To enroll, unless otherwise noted: Place check payable to DAOR in DAOR mailbox in Gateway. Include name, phone/email, class title.
Events take place at Hillside Performing Arts Studio, unless otherwise noted
Improvisation
CLASS FULL Instructor: Cynthia Wilson Mondays, November 6 thru December 11 10 a.m. - noon
$45 for members ($65 for non-members)
DAOR is offering an improvisation class led by seasoned theater arts teacher Cynthia Wilson. The class is open to all levels of experience, and Cynthia describes the class as “a hands on, brain on, experiential class that requires no memorization but does require a commitment to loving, spontaneous fun.” Students will be supported, encouraged, and taught to make as many mistakes as possible, to be used as learning tools!
There is a limit of 20 class members.
Register with Roanne Butier rbutier@sbcglobal.net For questions, contact Cynthia: 925-949-8498
Play Reading Group
Third Monday each month, 10 am Gateway MPR #1 Facilitator: Tancred Agius No fee
The Play Reading group welcomes actors and non-actors. If interested, just show up at a meeting. The atmosphere is relaxed and fun. A new play is read at each meeting. The characters' parts are changed during the meeting so that each person has the opportunity to read aloud. Enjoyable discussions follow.
The group will read a variety of plays, some comedies, new and contemporary plays, and older plays. Members will have an opportunity to choose a play.
The class is designed to enhance participants’ appreciation of the collaborative nature of theater, whether as an audience member or part of a production. To that end, the class will explore the elements that make a production happen. The course will include elements of storytelling through stage craft, the roles of the director, producer, lighting designer, stage manager and front of the house personnel, as well as acting styles and approaches to building a character. As a group, the class will be writing and presenting a short play. The course is especially well suited to those who are thinking about participating in some aspect of a production. Fees will be collected at first class.
Sir Lawrence Olivier said, “You have to have the ability to prepare and the confidence to perform.” That’s what this class will be about. The first two sessions will deal with a fun way to prepare, all the time learning how to act. You will work on how to deliver comic lines and the importance of timing. During the last four sessions you will apply what you learned by working on a role in a short comedy script. No memorization required and no experience necessary.
Enrollment is limited to those who have not taken Jean’s comedy class before. Pay at first session.
All Rossmoorians are invited to an exciting new six-week class taught by actor/director/teacher Cynthia Wilson. The course will cover many aspects of expressive, clear and correct speech. While designed for beginning and intermediate actors, the class will be useful for anyone who wants to use their voice more effectively.
Class members will learn about the physiology of vocal production, resonance and voice quality, vocal strength, projection, and diction. The ultimate goal: Truth and believability in performance.
If you saw Cynthia’s recent one-woman show, “I’ll Eat You Last,” then you know she really understands this subject. We are lucky she is willing to share her knowledge.
Register with Roanne Butier: rbutier@sbcglobal.net For questions, contact Cynthia: 925-949-8498
Scene Study Session Ended Instructor: Stephanie Singer
Interested in learning about script analysis and developing your acting skills? Enjoy the work of well-known, modern playwrights? This in-depth screen study class is taught by experienced dramatist Stephanie Singer. The class is intended for both students new to acting and actors who want to refresh their script analysis skills.
The focus will be script analysis, line by line work, beats, character intentions, emotional adjustments and given circumstances – a basic, one step at a time, approach to understanding a character leading to authenticity in performance. Some at home script analysis homework, and working with scene partners on scenes outside of class to present to the class, will be necessary. Memorization is encouraged but not required.
The class is limited to 12 people, so reserve early with Roanne Butier: rbutier@sbcglobal.net Checks should be made out to DAOR and can be submitted at first class.
Movement on Stage
Session Ended Instructor: Cynthia Wilson
Movement on Stage, taught by experienced actor, director and drama teacher Cynthia Wilson, will focus on the fundamentals of stage movement, with special attention to concentration, awareness of the space your body fills, and your spatial relationship to others. You will learn how to sharpen your senses in order to fully perceive and elevate your physical presence on stage.
Although designed for beginning and intermediate actors, all are welcome.
To reserve a space, contact Roanne Butier rbutier@sbcglobal.net
Shulie Cowen's Improv Class
Session Ended
The marvelous Shulie Cowen is returning to Rossmoor for another weekend of her wonderful improv class.
There are only 20 spaces and the class fills up fast, so reserve now.
To register, contact Roanne Butier: rbutier@sbcglobal.net
“Shakespeare’s Sinners” on Zoom Session Ended
All lectures will be recorded for those who can’t make live sessions.
Course topics include: “The Meaning of Sin,” “The Id,” “Virtue/Vengeance,” “Reshaping History through the Drama of Sin,” and “Sin and the Human Body.”
In addition to discussions of Macbeth, The Tempest and Richard III, there will be many references to King Lear, which is being performed at Cal Shakes in Orinda from Sept. 7 to Oct. 2.
For more information or to enroll, email Philippa Kelley: philliecal@aol.com
Tuition check for $69.50 should be payable to: “Philippa Kelley” and mailed to: Philippa Kelley 51 Avenida Drive, Berkeley, CA 94708
Women's Monologues with Alan Bennett Session Ended Facilitator: Jean Wilcox
To register, contact Roanne Butier: rbutier@sbcglobal.net or (925) 930-7356
Reprising the program first offered in April 2019, this 6-part video series will look at the women’s monologues for which Bennett is famous.
Although best known in this country as the writer of “The Lady in the Van,” with Maggie Smith, the program’s facilitator, Jean Wilcox, feels his monologues are better reflections of the human condition, each in a different way. These pieces are of such power as to have attracted such prominent actors as Maggie Smith, Patricia Routledge (Mrs. Bouquet) and Penelope Wilton (Mrs. Crawley in "Downton Abbey"), among others. Alan Bennett even performs one himself.
According to the LA Times, “In the hands of Alan Bennett, the tragic and painful are close bedfellows with the funny and the sexual . . . We laugh at the situations presented and then feel a twinge of guilt.”
We'll begin by taking turns reading the monologue (a different one each week), discussing it, and then watching the video. Men as well as women find these pieces engaging and compelling, so all are invited to participate.
For more information, contact: Jean Wilcox, (925) 937-6524 or jeanmary3@comcast.net
Intermediate Acting Class: Building a Character
Session Ended
Students choose a character from dramatic literature and explore external qualities (movement, speech, mannerisms, etc.) and subjective qualities (emotions and thoughts), and how to combine the two to produce a fully developed character. The class will include exercises on major principles of acting and how to apply them to the character.
Instructors Linda Kelp and Gail Wetherbee have extensive experience as actors and director in DAOR and other community settings.
To reserve your place in the class, contact: DAOR Academy Facilitator, Cynthia Wilson 925-949-8498.
Make checks payable to DAOR and send to: Roanne Butier 2516 Ptarmigan Dr. #2 Walnut Creek, CA. 94595 or place your check in DAOR box in Gateway Administration Office
At the first session, each student will be assigned a partner and a comedy scene. The paired students will then study and rehearse the scene in depth for the remainder of the course. Commitment to minimum homework will yield optimum results but no memorization will be required.
“The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others, makes each day infinitely precious” - Uta Hagen -