Richmond Shakespeare's November Workshop

Dialects
(French and Scots)
with David Sennett
Tuesday, November 11, 7:00-9:30 PM

Offend men. Romance women. Or romance men. Offend women. Nothing says romance more than speaking with a French accent, and nothing puts people off quite like the Scots dialect. Learn both in just one evening! Come prepared to leave with a new relationship or a new bruise.

David Sennett, instructor for this workshop, has offended nearly everyone in nearly every dialect. Ever since high school, he has failed at romance, but he suspects that has more to do with his behavior than his accents.

20 students maximum, high school age and older. Cost: $20. Call 232-4000 to make your reservation today!

All classes and workshops are held at Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street). Participants should bring a bottle of water and dress for moderate physical activity.

Richmond Shakespeare's Summer Intensive - New Time and Tuition!

"Clown Intensive "
with Matthew Ellis
June 16 - 20, 2008, 6:00-9:30 PM
$250

To accommodate the many parties who have expressed interest in this class but who could not make the daytime hours, we have moved the Clown Intensive into evenings. If you wanted to take this class but could not do it before, now is your chance!

Matthew Ellis, Professor of Movement at the University of Oklahoma and director of this summer's Richmond Shakespeare Festival production of The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), will teach a five day Clowning Intensive for Richmond Shakespeare's Training Department.

Matt says: “The clown is not just a circus performer or a birthday party attraction. The clown is the part of us that lives in a simpler place. Our inner clown is rife with problems to solve, and he or she solves those problems in a variety of ‘creative’ ways.”

The classes will focus on the discovery of that inner clown through a process developed by world renowned teacher Jacques LeCoq, taught to Matthew by the world famous clown Avner Eisenberg and master teacher Jonathan Becker. “You won’t learn how to ride a unicycle or how to walk in big shoes. This is an acting class that develops strong awareness and a powerful presence on stage. This work will improve all aspects of your performance, not just the slapstick comedy.” The workshop will consist of technique training and sketch development, culminating in a short show for the public on the final day.

The class is open to actors of advanced high school age and up. Participants should, as always, bring a bottle of water, a lunch, and be prepared to move. Some scholarships are available for interested participants with financial needs, and actors who have worked with Richmond Shakespeare in he past year are eligible for discounted tuition.

Email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or call him at 804-232-4000 for more information or to make a reservation.

Check out some images from Matthew's previous clown classes at the University of Oklahoma:

Richmond Shakespeare's May Workhop

"Auditioning for Shakespeare"
with Daryl Clark Phillips
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 7:00-9:30 PM
$20 to participate/ $10 to audit
at Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street)

This workshop is designed to help actors develop focused and clearly understandable monologue material from Shakespeare’s plays. Actors are guided through the “how to” of finding a suitable selection from the plays, how to use the whole body of the play to create an environment which supports their delivery, and how to create an appropriate aesthetic distance and focus which can maximize their efforts. They are also guided through simple techniques for physical realization of the environment and tips on how the poetry in the language can aid them in the creative process.

Each participant must have a monologue either completely memorized or be VERY familiar with it with book in hand. High School seniors (seriously committed) and older. Previous experience performing Shakespeare is not important, just a love of the process. Actors should wear comfortable clothing in which they will feel free to get down on the floor, if needed.

Daryl has been a professional Actor, Singer, and Speech and Theatre Arts educator for 30 years. He has a B.A. in Speech, Communication and Theatre from Monmouth University and an M.S. in Speech and Oral Interpretation from Emerson College. The colleges, universities and private schools at which he has taught include: The Ranney School, Ocean County College, Northeastern University, Monmouth University and The University of Richmond. He was an Associate Artist at TheatreVirginia for many years and created the noted, “No Holds Bard” in-class teaching supplement program for TVA, which toured middle and high schools in Virginia for 10 years. Daryl is also a free-lance Theatre Arts and Voice, Articulation and Dialect Coach who has worked with actors and singers all across the country to prepare material for a wide range of audition situations. He currently lives in Richmond and teaches Theatre Arts at Prince George High School. He can be seen this summer in the Richmond Shakespeare Festival's production of Henry IV, Part 2, wherein he will reprise his critically acclaimed performance as Falstaff.

Email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or call him at 804-232-4000 for more information or to make a reservation.

Times-Dispatch: Andrew Hamm is "Cultivating Richmond Theater"

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Cultivating Richmond theater
An insider is devoted to fostering a vibrant local art scene

Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 - 12:03 AM

By CELIA WREN
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

"There's no shame in wanting to be a big fish in a small pond," observes Richmond Shakespeare's new associate artistic director, Andrew Hamm, "if you recognize that a big fish in a small pond has big responsibilities to care for the pond."

An intense 35-year-old with a shaved head, glasses and an earring, Hamm is sitting in the theater company's quiet office in the Fan, drinking coffee and discussing, among other matters, the importance of nurturing a vibrant local theater scene. It is a subject he feels strongly about: His voice is emotional, almost tremulous, as he deplores the inclination of certain big fish (talented Richmond thespians) to relocate to a larger pond (New York City).

"Smaller-city and small-town art scenes need great artists to stay there: That is what makes art healthy," the Virginia native stresses.

Since he began working with Richmond Shakespeare in 2004 -- his first freelance assignment was to supervise music for a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" -- Hamm has done his part to cultivate the pond that is Richmond theater.

For 18 months, until his promotion in March to associate artistic director, he served as Richmond Shakespeare's director of training, coordinating career-enrichment classes (such as the upcoming clowning intensive) aimed at local actors. "I felt a responsibility to do what little I can, not only to put on a good show, but to help the other artists in town to put on good shows," he says, explaining his perspective on the job.

He has also directed for the company, most recently mounting "As You Like It," running at the Second Presbyterian Church through April 20. Hamm has followed the five-actor template that's a Richmond Shakespeare hallmark: Between a clothes rack and a flower-draped piano, the performers ricochet from character to character, frantically donning hats, aprons and the like to signal their identity.

"I've been calling it a love letter to the five-actor format," says Hamm. "We're not trying to hide the costume changes or the character changes -- we're absolutely glorifying in them!"

All the same, he'll be expanding the cast, to a dozen or so, for the comedy's run at Agecroft Hall July 3 through July 13.

In addition to directing "As You Like It," Hamm has written the production's incidental music, and he serves as pianist for the montage of 1980s pop songs (Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," etc.) that introduces Act I. "Once alternative and grunge became mainstream, you couldn't have love songs without irony," Hamm said, of the choice of tunes.

"The '80s were really the last time in history where you could have love songs that were really just kooky love songs." (His Virginia Commonwealth University graduate thesis was a theater piece built from Joe Jackson albums.)

As if he didn't have enough to do, Hamm also depicts Hymen in the production, adding that tiny role to a list of previous Richmond Shakespeare acting credits.

"He has a great energy," said James Alexander Bond, the New York-based artist who directed Hamm in "Measure for Measure" and in "Julius Caesar."

"He does his work fast and well, and if something's not going in a direction that feels right, he has no problem letting go and trying new things. He's very specific -- and the more specific a character is, the better it is."

Grant Mudge, the company's artistic director, is equally enthusiastic. "He can work as a teaching artist, he can work as an actor -- his versatility is incredibly valuable to me, " he said. "At any small not-for-profit theater company, if you've got someone who can handle more than one area of emphasis, that's incredibly valuable."

If Mudge sounds a note of pragmatism, Hamm takes an idealistic view of his work. "I view this thing of art-making as mission and vocation," he said.

And for that mission, he thinks, Richmond is an ideal location. "You can perform in front of bigger houses if you wish, in bigger towns," said Hamm. "But I guarantee: You're going to touch people so much more deeply here."

Images from "Auditioning for Musical Theatre"

Scott Wichmann and Sandy Dacus joined forces on Tuesday to teach a magnificent workshop in musical theatre auditioning techniques. Seven participants and six auditors took it all in.

In addition to being a swell guy, Scott is a heck of a teacher, and Sandy may be the best accompanist I've ever seen. It was a rollicking fun educational evening.

Here are some pictures, in case you missed it:





Next up: Auditioning for Shakespeare with Daryl Clark Phillips (Falstaff in last year's acclaimed Henry IV, Part 1 and this summer's Part 2) on May 13. Call 804-232-4000 or email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com to reserve your spot.

Richmond Shakespeare's April Workshop

"Auditioning for Musical Theatre"
with Scott Wichmann
Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 7:00-9:30 PM
$20 / $10

Richmond Shakespeare is delighted to welcome local star Scott Wichmann to our training faculty for this month's workshop.

It has been said that characters who reach a point of crisis in plays either fight, dance or sing: same impulse, different result. All originate from a breakdown of our ability to communicate in any conventional way. It’s not enough to just sing beautifully at your audition; you need to be able to really inhabit the lyrics from a personal angle. It is less about the flowery sounds we make and more about the underlying motivation to sing in the first place. This is a class about turning “songs” into the “monologues” they already are.

Instructor Scott Wichmann has appeared in approximately 67% of all plays produced in Richmond over the past several years, including acclaimed appearances in I Am My Own Wife, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Scapino, Moonlight and Magnolias, Jails, Hospitals and Hip-Hop, The Taming of the Shrew, and upcoming productions of Guys and Dolls and Richard III. We like Scott.

We are offering a two-tiered enrollment for this workshop: a $20 participant fee, open to a maximum of eight students who will work with Scott and the accompanist directly, and a $10 auditor fee, open to an unlimited number of students who wish to observe the class. Participants should bring sheet music in the correct key to several pieces they are prepared to work on.

The class is open to high school age and up. Participants should, as always, bring a bottle of water and be prepared to move. Email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or call him at 804-232-4000 for more information or to make a reservation.

Richmond Shakespeare's Spring Acting Class

"Building Characters"
with Andrew Hamm
Mondays, March 31 - May 5, 7:00-9:30 PM
at Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street)
$150

“Don’t let anyone tell you to go from the inside out – or the outside in. It’s a circle.”
–Joseph Chaikin

Modern actor training is largely focused on the “inside-out” approach pioneered by Stanislavski, but that’s not the only way to find a character. Sometimes an “outside-in” technique is needed to add distinctive details, and external choices can even be an actor’s primary means of character development.

This class is designed for experienced actors in search of tools for making character choices. We will focus on several techniques of physical and vocal acting designed to build unique and unforgettable performances without requiring that you re-experience personal tragedies to feel like you’ve done good work. Each class session will be a self-contained unit focusing on a specific topic in physical-vocal acting, including Alba Emoting, character voice and body, qualities of movement, and image-building. You may be surprised along the way at how much the external acting choices affect the internal.

Instructor Andrew Hamm has been building characters for longer than he cares to admit at VCU, Off-Off-Broadway, and now as director of Richmond Shakespeare’s Training Department.

Spaces are limited. Call 232-4000 to make your reservation today!

Richmond Shakespeare's March Workshop

"Professional Development"
with David Sennett
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 7:00-9:30
Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street)
$20

What does an actor need to survive and thrive in the working theatre world? Headshots and resumes, of course, but also numerous monologues, special auditioning and rehearsal skills, marketing plans, and financial strategies are just some of the requirements. How does an actor go about obtaining what he/she needs? And what about unions, agents, managers? Learn some basics about making a living doing the work you love. Actors should bring headshots and resumes for feedback.

Instructor David Sennett is an Equity and SAG actor, teacher, director, and producer who has appeared nationally on stage and screen. He currently teaches Theatre at the Center for the Arts at Henrico High School.

15 students maximum. High school juniors and older. Cost: $20. Spaces are limited. Call 232-4000 to make your reservation today!

Images from Last Week's "Playing Multiple Characters"

If you missed Jill Bari Steinberg's fabulous workshop, "Playing Multiple Characters," last week, well, you kind of had to be there to get how much fun it was. One of the most enjoyable parts, for me, was watching the work of the five actors comprising the cast of our next show, As You Like It.

Here are several thousand words' worth of pictures to help get the experience across:

Jill Bari presides over the chaos.

Adam Mincks (Touchstone in As You Like It) and Sunny LaRose (Rosalind).

Lelia Pendleton, Patrick Bromley (Orlando), and Julia Rigby (Celia).

Jacquie O'Connor and Frank Creasy (Jaques)

Jill Bari is very tall.

Sunny LaRose.

Billy Christopher Maupin.

Four ridiculous characters.

Thanks to David Bromley, Patrick Bromley, Frank Creasy, Joey Fanelli, Becki Jones, Sunny LaRose, Billy Christopher Maupin, Adam Mincks, Jacquie O'Connor, Lelia Pendleton, Susan Scovill, Pat Walker, and of course to Jill Bari Steinberg for her time and talent. It was another fantastic evening for the training department.

Next up: David Sennet's "Professional Development" on March 11!

Richmond Shakespeare's February Workshop

"Playing Multiple Characters"
with Jill Bari Steinberg
February 12, 2008, 7:00-9:30
Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street)
$20

Richmond Shakespeare is delighted to welcome local star Jill Bari Steinberg to our training faculty for this month's workshop.

Playing multiple characters in the same play, or even the same scene, can be an intimidating challenge--or it can be a heck of a lot of fun. Jill Bari Steinberg could be considered Richmond's resident expert, having played every role in the 2004 award-winning Theatre Gym production of The Syringa Tree, which was revived at the Barksdale in 2007. This workshop will impart techniques to create distinct physical and vocal character choices, as well as directing focus changes to establish each person. Each participant will finish the workshop with a complete multi-character scene performance. You don't have to be working on a one-person show (or five-actor Shakespeare) to benefit from these character-building tools!

Instructor Jill Bari Steinberg has been called "a civic treasure" by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She is a two-time recipient of the Times-Dispatch’s Phoebe award and was one of the first recipients of The Firehouse Theatre’s Wall of Flame awards for her body of work there over the past 10 plus years. Recent highlights include Barksdale's The Member of the Wedding, Brooklyn Boy and The Man Who Came To Dinner, the Firehouse's As Bees in Honey Drown, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Bat Boy: the Musical, and Theatre Gym's My Children! My Africa, A Devil Inside and How I Learned to Drive (just for starters).

The class is open to high school age and up. Space is limited. Participants should, as always, bring a bottle of water and be prepared to move.

Contact Director of Training Andrew Hamm at Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or 804-855-4998 for more information or to make a reservation.

"Sound and Rhythm" Recap

Tuesday's workshop with David Hall was a huge success! Eight members of the cast of Henrico High School's A Midsummer Night's Dream and four members of the cast of Henley Street Theatre's Spanish Tragedy, as well as a mix of Richmond's theatre talent combined to create quite a full house: twenty-three participants made it the biggest event in the history of the training department, and we've got bigger and better things to come.

This was pretty much exactly what I dreamed of when we founded the training department: a mix of professional, community, and youth theatre artists all working together to improve their craft. I'm just sorry I had to leave so early for Measure for Measure rehearsal downstairs.

David's expertise as an actor and teacher made for an enlightening, exciting night. My favorite part (admittedly I didn't catch the end) was when he delivered one of Cassius' monologues from Julius Caesar while a student called out random numbers signifying states of tension. It really was a pure clinic in Shakespearean acting.

David warms up the crowd.

David amidst the wreckage of fallen actors.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but it must be actorly.

And here's a little video:

Thanks to David for teaching, and for Becki and Cynde for helping. Big thanks to Thomas, Kim, Frank, Jonathan, Karen, Justin, Kerry, Ken, Kelly, Susan, Becky, Mike, Jennifer, Brandon, Connor, Adam, Bridget, Robbie, Audra, Alex, and Emily for coming out to play.

Next up: the fabulous Jill Bari Steinberg teaches "Playing Multiple Characters" February 12!

Richmond Shakespeare’s January Workshop

“Sound and Rhythm in Performance”

with David Hall
January 15, 2008, 7:00-9:30 PM
Second Presbyterian Church ( 5 N. 5th Street )
$20

Richmond Shakespeare is thrilled to import Shakespearean actor David Hall from England for one night only!

This acting workshop will explore how an outside-in or “physical” approach can inform and benefit an actor’s work, with text or without. This will be a highly active session promising to be great fun and very valuable. Students will look at the influence of breath and physicality on mood and character, work with spatial awareness, scales of physicality and what we can do with them, states of tension, the rhythms of emotions and, if time allows, some archetypical characters. Thus we’ll build a vocabulary of movement and experience, which can be fed into, complement and improve many aspects of performance and rehearsal work.

David Hall trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK , with John Wright of Trestle Theatre Company and members of Theatre de Complicite. He has performed in theatres across the UK , in the open air and indoors, from village halls to huge theatres, including Shakespeare’s Globe and for the National Theatre in London ’s West End . He has toured with Trestle Theatre Company (using full masks) and played many leading roles for Patrick Tucker’s Original Shakespeare Company, the first company in the world to mount full-length performances of many of Shakespeare’s plays using the First Folio texts and Cue scripts only.

The class is open to high school age and up. Space is limited. Participants should, as always, bring a bottle of water and be prepared to move.

Contact Director of Training Andrew Hamm at Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com or 804-855-4998 for more information or to make a reservation.

Drew Vidal's Contemporary Violence Workshop

Tuesday night's Contemporary Stage Violence workshop with the amazing Drew Vidal was a 150-minute triumph of hugging, grasping, pushing, pulling, crawling, leaping, smashing, sweating, shirt-stealing action. Rather than try to describe such physical goings-on, I thought I'd just post some pictures to show you what you missed!

After an evening of instruction and exploration, the participants split into pairs to create and choreograph their own pieces of stage violence, little plays all by themselves. I filmed the results:

Thanks so much to Drew for teaching, and to Andy, Daniel, Jacquie, Karen, Lelia, and Ronnie for their enthusiastic participation.

Next up on January 15 is another night of physical acting with David Hall, all the way from England. Check this space for details soon!

December Workshop: "Contemporary Stage Violence" with Drew Vidal

Contemporary Stage Violence
with Drew Vidal
Tuesday, December 11, 7:00-9:30 PM. $20

This class will offer both beginning and experienced actors an opportunity to learn hands-on how contemporary violence is created onstage. As the focus will be on contemporary theatre, participants will be working unarmed and untrained. In addition to learning techniques for performing stage violence safely, participants will take away a unique approach to choreographing their own stage fights.

Instructor Drew Vidal has worked extensively as an actor and fight choreographer in Chicago, Richmond, and Washington D.C. Drew choreographed the combat for the Richmond Shakespeare Festival's acclaimed production of Henry IV, Part 1 last summer. His work can be seen in Washington D.C. all season long at the Shakespeare Theatre's productions of The Taming of the Shrew, Tamburlaine, and Edward II.

Participants should be attired in clothes that do not restrain or hide movement, with soft-soled shoes not worn outside. Any jewelry should be left at home, and contacts worn or glasses fastened.

15 students maximum. High school age and older. Cost: $20.

Richmond Shakespeare’s Training Department is dedicated to enriching Central Virginia’s theatre community by providing affordable, topical training in the theatre arts that is both accessible to beginners and useful to professionals.

All classes and workshops are held at Second Presbyterian Church (5 N. 5th Street).

Participants should bring a bottle of water and dress for moderate physical activity.

Call Andrew Hamm at 804-232-4000 or email Andrew@richmondshakespeare.com to make your reservation!