Theatre Games and Improv

Gain poise, confidence, and strengthen your cooperation skills - no it’s not charm school; It’s improvisation! When actors improvise they create characters and scenes on the spot. Improvisation helps teach us to communicate a story both physically and vocally. Through theatre games and improvisational exercises, we’ll

Play Your Part

What do a frog, an evil wizard and a Hollywood movie star have in common? They can all be played by the same actor! But how? In this class we will explore creating a character. Through the use of theatre games and improvisation, we’ll create interesting and believable characters from the inside out using movement, voice and imagination. With an emphasis on teamwork, inclusion and fun, we’ll cover the essential tools an actor needs to perform on stage.

The Modern Actor

The demands on the modern actor are varied: from acting in lighthearted comedies by Neil Simon through the gritty urban realism of David Mamet to the absurd situations of Beckett, Ionesco and Edward Albee. This course will give participants the tools and experience to deal with the varied demands of these different genres by performing a variety of scenes by American and European playwrights. This performance-based course will require some out-of-class line learning and will culminate in a presentation for family and friends in class.

Making it Real

Modern acting techniques were born in Russia at the turn of the last century but are still the dominant force in Hollywood today. This course will vary depending on the experience of the participants and is designed to use the techniques of the great Russian theatre practitioner Stanislavski to enable those in the class to create a more interesting and truthful portrayal of a character. This course is primarily a scene-study class and therefore some outside class learning of lines will be necessary.

Creating a Character II

This course starts to involve improvisation of characters around pre-written scripts. The course teaches participants the techniques to appreciate a deeper understanding of the character they are playing be devising improvisation to help create a more rounded personality. It is suggested that participants should have already taken Creating a Character I or should have previous experience in improvisation.

Devising

Over the last forty years in both Britain and the US, original pieces of theatre have been created without the help of a script or playwright. In this advanced course, participants will be given the tools and opportunity to create their own piece of theatre using British devising techniques. By the end of the 12 week course the original work that has been developed will be presented to friends and family.

Opening Act

What do you get when you combine Little Red Riding Hood with MTV? Using creative dramatics, students will re-create a familiar tale with their own modern stamp. Through improvisation, character exploration and sounds and movements, students will use teamwork and imagination to create scenes. We’ll then weave them together for friends and family. Along the way we’ll learn key stage technique for a performance and have fun! With a new story each session this course can be enjoyed again and again.

Technical Theatre

Lights! Sound! Sets! Where would the theatre be without designers and technicians to provide lighting and sound to give a show atmosphere and a set for the actors to play on? In this class, students will learn the fundaments of designing and operating technical equipment with the Winni Playhouse’s state-of-the-art, professional quality sound and lighting system. Students’ final project will be to design the set, lighting and sound for the final presentation of the devising class.

Classical Acting

From Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite to Baz Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet, there’s no getting away from the classics. This course will firstly look at Greek and Roman drama to study how the chorus operate in conjunction with the main characters. The second part of the course will focus on Shakespeare and his contemporaries.