Acting II: Advanced Acting

In this course, students will learn how to expand character work beyond what is immediately familiar. We will continue basic practices from the first part of the sequence, and look beyond the strictly contemporary. We will approach roles drawn from more challenging dramatic texts, including those with heightened language and circumstances.We will begin with a focus on strengthening the actor's skill as an interpretive artist, utilizing exercises that build the capacity for physical and emotional expressiveness. We will explore how a performing artist researches and how that research can be used to enrich and deepen performance. We will practice how to act truthfully and vividly in a variety of theatrical styles. Students will practice techniques developed by Michael Chekhov, Jerzee Grotowski, and Rudolf Laban, among others. Through monologue and scene work, we will explore performance styles including commedia dell'arte, the comedy of Molière, and postmodern theatre. Our scene and monologue work will culminate the last week of school in a final performance.