Acting for Adults Level IV: Advanced Scene Work
This class or event series has already begun and is no longer available.
View Upcoming EventsParticipants will delve into the intricacies of advanced acting techniques and character development. Building upon the skills acquired in the previous levels, this 8-week intensive is designed for seasoned artists who are ready to explore the depths of their craft.
Throughout the course, Tyler Andrew Jones and Nicole Marie Green will guide participants through a series of scene work exercises aimed at honing their abilities to inhabit complex characters and navigate nuanced relationships on stage.
Drawing from a diverse range of theatrical traditions and methodologies, participants will have the opportunity to experiment with techniques such as:
- Character Transformation: Explore methods for fully embodying characters that are vastly different from your own persona, stretching your range as an actor.
- Subtextual Analysis: Learn to uncover the layers of meaning beneath the surface of the text, allowing for richer and more authentic performances.
- Physicalization and Spatial Awareness: Develop a heightened awareness of physicality and space, utilizing Laban's eight efforts and Lecoq's seven levels of tension to bring depth and dimension to your performances.
- Emotional Truth and Vulnerability: Delve into techniques for accessing genuine emotion and vulnerability in your acting, drawing upon Meisner's technique of repetition and Adler's emotional recall.
- Scene Dynamics and Tempo: Explore the dynamics of scene pacing, rhythm, and tempo to create compelling and dynamic performances that captivate audiences.
Throughout the course, participants will work collaboratively with their peers under the guidance of Tyler and Nicole, receiving personalized feedback and guidance to help them grow as artists.
*Completion of Acting for Adults Level III: Actors’ Toolbox required.
Nicole Marie Green is a Pacific Northwest-based actor, director, and theatre educator. She grew up in Nyack, New York where she began studying theatre at a young age within the Rockland County community. She earned her undergraduate degree in Theatre Arts and Public Relations from Flagler College in Saint Augustine, Florida. After a few years living and working in NYC, she decided to head midwest to pursue an MFA in Acting and Directing at UMKC. Nicole has been a working multi-hyphanate artist for over a decade with a focus on physical and ensemble based theatre. Currently she resides in Portland, OR where she loves to teach yoga, cook, walk her dog, and find the funkiest veggies at the farmer's market. Nicole is a proud member of Actor's Equity.
A Portland Center Stage resident teaching artist, Tyler has been seen onstage in The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and tick, tick…BOOM!, as well as assistant directing Dracula: A Fenimist Revenge Fantasy, Really and The Brothers Size. Additionally, his play Even Faster than a Blink was part of the 2022 Jaw New Play Festival. Tyler attended Marymount Manhattan College and is a proud member of AEA and The Dramatist Guild of America. Tyler offers individual coaching/audition prep for monologues and musical theatre, as well as script analysis and feedback for emerging playwrights. Each session is designed and tailored to your specific needs. One to two hour sessions are provided at Portland Center Stage.
Current & Upcoming
JAW Play Reading: The Sugar Hole
By Virginia Baeta and Amy Driesler
A rent increase for a legendary lesbian bar threatens its existence, and Darcy has a plan to save it. Is the 90's-themed Lesbian Pageant she dreams up as a fundraiser the answer? Or do the lesbians around her have different ideas about what needs to be saved? The Sugar Hole skips through time and space—real and imagined—exploring what it means to be a lesbian in a lesbian community, the importance of spaces for queer people, and what makes someone feel they belong. Part zany comedy, part pageant, and fully heart-filled, The Sugar Hole speaks directly to what makes a community, a community.
JAW Play Reading: Teen Playwrights Showcase
Celebrate the newest generation of theater artists in this high-energy showcase of 8-10 minute plays written by local teens. These young writers are selected from PCS’s year-round education programs and the PCS Teen Council. The playwrights are commissioned to create bold new works that reflect their voices and experiences.
JAW Play Reading: Out There
Created by William Carlos Angulo, Isaac Gómez & Michelle J. Rodriguez
Music & Lyrics by Michelle J Rodriguez
Book by Isaac Gómez
When MJ, a once-great musician turned recluse, summons his best friends to his beach house with a "code red," old tensions and buried secrets resurface as the characters confront their shared pasts and uncertain futures. A PCS Commission, Out There is a richly layered story about family, love, and redemption told through the intersecting lives of three lifelong best friends—MJ, David, and Lars—and the people bound to them, in this deeply resonant portrait of connection. Set against the Pacific Northwest’s storm-lashed coastlines, and bustling cityscapes, Out There offers breathtaking music and heart-bending harmonies that will leave you on the edge of your seat! Be the first to catch this gem of a new musical before it launches into the world.
JAW Play Reading: Say Gay Plays
A not to be missed rocking time of new short-plays by top American playwrights with something to say! Conceived in response to the 2022 passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Voyage Theater Company Founding Artistic Director Wayne Maugans’ SAY GAY PLAYS offers short plays by queer playwrights to for LGBTQ+ communities across America. In a collaboration between Say Gay Plays, Fuse Theatre Ensemble and Portland Center Stage, the JAW lineup includes a fabulous range of work from searing satire to heartfelt moments, featuring playwrights Fernanda Coppel, Marquis D. Gibson, Haruna Lee, Derick Edgren Otero, Harrison David Rivers, SMJ, Doug Wright, and the premiere of a new piece from Portland playwright, Carlos-Zenin Trujillo.
Improvisation Classes for Beginners
Whether you're looking to get more confident in social situations, think quicker on your feet, or get in touch with your imaginative side, these "one-off" improv classes will set you on the path to success!
Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).
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