After a Very Eventful 2020
We Are Wishing You All
a Very Happy and Successful
New Year in 2021
We want to thank you for supporting us, through all the forced changes that 2020 brought. When Covid-19 began to take hold, we immediately lowered the prices to accommodate the needs of our actors. Thanks to your support, we were able to make the successful move to teaching all the classes online using ZOOM. It has worked out much better than any of us could have expected.
Coaching was off the charts with all auditions moving to self-tape and Zoom.
Classes worked so well, that both NYC’s Actors Connection and the 16th Street Studio in Melbourne Australia asked us to teach classes online for on-camera acting technique classes for greenscreen & Zoom. The results were amazing.
Fortunately, mid-March The Master Class was working on Prime Time TV Drama. This made change from studio to Zoom relatively seamless. This was followed by a month of Film scenes. Harnessing the energy around us in May, Penny chose a theatre scene that reflected that angst, MERCY SEAT, dealing with a massive national tragedy (9/11). Jeffrey Dreisbach, co-owner of McCorkle Casting offered his insights at the final class. In the summer, Penny moved on to strengthening the craft with monologues, using Michael Chekhov Exercises, followed by a very interesting a challenging July:
Inspired by Edgar Lee Master’s turn of the century, SPOONRIVER ANTHOLOGY, Penny asked the actors to each create a contemporary character that died of Covid-19, write a monologue and perform it, “Speaking From the Grave”. These were directed by Penny and recorded with greenscreen. Hank then edited and added effects. We began posting them on Facebook and the website in October, as PANDEMIC ANTHOLOGY – Speaking From the Grave, on the effects of the corona virus. The final 2 installments were posted on FACEBOOK today, New Year’s Eve. We encourage you to view all 20 monologues on our website and share the link.
August found the actors learning how to use the Planes of the Face to deepen and maximize their work. In the fall the class took on the challenge of Ibsen’s political drama AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE, with Andrea Haring, co-owner of The Linklater Institute, critiquing the final class. The year finished strong with Penny’s Pilot Audition Intensive with Judy Henderson, casting director for CITY ON A HILL and HOMELAND, offering input as a special guest at the final class.
For 2021 the Master Class will begin with Sensory and Sense Memory Techniques, followed by “GREAT VILLIANS” in February, and in March attacking GREEK DRAMA.
We are looking forward expanding the scope of our classes in 2021.
BLESS YOU ALL
and
THANK YOU
FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT
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