1-DAY CLASSICAL ACTING WORKSHOP
SHAKESPEARE MONOLOGUES FOR AUDITIONS
Saturday, September 29, 2018
10:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Sheen Center for Thought & Culture
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Instructors: HEIDI GRIFFITHS, BEN MEHL and ANDREW WADE
Testing out a new piece? Have an old favorite that could use a fresh perspective? This class is perfect for audition prep or simply as a reinvigoration of your classical chops! Actor BEN MEHL and top voice professional ANDREW WADE give you the inspiration you need to take your work to the next level in those high-pressure situations and equip you with the tools to show yourself in the best possible light at your next classical audition. The class concludes with a mock audition and a valuable opportunity to meet and work with Public Theater casting director HEIDI GRIFFITHS.
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Essential Question:
How do you prepare monologues in a way that shows yourself in the best light to a casting director. What aspects of an actor’s preparation are most essential when preparing for an audition. How do you engage honestly with a monologue in a high-stress environment.
Course Objectives:
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Develop a technique for preparing for auditions
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Explore how Shakespeare’s verse, text and rhetoric provide clues to how to deliver a monologue
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Learn how to create the true life of your character and their surroundings in an audition setting
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Learn how to warm up your voice and body before delivering an audition
Enduring Understandings:
Shakespeare’s verse provides clues for how to develop a truthful character efficiently. Like any tool, it requires training to use it effectively. A flexible, confident voice and body are essential for effective presentation of a character in an audition. Auditions are, by their nature, artificial environments, creating a technique allows you to be committed, brave and truthful under these trying circumstances.
Instructors:
HEIDI GRIFFITHS has worked for more than twenty-five years at The Public Theater in NYC, where she has cast over 250 productions Off-Broadway and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, including Shakespeare, new plays and musicals. She has also cast both plays and musicals on Broadway.
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BEN MEHL has recently served as an adjunct teacher at the NYU Graduate Acting Program, where he received his MFA. He currently teaches in the Hagen Core Training program at HB Studio and at the New York Film Academy. He has also taught at The Public Theater, Red Bull Theater, The Refugee Youth Summer Academy, the New School and as a private coach. He is a member of the Actor's Center and a volunteer at the 52nd Street Project. Acting credits include: Red Bull: The Government Inspector, School for Scandal; Other off-Broadway: Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Public Theater); Comedy of Errors (Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park). Regional: The Crucible, Yentl (Cleveland Playhouse);Troublemaker (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Six Degrees of Separation (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Henry V (‪Two River Theater); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Chautauqua Theater Company). Other New York: dannykrisdonnaveronica, Julius Caesar (Wheelhouse Theater); At the Table (Fault Line Theatre); Habit (P.S. 122); The Law of Return (‪4th Street Theatre). TV: "The Good Wife", "Supernatural Investigator". Film: Viral Beauty, The Fly Room.
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ANDREW WADE joined Royal Shakespeare Company in1987, as Voice Assistant to Cicely Berry and from 1990 to 2003 was Head of Voice. Since leaving RSC, Andrew has worked extensively in a freelance capacity leading workshops, master-classes and coaching productions. He is now Director of Voice & Speech, Public Theater, Adjunct Faculty at Juilliard and Director of Voice, MATILDA USA tour. With Cicely Berry they recorded WORKING SHAKESPEARE, a series of workshops with leading American and British actors exploring practical approaches to Shakespeare's language. Andrew trained at Rose Bruford College and is a Fellow.
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Schedule:
Saturday
10:00 - 12:00: Voice Work with Andrew Wade
12:00 - 2:00: Group Work with Ben Mehl
2:00 - 3:00: Meal Break
3:00 - 6:00: Audition work with Heidi Griffiths
Preparation:
You should have a classical monologue prepared and fully memorized.
Materials:
A journal is recommended to record notes and observations. Comfortable clothing that you can move and breathe freely in and a water bottle is strongly encouraged.
Concerns? Questions?
Contact Nathan Winkelstein.
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