Acting I (Meisner)
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This class introduces the Meisner Technique, an actor training technique developed by Sanford Meisner, one of the founding members of the instrumental Group Theater, and is aimed at honing the actor’s listening and responding skills. The first semester begins with foundational exercises to train the actor's attention toward behavioral truth within imaginary circumstances. Once this foundation has been established, the students begin to apply themselves to scripted text.
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Performance Lab I
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This is a performance-based class that approaches musical theater the same way an actor explores text in a play. During the course, each student will develop necessary skills to thoughtfully investigate material in order to combine organic choices in movement, acting and singing. Students will explore the fundamentals of text analysis and research in order to provide intentions, stakes and conflict for each character in a variety of contrasting musical theater genres.
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Voice and Speech I
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In this class, students work with basic elements of speech, such as auditory awareness, and the creation of sound. Students also learn the value of dialect and the context and history of General American Speech. They deepen the study of consonants, vowels and diphthongs in order to more precisely control their articulators and attain more resonant speech. Teachers may make exercise substitutions while maintaining learning goals.
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Ballet I
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This class provides a highly disciplined and developmentally appropriate sequence of ballet training. In class training focuses upon building strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. The class will cover the basics of placement/alignment, turnout, line of positions, port a bras, quality of movement, class etiquette, ballet terminology, and the knowledge base necessary to move forward in the dance sequence.
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Jazz and Theatre Dance I
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This class is designed to teach each student the correct alignment and specific techniques necessary for advancement within this and all dance genres. Class is aimed at increasing strength, flexibility, endurance, and the ability to learn and retain choreography. In additional to practical application of technique in class, students will also be introduced to the history and the major choreographers of Jazz and Musical Theatre Dance.
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Voice Studio Lab
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This course is designed to introduce students to the theory and practice that forms the basic functional skills of vocal production and singing. Topics include: breathing, muscular and air support, diction, the vocal anatomy, tone production, vowel and consonant modification, resonance and vocal health. Students will also develop a greater self-awareness, confidence and the tools of expression that are essential in singing.
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History of Musical Theatre
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This course teaches students to identify prominent figures in both early and modern theatre; including composers, lyricists, performers, directors, choreographers, and producers. Students study the effects of the great historical events and trends that affected the art form from turn of the last century to today.
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Song Interpretation
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This course introduces students to the techniques and comprehensive disciplines required for interpreting the musical theatre song repertoire. It is designed to provide exposure to script, score and character analysis necessary for successful song interpretation by the actor in musical theatre.
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Showcase Practicum I
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This course is designed to help students increase knowledge of rehearsal techniques, professional behavior, and musical skills. Students will receive practice in ensemble singing in large groups, duets, trios, and small group numbers. In addition to the pedagogical instruction, the class is the practicum studio for assembling showcase events.
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Music Theory
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This class teaches students to be literate in the written language of music. Actors who have the ability to read music fluently have a much easier time learning songs and can do so without the help of a coach or musical director. Actors who read music are acknowledged in the industry as a valuable commodity. A professional musical theatre actor known to be a good music reader is much more likely to be hired than one who is illiterate. Sight singing is the ability to sing what is notated at a glance, the equivalent of a "cold read" in scene work. It requires the ability to identify intervals immediately and sing them correctly, and in time.
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Pop Rock I
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This class is designed to introduce musical theatre students to basic concepts of Pop Rock singing. Students will learn a brief history of Pop Rock and its place in the Musical Theatre Repertoire. Special emphasis will be placed on finding material that is successful for each individual voice and sung in a healthy manner that aligns with the acting demands of the song.
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Comedy
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This course is designed to help students identify their own brand of humor and to guide the discoveries made in class to the comic demands within the art of musical theatre. The class will also expose the students to the various types of comedy that exist, further helping the student to find ways to comically engage with a wide array of material.
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Performance Lab II
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This class is a playground to gain confidence in performance and solidify the process of character development and analysis learned in Performance Lab I. The foundation of work in the class will originate from the interpretive choices, given circumstances, and style of the chosen material. From this foundation we will explore various techniques to activate performance physically, vocally, and emotionally. Attention is given to activating choices, exploring transformational characters, and acting within an ensemble.
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Improvisation
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Students will explore the fundamental principles of improvisation and how it enhances and applies to all of their performance work. Working in pairs and groups, the students will create improvised scenes and environments, explore character, learn to trust instincts, and practice making honest, fully committed choices. With the introduction of music and lyrical components, students will apply all the same principles, but with an emphasis on genre, ensemble support, and fully invested song improvisation.
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Stage and Film Combat
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This course covers the fundamental principals of unarmed stage and film combat. With emphasis on safety, students will learn a basic vocabulary of slaps, punches, kicks, hair pulls, rolls, and other fight related illusions. Angles for stage masking and camera viability are learned, allowing each student to know how best to enact a safe and effective moment of physical violence for stage and screen.
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Voice and Speech II
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In this class, students work with intermediate elements of speech, such as obstruent and diphthong differentiation. Students also learn the value of dialect and the context and history of General American Speech. They deepen the study of phonemes in order to more precisely control their articulators and attain more resonant speech. Teachers may make exercise substitutions while maintaining learning goals.
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Audition Technique
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The study of musical and non-musical based audition techniques aimed at mastering monologues, cold readings, sides, and the overall presentation of the audition and all peripheral elements that contribute to a successful audition.
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Musical Theatre Scene Study
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This course is taught using musical theatre dialogue, music, and lyric in an active, tangible scene study format. Partners are used in the scene study portion, as well as group assignments. The course is based on the teachings of Sanford Meisner and how his theories apply to musical theatre performance. This course is designed to teach students how to analyze the components of musical theatre (dialogue, music, and lyrics) and implement their analysis in a Meisner based performance.
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Acting II (Meisner)
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This class continues the work that began in the Meisner I studio. Building upon the use of repetition and activities as building blocks, the class will provide a reliable methodology for creating strong but imaginary circumstances that will allow an actor to fully prepare emotionally for any scene. Students will learn how to craft relationships based on the text to their partners to deepen their connection to the circumstances. Students will then learn to incorporate their new-found emotional connections back into the context of a scripted play, audition monologues, and into song interpretation and scene work in musical theatre.
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Showcase Practicum II
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This course continues building upon the work of the first semester. Showcase materials are considered and selected. The end of year showcase event, in whatever form, is often shaped and developed in this class.
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Professional Preparation (The Business of Acting)
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A career in the professional theater takes more than talent, it takes an understanding of how to brand and market one’s talent in a competitive field. This course builds a thorough introduction to the business aspects of show business; covering topics related to casting, audition prep, head shots and resumes, personal style, awareness of type, and current trends in the profession.
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Ballet II
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This class provides a more advanced level of ballet training. In class training builds upon the work of the first semester with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. This class will review and expand upon the French terminology and introduce some Russian terms as well. There will be opportunities to learn about the history of dance, current trends, and masters of the art form. Dance audition technique will be introduced and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Jazz and Theatre Dance II
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This class is designed to build upon all the work introduced in the first semester. More advanced work is incorporated including greater challenges in the warm up, across the floor work, centering, and combinations. An emphasis this semester is placed upon audition decorum, preparation, and conduct; incorporating mini-auditions and call backs. Students are guided to employ the acting and storytelling elements of dance.
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Tap I
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Introduction to the basic Tap dance principles and techniques. Tap is style of American theatrical dance, distinguished by percussive footwork, which marks out precise rhythmic patterns on the floor. This class will focus on Broadway style Tap dancing, incorporating warm up, drills, standard Tap steps, terminology, and performance combinations.
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Ballroom Dance
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Ballroom dance is the art of partnering. In this course, students will explore two International Standard Ballroom Dances, the Slow Waltz and the Quickstep following The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing Syllabus outlined in the text The Revised Technique by Alex Moore. This text is used by students and teachers all over the world who want to take medal examinations, obtain teaching credentials, or dance competitively or perform professionally. Students will also explore Foxtrot and Tango using The American Syllabus. Ballroom dance helps actors to develop a more powerful presence and increase their physical, emotional and rhythmic sensitivity. Many of the requisite skills can be applied directly to scene work. In this course, each dancer will lead as well as follow.
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Pop Rock II
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With the infiltration of pop/rock material into new musical theatre and into the audition room, students will learn the dramatic value of pop/rock music, understand the necessity of creating their own characters (themselves) and journeys within a song and/or cut, and understand the cultural significance of pop/rock music throughout the decades. They will develop a strong pop/rock section to their audition books, explore various vocal sounds and styles within the healthy limits of their training, and find new ways to physicalize their performances. Students will also learn how to cut their songs into fully realized 16-32 bar arcs, learning how to cut the fat and hone in on creating the strongest, most melodic and powerful journeys.
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Performance Lab III
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This class concentrates on microphone and studio work, preparing and recording vocal tracks, and mastery of the art of lip synch. Students will record their tracks at a professional recording studio, receiving in-studio coaching from a professional studio engineer, and getting valuable experience that will apply directly to their work in the Movie Musical Project. Recorded songs will be filmed and the final edited results will be screened at the end of the semester.
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Voice and Speech III
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This class builds upon all preceding speech work; continuing to correct inefficient or awkward speech habits while learning and applying new, more effective speech elements. In carefully scheduled units and working in teams as well as individually, students will learn and practice various standard dialects. More focused speech work will be aimed at solving regionalisms or cultural dialects that impede the process of delivering clear, meaningful, and accurate use of language.
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Acting III (Meisner III)
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This course builds upon the work in Meisner II, continuing with the work of building relationships and heightened levels of communication. This semester introduces conversational reality, criminal objectives, physical and vocal Impediments, and working on heightened text. Special emphasis is placed on the process of characterization.
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Ballet III
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This class provides the next level of advanced ballet training. In-class training builds upon the work of the first two semesters with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. Students will learn subtleties of movement while executing steps, develop an understanding of the dynamics of music and musical phrasing, absorb the virtues of clarity, exact timing, and practice complex variations at the barre and in the center. Dance audition techniques will continue and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Jazz and Theatre Dance III
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Students continue building on everything learned during their 1st year as dancers and are pushed even further with center work, across the floor and center combinations. They will also add a focus on Dance on Film where students learn how to pitch an idea, then create and produce their own short (3-4 minutes) dance on film group project. This focus helps to tie in the unique abilities of working with in a school where film and film production plays such a prominent role. It also helps to prepare Musical Theatre students for the real world where you must be ready to not only perform in any medium i.e. stage or screen, but to also compete in todays market where actors who are capable of creating their own quality projects will have an edge in the industry.
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Shakespeare
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This class is focused on revealing Shakespeare’s plays and de-coding the texts in ways that bring the powerful poetic structures to life. Various approaches are introduced, each one aimed at giving the actor a reliable introduction to acting Shakespeare. Once there is an understanding of how the language works, students will explore speeches and scenes from across the canon of Shakespeare’s work. Special emphasis will be placed on the capacity to have full command of the text while applying solid acting values within the imaginary circumstances.
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Tap II
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This course emphasizes rhythm as a tool of discovery and analysis; practice in active dance and performance; and attention to audience, purpose and structure. Students will learn to produce stand-alone choreography and steps provided by the teacher and/or student. Additional emphasis will be on learning audition techniques and the ability to understand dance steps and vocabulary.
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Modern Dance
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A beginning to intermediate level of modern dance focused on applying the fundamental techniques of contact and release, fall and recovery, floor work, and improvisation. Modern dance incorporates humor and emotional rhythms that invite personal expression and individual style.
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Movement
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Movement for Musical Theatre Performance is designed to further the development and understanding of the actor's body/mind connection. This class will help the actor increase awareness, range, and physical freedom. Students will gain an enhanced understanding of the anatomical design of the body, postural coordination, and breath/movement connection. The class is aimed at a fundamental understanding of the importance of movement, space, weight, and time as theatrical principles. This class will also foster a collaborative approach to theatre through partner work and ensemble building projects.
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Acting for Film I
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In this class students will develop acting skills specific to acting for the camera. Students will film improvisations and scripted moments, receiving in-class feedback with the ability to study the work in playback. Special emphasis will be on effective listening/reacting, attention to eye line, repeatable action, and the modulation of voice and action.
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Acting for Television
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In this class, students will experience how a multi-camera set operates and they will be exposed to the etiquette and disciplines therein. The class will utilize several of today’s more popular genres such as sit-coms and procedural dramas and students will be introduced to work on a commercial set. Teachers may make exercise substitutions while maintaining learning goals. Teachers will determine the optimum in-class shooting schedule and adjust syllabus accordingly.
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Movie Musical Prep I
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This course initiates the process of creating an original half hour movie musical. Early classes concentrate on the study of the form and content of several movie musical genres. Based on ideas generated from group discussion, students and the teacher consider story lines. As the process unfolds, a first draft of a script is developed. Students visit a professional studio to learn now to lay down tracks and use the studio time to its fullest. An artistic team is assembled, including a professional composer, and the practical considerations of a shooting schedule is established.
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Performance Lab IV
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This class builds upon all previous performance labs. Students are challenged each week to perform songs at the uppermost level of their talent. The bar is raised in this class to a level matching the expectations of the current Broadway marketplace. Students will be expected to rise to the highest, most professional level of performance. In this class, material will be selected to match each individual student’s most viable marketplace type. Some material worked on and developed in this class could be used in a final showcase or performance event.
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Acting IV – Advanced Acting for Musicals
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This course is a laboratory “capstone” class, integrating all previous acting work as it now applies to current trends and available work within the musical theatre genre. Exercises and assignments are employed to address individual student acting challenges, building a degree of confidence and ownership with specific material. Special emphasis will be on retaining truthful behavior regardless the circumstances and professional demands.
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Professional Preparation II (Business of Acting)
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Building upon previous professional preparation efforts, second year students will upgrade all of their professional materials. The class provides practical knowledge about how best to present themselves for all levels of auditions, interviews, and industry meetings according the current trends in the theatre, television, and film worlds.
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On-Camera Audition Technique
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Auditioning for camera is a special skill requiring specific techniques. Actors learn and practice the essentials of a good audition and focus on the set of skills required to handle “sides” for film and television. The goal is to help actors make quick, specific, action-oriented choices and to develop strong listening skills and flexibility in taking direction. This class also covers the business considerations of approaching the film industry as an actor, defining the roles of casting directors, agents, managers, producers, the unions and reintroduce the marketing tools necessary for survival in the film acting industry.
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Advanced Musical Theatre Audition Tech
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This performance workshop provides students with the techniques and skills necessary to navigate professional musical theatre audition settings at the Broadway level. Posture, side preparation, musical arrangements and a complete discussion of the current casting requirements are discussed. This course often includes industry guests for structured dialogue and feedback.
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Movie Musical Prep II
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Building upon the first semester, this class now moves forward into the second phase of the creative process. Students relinquish the input regarding script and story and begin to work exclusively on the song, dance, and acting challenges. Locations are scouted, and the class launches into the final stages of rehearsal and preparation for a full week of shooting.
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Movie Musical Project
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This course engages the students in the practical application of shooting a short form movie musical. Over the course of a week to ten full days of shooting, each student has the opportunity to practice meeting all of the demands of acting, singing, and dancing within a professionally modeled movie musical. Special emphasis is placed upon character development, on-set preparation, professional behavior, as well as attention to matching action, emotional arc, framing sensibility, and meeting the challenges of each day of shooting.
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Acting For Film II
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In this class students will continue to develop acting skills that are specific to acting for the camera. Students will continue to focus on the technicalities of the craft. Students will develop final films through the use of improvisation and character exercises. Students will participate in a four-day production workshop that simulates a professional film environment. Advanced acting on film skills and exercises will be addressed during this class, such as listening/reacting, realizations in close-ups and continuity. Successful completion of this course will give students skills to successfully work on camera and behave professionally on a film set/shoot.
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The Director’s Perspective (Rehearsal Process)
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While every director will have his or her unique vision and way of working, there are a number of expectations and professional standards directors from the world of musicals all have in common. This class teaches the most up to date rehearsal procedures and provides all the pertinent information a performer needs to comfortably interact and collaborate with a wide range of directorial personalities and approaches.
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Ballet IV
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This class is the final semester of ballet. In class training builds upon the work of all previous semesters with continued emphasis on strength, flexibility, musicality, and coordination. This class will focus on excellence in form and the application of technique to dramatic and comic interpretation. Dance audition technique will continue and appropriate performance opportunities will be provided.
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Jazz and Theatre Dance IV
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Students continue building on everything learned during their 1st year as dancers and are pushed even further with center work, across the floor and center combinations. In addition, students do a study of dance on film. They watch an original movie musical dance number and discuss the storyline, history and character of the number. Then the students physically learn the same choreography. Students learn theater dance choreography that is furthering their dance technique, ability to pick up choreography quickly, execute choreography while maintaining a character and presentation. Focus in class is on learning new advanced choreography every class. The material is similar to a professional level NYC dance class or audition. Students learn more about the reality of the Broadway theater dance expectations.
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Hip Hop Dance
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This class is designed to teach the basic elements of hip-hop dance. Students learn the teacher’s warm-up and learn to isolate body parts, learn top rock for break dance, house dance movement, popping, waving as well as other forms of hip hop dance and street styles to warm them up before stretching. Emphasis will also be placed on core strength training, musicality, audition techniques, and finding each student’s own style of hip-hop dance.
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Tap III
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Building upon the core techniques and vocabulary established in Tap I and Tap II, students will address choreographic structures to better anticipate and adapt to professional audition situations. This class emphasizes proficiency on both sides, recreation of steps through vocabulary, rhythm, and visual cues, and the adoption of various styles.
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Voice Over
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This course will introduce each student to the practical tools and experiences unique to the world of professional voice over work. Students will learn how to modulate their voice and speech for studio conditions, read, and interpret copy from a variety of voice over sources, and come to an appreciation of their unique voice over strengths. Each student in the class will be supplied at the end with a sample of their most successful audio recordings.
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