Term 1 Course Description

 

T 1 & T2 Acting: Rehearsal Lab

As you begin the ‘Climb’ of the One Year Acting program, Rehearsal Lab provides a mentored space for self-directed preparation & rehearsal. It is designed to encourage and exercise the self-motivated work an actor must pursue—how do I prepare for an audition, for a scene, for a class, or for a gig? How do I develop my discipline and focus to make my practice fun and rewarding? You will work on the projects, scripts and auditions that need to be prepared and rehearsed for class. Some of this work will happen individually or in groups. Students will meet in a ‘home room’ at the start of each Rehearsal Lab and will sign in to the worksheet with the work that will be explored in the lab time. We encourage you to journal your rehearsal process. Your mentor will be available for additional questions and support.

 

T1 Acting: Ready Responsible

Find out why you are the most important part of every character you play. Build self-awareness through trust and play exercises, and discover how to be honest, engaging and committed in your acting. Discover the difference that thorough text analysis makes to your work. Through improvisation and partnering exercises, you will explore the basic skills and tools required for the acting process, learn the actor’s vocabulary, and begin to assume responsibility for your own creative growth.

 

T1 Camera: Objective in Performance

Authenticity in pursuit of your scene objective is the key to your success when acting for the camera. Relaxation and spontaneity of body and voice are as essential as the technical demands of a film set. You will have the opportunity to grow and assess these abilities through improvisations and exercises that will be filmed and reviewed immediately in class. You will practice the technical demands of a professional film set will be practiced with hands on training with equipment as well as safety, protocol, and etiquette. The on-camera improvisations will also supplement and improve your Text Analysis skills: Objective, Given Circumstances and Relationships. Your experience culminates with a transition to teleplays exploring classic single camera shooting and the actor’s relationship to the camera and the shot.

 

T1 Ensemble Building

Team building and communication skills provide students with the tools to be successful in all performance situations. In this course you will focus on building skills in the following areas: team building, effective professional communication skills, and time management.Ensemble Building emphasizes a set of processes and practices that allow individuals to form synergistic groups – to make a team that is more than just the sum of its parts. It also addresses conflict resolution techniques to ensure that personal, working, and creative conflicts do not derail successful relationships. Time management enables students to not only manage multiple assignments and projects, but also balance other aspects of their life in order to produce a more healthy approach to work. Professional communication skills focus on the processes that makes a team strong from two perspectives: the first is getting the most out of fellow team members and strengthening your connection to and value within a team; the second is getting your ideas across in a the way will most likely to allow you to contribute to and to facilitate or lead a team to accomplish it’s purpose or goal. You will make use of lectures and workshops intended to build the key skills identified above. Team and individual assignments will allow you to explore different aspects of the course and culminate in a final assessment.

 

T1 Movement: Your Body

A heightened awareness is necessary to develop the actor’s body. Drawing from North American, European, and Asian actor training methodologies you will explore movement exercises, improvisation, games, and techniques. Utilizing a spirit of discovery and openness, you will learn to inhabit your own specific body. Working with alignment, breath, release and neutral, you will also be exposed to a range of movement for the actor. Students will interact, play, and explore unison movement—developing sensitivity to the energy of the group, using periphery vision and listening with the body. You will develop rhythmic acuity, a sense of timing, and coordination.

 

T1 Speech: The Basics

In this course you will be introduced to the basics of Speech and Phonation (the mechanical movements required for sound creation) for the actor. You will explore, anatomy, vowels, consonants, operative words, and learn the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. You will practice articulation, energy and support for sound, the muscularity of the spoken word, and the emphasis and meaning of language. By the end of the course you will be able to identify the key components of speech and sound and freely articulate a piece of poetry.

 

T1 Voice: Breath, Body, Voice

As an actor your instrument is yourself—your breath, body, voice; your imagination, impulse, expression, and your soul. To be able to be expressive and present as an actor you need to be in a healthy and exciting relationship with yourself, especially your voice. Your voice can be characterized as the muscle of your soul. This course is the first step in developing the courage and trust necessary to risk exploring a new relationship with yourself and your voice, to support your self-discovery in moving beyond existing physical and vocal habits, patterns, preconceived beliefs, and fears that may keep you from attaining your goals and desires as an actor in this industry.

 

T1 Improvisation: Character and Spontaneity

Improvisation is the only performing art where you are fully responsible for all aspects of your work. Actors who can improvise well are the most valued actors on any set, because they will complete every take, regardless of accidents and mistakes. The improvising actor makes discoveries whereby non-improvising actor may struggle. Through a series of exercises, conducted in pairs and groups, you will explore the building blocks of character, complimentary action, and reaction. You will learn how to use physical punctuation to create an interesting performance, how to share focus with other actors dynamically in a scene, and how to play with the cultural rules of social behaviour and expectations to generate comedy. Through practice you will develop a heightened awareness of your scene partner(s), the given circumstances, and be able to generate laughter effortlessly.

 

 

Term 2 Course Description

 

T2 Speech: Accents and Dialects

Transforming your voice is a powerful tool for creating character. You can change your nationality, age, culture, size, status, period, gender, or even your species. This course teaches a practical, physical approach to speaking with accents, and nurtures a flexible voice and a broad range. Through teacher guided practice you will develop the modern non-regional American sound that is the standard for our industry, and also explore regional variations around the world. By altering tone focus and facial muscles, you will have the opportunity to discover the right accent for every character. You will also find out how accents develop and why we have them. Your ability to identify and speak consistently in accent will grow along with your understanding of how our voice identifies us.

 

T2 The Embodied Voice

Actors are storytellers. Through your breath, body, voice and imagination you will give life to intimate stories that are vital for others to take part in. To do this you must be at home in your breath. To engage others you need to be able to engage yourself, be present in your sensations, emotions, sounds and breath-embodied in the oneness of you. Through processes and exercises you will explore your breath, body, voice and imagination and you will experience the freedom to extend your sound into singing. You will have an opportunity to tell larger stories intimately that will include music (pianist), ensemble work (group song) and explore the technical requirements and fundamentals needed to perform a song in your program and career.

 

T2 Voice: Sound into Speech

In this course students will continue to investigate the body as an instrument. Deepening the work from T1 Voice and T1 Speech will be introduced to the building blocks of voice work through application to text. Students will explore breath, range, power, placement, support, grounding, imagination and storytelling in order to explore the physicality of spoken language and how the possibilities that lie within their own voice pertain to their work as an actor.

 

T2 Movement: Exploration

Discover the potential of physical communication, and the heightened awareness required to develop a resonant and responsive actor’s body. Expanding upon the work of T1 movement, you will explore the use of rhythm in character creation and scene analysis. You will develop spatial awareness, investigating the myriad use of space and its impact on the body and relationships. You will learn a variety of ways to adapt your physicality and to create character that will prepare for a range of stage and screen roles.

 

T2 Camera: Television

In this course you will navigate the technical demands of acting on a film set while drawing upon acting fundamentals to block, rehearse, and shoot high stakes ensemble television scenes. Confidence in yourself and your technique is essential to survive the rigours of performing on a professional film set; this hands-on course seeks to demystify the onset environment by giving you the opportunity to fulfill the roles of various crew positions and allow you to shoot and act in police procedurals and medical dramas. You will be challenged to execute cop and medical “tech speak” convincingly while simultaneously dealing with multi-marked blocking, continuity and a variety of camera set-ups and shooting styles, such as master/coverage and moving master.

 

T2 Audition: Knowing the Room

Landing any job in film and TV begins with a clear understanding of the audition room and the expectations and standards of a professional on camera audition. Understanding the role of the casting director, the typical “Do’s and Don’ts” and key components of an audition will serve as your foundation. You will explore the technical and creative demands of an audition using sides (excerpt from a film or television script) from commercials, film, and TV that will be shot and reviewed in class. You will develop and assess your progress in the areas of preparation, performance, and technical execution of the audition as well as beginning to learn how to adjust that performance in the moment. The importance of playing character objectives, listening, and partnering effectively with the reader are explored as the class intensifies with larger and more challenging material.

 

T2 Acting: Scene Study

Discover how to put the actor’s basic skills and tools to work for you to create a dynamic and powerful scene for presentation. Use the skills you acquired in term 1 to delve more deeply into creating an honest and authentic character. Learn how to express yourself with confidence, and serve the story truthfully. As you assume responsibility for your own creative growth, you will begin to follow impulse and surprise yourself with honest and engaging partnering. Through improvisation, acting exercises, research and rehearsal techniques, you will prepare and present a scene for evaluation at the end of the course. Presenting the scene before a larger audience at the end of term offers you the opportunity to experience what a live audience does to your acting process.

 

 

Term 3 Course Description

 

T3 Voice: Breath, Presence Language

You will experience how practical body, breath, and voice work can enhance your emotional connection with the script and your scene partner(s), and help you to be fully present in each acting moment. In addition, you will begin to discover techniques to make your character’s language organically your own. Furthermore, you will develop your voice and speech to increase clarity and confidence in your spoken communication. Perhaps a sentence or two here that drive home the value of the course in professional terms (e.g., having a strong voice warm up is important for professional auditions, etc.)

 

T3 Movement: Behind and Beyond the Mask

How can today’s actor bring a full expression to his physical instrument and capture the attention of an audience with just their presence? With an exploration of the mask and beyond, you will learn to inhabit bold physical choices as well as become aware of the impact of minute physical subtleties. This will broaden your range of physical choices and begin to free your intuitive and creative physical instrument. Today’s actor must bring their deeply connected physical self to each role—even in a close up. Many contemporary film roles demand the use of prosthetics, extreme make up, or Mocap but the actor’s body is the storyteller.
You will explore animal character study, neutral mask, full character mask, half mask and be introduced the physical practice of Grotowski and plastiques to enhance physical expression as well as the important presence building tool of the baby clown. From the on-screen comic book hero to the deep work of subtle character development, the ancient craft of mask prepares the modern actor to meet all challenges.

 

T3 Improvisation: Cinema Game

The roots of comedy lie in creating a believable character with an inflexible perspective, and in playing the expectations more than the objectives. Using the ‘Cinema Game’ exercise from Term 1, you will deepen your understanding of comedic character and comedic reaction to the unexpected. Through practice, you will develop a heightened awareness of your scene partner(s), be able to clearly articulate in your acting the difference between the given circumstances and your character.
You will also learn to generate comedy effortlessly using the ‘Endowment’ game. You will hone your ability to create unique characters by watching people unobserved. In your future career, you can apply these skills on set and when writing with an ensemble to create your own work.

 

T3 Embodied Voice: Storytelling through Song

Moving beyond Fundamentals, in this course you will focus on developing story through song, moving from group participation to individual song performance. You will explore range of voice, line and flow, connection and partnering. Through a series of partnering exercises you will develop ease and trust in yourself and awareness of your partner enabling you to sing on your own.In this term you will be given your own song. Through the rehearsal process you will focus on identifying what is needed to trust in the work and share it with others. With coaching from your instructor and the support of an accompanist, you will gain insight into how much time and effort is required to emotionally connect to any text, story or song. This work further develops and strengthens your vocal instrument to support your craft as an actor.T3 covers and develops the first step in a 5 step exercise which is completed in T4. “The One” the Text study and research of your song. Approaching your song as an actor, separating the lyrics from the music, as well as researching and determining the nature, objective and journey of the character through the text.

 

T3 Camera: Feature Film and the Edit

You will gain further insight into the skills learned in T2 Camera: Television, such as continuity, eye line, hitting marks and partnering while developing an awareness of the editing process that can both change and enhance your performance and your perception of what it is to be camera savvy. You will once again fill various crew positions and handle film set equipment to produce a number of scenes. Once the scenes are shot, you will assist in editing the projects. The course culminates with a viewing of all the edited scenes in a theatre on the big screen.

 

T3 Audition: Exploring Television

Mastering the complex demands of a mid-sized television and commercial audition can lead to a steady and potentially lucrative career. Building on the lessons learned in T2 Audition, you will come out of this class with a better understanding of the expectations of the modern television audition and the typical genres you will be asked to work within. The audition summit will expose you to the differences between the “absolute” rules of the audition room and the rules that you can choose to bend. The common practice of self-taped auditions will be introduced and developed.

 

T3 Acting: Writing Your Story

Self-discovery is vital for the actor. In this class you will delve into the actor’s truth. You will find a deep personal connection to yourself and discover how it relates to text. Through a series of silent, guided meditations, sensory and visualization exercises and intensive writing sessions you will create a personal monologue script using authentic and truthful stories from your life. These writing exercises will engage the writer within you and awaken your understanding of how your own life story directly informs your acting, enabling you to bring truth to your work on stage and screen.

 

T3 Acting: Expand Your Range

You need to approach an acting role with confidence, curiosity, and precision. Through various acting exercises you will realize how you habitually limit your range of expression. You will be challenged to express yourself outside of your 'comfort zone' and let go of acting choices that result in safe, dull, lifeless performances. You will begin to expand your acting choices by uncovering your own inherent potential to mine the endless possibilities of authentic expression available to you. By practising this open minded approach to your acting roles, you will gain more certainty, be less hesitant and feel free to experiment with a greater sense of childlike wonder!You will also have the opportunity to develop your text analysis skills further using a scene from a play that inspires both you and a scene partner. Together you will begin to give tangible, emotionally charged form to the given circumstances discovered in the play, preparing a solid foundation to dive into Scene Study in term 4.

 

 

T3 Rehearsal Lab

As you begin to ‘Dig’ into the One Year Acting program, Rehearsal Lab provides a mentored & guided space for selfdirected preparation & rehearsal. It is designed to encourage and exercise the self-motivated work an actor must pursue—how do I prepare for an audition, for a scene, for a class, for a gig? How do I develop my discipline and focus to make my practice fun and rewarding? With a mentor you will be guided to work on the projects, scripts and auditions that need to be prepared and rehearsed for class. Some of this work will happen individually or in groups. Students will meet in a ‘home room’ at the start of each Rehearsal Lab and will sign in to the worksheet with the work that will be explored in the lab time. We encourage you to journal your rehearsal process. Your mentor will be available for additional questions and support.

 

 

 

Term 4 Course Description

 

T4 Rehearsal Lab

As you begin to ‘Dig’ into the One Year Acting program, Rehearsal Lab provides a mentored & guided space for selfdirected preparation & rehearsal. It is designed to encourage and exercise the self-motivated work an actor must pursue—how do I prepare for an audition, for a scene, for a class, for a gig? How do I develop my discipline and focus to make my practice fun and rewarding? With a mentor you will be guided to work on the projects, scripts and auditions that