the Humana Festival
Course dates: Wednesdays, Apr. 2 – May 21, 7-9 pm
Tuition: $150
Special Two-Segment Art of Business Course
Register for one or two segments of the Art of Business course designed for the business professional. Learn how to use tried-and-true theater techniques to enhance your performance in the workplace. 10% discount for enrolling in both segments.
Segment I: The Art of Presentations
The Art of Presentations will utilize performance exercises and techniques to help you focus on creating confident and engaging presentations. Move your audience from captive to captivated by helping them understand quickly and clearly why they should listen to you. Learn how to keep the flow of energy between you and your audience by keeping the audience actively involved while finding your own confident presenting style.
Instructor: Laura Faye Smith is a Drammy and OTAS award-winning actress who has worked professionally for several Portland theaters and has toured nationally and internationally. She has taught classes in numerous disciplines, such as improvisation, auditioning, voice over, and sketch comedy/stand up comedy. She has also worked extensively with On Your Feet, a collaboration that uses the techniques and skills of improvisation to help clients with business issues. In addition to her theatrical career, Laura has also served in many different roles in the business world, and is currently the Educational Theatre Program Manager for Oregon Children’s Theatre. She has a BA in English and Theater from Oregon State University.
Course dates: Mondays, Apr. 7 - April 28, 7-9 pm
Tuition: $150.00
Segment II: The Art of Communication
The Art of Communication segment will utilize performance exercises and techniques to help you switch off your automatic pilot and be fully in the moment by shifting status, adjusting body language and heightening your listening skills. Disover how to listen, hear, and respond directly to what others are saying. Learn how to adjust on the spot to captivate your audience and to be a malleable and effective communicator.
Instructor: Barb Klansnic is a founding member of the sketch/improv group Inflatable Betty, Los Angeles and Eastland Academy, Portland; voice over/writer for Planet’s Funniest Animals (Animal Planet Network); ensemble member of Unexpected Productions, Seattle; performer/writer for Almost Live! and NPR’s Rewind with Bill Radke, and improv instructor and director in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland for people of all ages, attitudes, sizes and corporate affiliations. She is a freelance scriptwriter for corporations, small companies and Internet ventures.
Course dates: Mondays, May 5 - June 2, 7-9 pm, *no class May 26
Tuition: $150.00
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For enrollment, course cost, or any other questions, please call Kelsey Tyler
at 503.445.3793 or email him at kelseyt@pcs.org.
The Art of Business is sponsored by
American Express Company.
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