Exploring Musical Theatre

Sunday, July 7-Saturday, July 27, 2013

Note: There is no official deadline to register, but SPACE IS LIMITED.

Tuition:  $2,450
Housing & Meal Plan:  $1,875
Register online

Open to students entering the 10th, 11th or 12th grade in the fall of 2013.

Participate in an exciting and rigorous program this summer with a special focus on musical theatre that includes acting technique, vocal technique, vocal coaching, choreography and creating and developing original work. In acting, you will work on scenes from musicals and explore, take risks, and make mistakes in an environment free of judgment. Learn to connect character and singing through creative and healthy use of the vocal instrument. Discover ways to convey meaning through movement with a focus on honing your personal choreographic voice. Take part in the vibrancy of a creative ensemble which will work toward the development of a “work in progress” performance piece. If you love musical theatre, this three week intensive will develop and strengthen the skills needed to propel your creative work to the next level.

Physical Theatre and Dance Movement
Learn about the power of movement and physical action as starting points for creating theater. Through exercises and improvisations, students will explore and expand their range of physical expression, and learn how dance is used to add dimension to characters. Additionally, students will become adept at learning short dance combinations quickly--a skill that is necessary for those wishing to pursue a professional career in musical theater or dance. No specific dance training or ability is required.

Acting Truthfully
Learn to recognize and explore the creative impulses of the performer. In this training, you will develop acting fundamentals and techniques including acting exercises developed and practiced by Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasburg. Theatre training exercises and scene work from both plays and musicals will strengthen individual spontaneity and authenticity of the actor

Singing Workshop & Voice Coaching
Students will learn appropriate material by identifying your vocal strengths and areas of opportunity. Discover yourself through songs that suit your voice while learning to improve your overall performance and vocal technique.

Creation and Invention
Explore the dynamics of a creative ensemble; a group of actors activating spatial and visual ideas incorporating original musical theatrical work. Through the investigation of personal writing, theatre, painting, sculpture, photography, and musical theatre, workshop participants will explore and experience non-text and text driven theatre. Over the course of the three-week workshop, the ensemble will work towards the development of an informal “work in progress” performance piece.

The Faculty

Ernest H. Abuba (SLC 1995 - ) Musicals: Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, Winter Garden- Broadway, Promenade Theatre-First Off-Broadway revival in lead role of Reciter of Pacific Overtures, Broadway National Tour of King and I, role Kralahome  / us The King, as The Singer in Caucasian Chalk Circle, by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Frizt Bennewitz; Berlin Ensemble, Autolycus (Gypsy Singer) in The Winter’s Tale, Huntington Theatre. Author of Opera Cambodia Agonistes; toured Johannesburg, South Africa, and Cairo’s Experimental Theatre, Director/Playwright of musical adaptation of Beowulf titled Nightstalker at La Mama E.T.C. Additional Broadway shows: Loose Ends, Shimada, Zoya’s Apartment, dir. Boris Morozov, Maly Theatre. Regional/ Off-Broadway roles: King Lear, Macbeth, Oberon, King Arthur, Chebutykin, James Tyrone, Mishima. Playwright: Kwatz! The Tibetan Project, Leir Rex, The Dowager Empress of China, An American Story, Eat A Bowl Of Tea, Papa-Boy. Collaborated/performed Butoh with Shigeko Suga in Spleen, and Adcadami Domani, by Dario Fo. Film/TV: 12 Monkeys, dir. Terry Gilliam, King of New York, Call Me, New York Undercover, Bill Cosby, Kung Fu. Directed The Lost Boys by Andrew Rosthchild for SLC. Recipient OBIE, five New York State Council on the Arts Fellowships for playwriting and directing, Rockefeller Foundation Residency Fellowship, Creative Artist Public Service (CAPS) Award, Best Actor Focus Press Award. Voice of his Holiness The Dalai Lama on audio book The Art Of Happiness. Member of SD&C (Stage Directors & Choreographers Society),AEA, AFTRA, and SAG.

Allen Lang (SLC 1998 - ) Co-Director of the award winning SLC Theatre Outreach Program, previous Creative Director of the College’s Theatre Program as well as the Program Casting Director. He has received the Lipkin Playwright Award and Drury University Playwright Award and has conducted theatre and creative writing workshops for participants of all ages in New York City, South America and throughout the United States. Artistic Director and Founder of the River Theatre Company in Central Wisconsin for which he has been awarded grants from the NEA and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Recent plays directed: The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, On Foot and Out at Sea by Slawomir Mrozek, The Menaechmi by Plautus, Catastrophe and Endgame by Samuel Beckett ,Andre’s Mother by Terrence McNally and Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire, Doubt - A Parable by John Patrick Shanley and Cabaret by Kander and Ebb. As a playwright his works have been produced in New York at LaMama, The Kitchen, New York Performance Works, The Zipper among others.

Peter Valentine has performed with artists as diverse as Carly Simon and Tony Bennet. Other artists that he has performed or recorded with are; Pat Benetar, Bruce Springsteen, Roy Buchannan, Mark Knopfler, Darleen Love, Yma Sumac, Yoko Ono, Germany's Peter Hofmann, Israel's David Broza, and Russia's Sasha Rosenbaum. Peter was the musical director for the first national tour of Footloose, has been on stage in the band playing guitar and keyboard for RENT, and had a principal role in the original Broadway cast of The News. As a singer, Peter has sung lead on national spots, such as Hanes "Wait'll We Get Our Hanes On You", Dr. Pepper "You're a Part of Me, That's the Heart of Me", Folgers "The Best Part of Waking Up Is Folgers In Your Cup", Noxema "Let It Begin With Beautiful Skin". Peter recorded with Twenty Seven Heavens, a NY Rock band in the 1990's, with band mates Jon Albrink, Jim Gately and Ben Gramm, who had a hit in Brazil, entitled "The Way I Feel," and has other songs destined for future hits in other countries, such as "Just To Be With You." He has also written a number of songs with Don Rosler, a very talented lyricist in NYC, including "Calling All Dreamers", which was signed to Peer Southern Music and played in the aftermath of the Rodney King incident in LA in the '90's. Together Peter and Don wrote the title track for the singing Group, Riff, with the song, "To Whom It May Concern." They also wrote and recorded "Under the Illusion," which featured Peter on vocals and all of the instruments - another hit in Brazil. At the moment, Peter is re-recording the song "Calling All Dreamers" with the Rachel Carson School in Flushing, Queens, to send to President Obama, in honor of of Dr. Martin Luther King, and his dream for the future. He has recently finished an album with his brother, Tim, who is a Jesuit priest, serving in Iraq as a chaplain for the US Army in southern Iraq. The album is called "Songs of the Beloved" and can be found at valentinemusic.org. If you click on the purchase link, it will connect you to cdbaby.org to our page there to purchase the album. Tim wrote all of the songs during his last deployment to Baghdad, and he and Peter recorded it in Peter's studio until Tim left again for his next deployment, which began at Thanksgiving 2008.