ADULT ACTING PROGRAM

Hal Landon Jr., right, works with students in his 'Acting for the Camera' class.

Summer Session: June 16 - August 5, 2008

Welcome to SCR's nationally-acclaimed Theatre Conservatory Adult Program with acting and playwriting classes, taught by top professionals in their field.

Create a program to suit your individual pace and interests, choosing from exciting classes designed for both the career-minded professional and those interested in personal growth and development.

SCR's Adult Program is held in the Education Center, which has been specially designed to meet the study and performance needs of students. Training takes place in classrooms and on stages at the heart of a dynamic theatre environment located in the Folino Theatre Center near South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

Tuition: $295 Per eight-week class. Enroll no later than June 6, 2007 and receive a $10 discount. Enroll for a 2nd class and receive a $30 discount.

For more information or to enroll, please call at 714-708-5577 or e-mail us education@scr.org

CLASSES OFFERED

Fundamentals of Acting: Act I Basic Skills
Mondays, 7 - 10 p.m. June 16 - August 4, 2008
Learn the fundamentals through exercises in the basic skills of improvisation, communication and monologues. Recommended for newcomers to acting or as a refresher course.
Tom Shelton, Instructor

Fundamentals of Acting: Act II Scene Study
Tuesdays, 7 - 10 p.m. June 17 - August 5, 2008
Take the next step in the study and performance of scenes and monologues, with emphasis on making strong, imaginative choices rooted in character and text. Prerequisite: The completion of any beginning acting class.
Greg Ungar, Instructor

Fundamentals of Acting: Act III Advanced Scene Study and Characterization
Mondays, 7 - 10 p.m. June 16 - August 4, 2008
Delve deeper into technique, performance and the ability to create a character, with emphasis on action, objective and communication. Prerequisite: Completion of two semesters of actor training.
Greg Ungar, Instructor

Improvisation I
Tuesdays, 7 - 10 p.m. June 17 - August 5, 2008
This fast paced, fun workshop focuses on acting, characterization, creativity and spontaneity through improvised scenes and theatre games. Emphasis on thinking faster, making stronger choices and increasing confidence.
Chris Sullivan, Instructor

Advanced Improvisation
Look for this class in a future session.
Continuing the challenge and creative freedom of improvisation, Advanced Improvisation pushes students to think faster, make stronger choices, and trust their acting instincts. For those who have taken improv here or elsewhere and want to be challenged.
Greg Atkins, Instructor

Actors Workshop
Look for this class in our Fall session beginning September 15.
Develop specific areas of advanced acting technique through individual instruction on relaxation in performance, scene work, characterization and script analysis. Enjoy the benefits of private coaching in a group environment. For the first time this class culminates in an optional performance project in the Nicholas Theatre. Prerequisite: Minimum 1 year of acting training or production history and a prepared monologue.
Karen Hensel, Instructor/Adult Conservatory Director

Acting for the Camera
Look for this class in our Fall session beginning September 15.
Make the adjustment between stage demands and on-camera techniques with videotaped, critiqued performances; includes head shot discussions and resumé preparation. Enrollment limited. Prerequisite: At least one year of actor training.
Jill Newton, Instructor

Playwriting
Look for this class in a future session.
This class welcomes beginning and more experienced writers of all backgrounds and inspirations to learn the craft of playwriting, whether you've taken a playwriting class or never written anything before! Students will write a brand new draft of a new short play. The class will have several components: in-class writing exercises; basic concepts of structure; reading and supportive feedback on each other's work; and an informal reading festival at the end of class with outside actors reading your work. Students will also read published plays and discuss the practicalities of how to get their play produced. Veteran dramaturg Scott Horstein has worked with writers of all ages and levels of accomplishment to craft their plays and help them realize their voices.
Scott Horstein, Instructor

INSIDE THE SEASON : Special Class for Playgoers
Get to the heart of the play in this comprehensive new class the second Saturday morning of every SCR Segerstrom and Argyros Stage show. Guest artists join the lively two-hour interactive discussion about the production process.
Linda Baity, Instructor

STAFF OF INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
Our faculty is made up of working professional actors. In most cases, faculty remains consistent, but cannot be guaranteed.

Karen Hensel, Adult Conservatory Director
An award-winning actor, director and writer, Hensel has been associated with South Coast Repertory for 29 years. She has taught at Santa Clara University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and performed at SCR, the Old Globe Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, L.A. Stage, Westwood Playhouse and on Broadway. Among her film and TV roles is the continuing role of Doris Collins on CBS's "The Young and the Restless."

Greg Atkins
Atkins has taught at SCR for over 20 years. Author of the popular improvisation handbook IMPROV!, he has directed and performed with improv groups across the U.S. He has written and directed for the Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and was a consultant on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

Chris Best
Best is a veteran performer, with extensive television, film and stage experience. He has worked with LA’s Second City. He appeared for the three year run of “Specific Hospital”, the Zephyr Theatre’s acclaimed improvisation soap opera. He appeared as a regular on MTV’s “Andy Dick Show” and he was in the VHI Pilot “Faking the Band”. Chris is currently working on the development of a new reality show for the producers of “The Simple Life.” He has also worked with Disney on their “Finding Nemo” exhibit. He is an experienced improvisation teacher for adults for the past 15 years. Additionally, he uses his improvisation to train psychiatrists in interviewing and patient assessments.

Scott Horstein
is a dramaturg and director based in Los Angeles. Mr. Horstein is 2004 winner of the LMDA Elliott Hayes Award in Dramaturgy, and was formerly Manager of Play Development at Cornerstone Theater Company and Literary Director of the Black Dahlia Theater. He personally dramaturged for Arthur Miller on his penultimate play Resurrection Blues at the Old Globe. Directing credits include workshops and readings of The Sudden and Peculiar Nearness of the Moon by Velina Hasu Houston (Black Dahlia, West Coast Ensemble); Throes of Pathos by Jin Yoo-Kim (East West Players); and Días Y Flores by Oliver Mayer (Black Dahlia, Rio Hondo College, Tropico de Nopal). Regional dramaturgy credits include Hamlet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, Resurrection Blues, Pentecost, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Orson's Shadow (Old Globe); Finn in the Underworld (Berkeley Rep); The Philanderer (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Shadow of Himself (Denver Center Theater New Play Summit); The Piano Teacher (SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival), among many others. Mr. Horstein taught dramaturgy at UCSD from 2003-2005, and has translated Marivaux's The Game of Love and Chance. Member, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA); MFA in Dramaturgy from UCSD.

Hal Landon Jr.
An SCR Founding Artist, Landon has appeared at the Mark Taper Forum in Leander Stillwell, and in leading roles at other resident theaters. His film and TV credits include Trespass, Pacific Heights, Almost an Angel, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Playing by Heart, "Ellen," "Frasier" and "Ruby Ridge." His hundreds of SCR roles include Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, which he created and performed in all 27 annual productions, and Morgan in the recent production of Safe in Hell and Antigone.

Tom Shelton
Shelton has taught acting in SCR’s Young Conservatory, at St. Margaret’s School in San Juan Capistrano, at the Pasadena Playhouse and at Westridge School in Pasadena; where as a member of the drama faculty for six years he helped to design and greatly expand their theatrical curriculum. At Occidental College he co-taught a class called The Singing Actor and was a co-founder of the Children’s Musical Theatre Workshop, a summer intensive that taught all aspects of musical theatre performance. Tom studied acting at Occidental College, at HB Studios in New York and here at SCR as a member of the Professional Conservatory, class of 1980. As a member of Thornbrake Theatre, a New York based troupe of actors, he helped to create, through improvisation, the play The Man Who Shot The Man Who Shot Jesse James, which has been produced professionally nationwide. Tom has a broad background in the musical theatre, as a pianist, award-winning composer and performer. He has been an audition accompanist, singing coach and musical director, most recently of The Threepenny Opera at Mt. San Antonio College. Tom’s first professional job as an actor was in a production of The Fantasticks in 1976 and he has worked steadily since then on stages throughout Southern California as well as in New York and across the country.

Greg Ungar
Ungar received his MFA and PhD from the University of California, Irvine. A writer, actor, and director, Greg has worked at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, MADtv, Improv Olympic, and the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood. Greg currently teaches dramatic literature, acting, voice and speech at UC Irvine and South Coast Repertory.

Call (714) 708-5577 to enroll! Or e-mail us at education@scr.org

EDUCATION STAFF:

Hisa Takakuwa, Conservatory Director
Karen Hensel, Adult Conservatory Director
Holly Van Holt, Education Coordinator
Janis Morrissette, Education Associate
Rachel Garrard, Education Assistant
Lisa Ackerman, Education Assistant
Nicole Gross, Education Assistant