Elementary School Theatre Workshop
This class focuses on developing the actors ability to play and to learn to trust and use themselves as an instrument for performance in a fun filled atmosphere. Emphasis is on theatre games and exercises designed to encourage dramatic expression. As in the Middle school workshop, students learn how to trust each other on stage and utilize acting techniques to express character and tell a story. As the class develops students, with the instructor, will develop or work on a script that will be presented as a performance at the end of the session.
Middle School Theatre Workshops
Class focus is on developing the actor's ability use and trust creative imagination. Students learn how to use their creative imagination like an instrument. They learn how to communicate to an audience and tell a story using material they invent. Students play theatre games, do trust exercises and study acting techniques that require the actor to use their own unique forms of imagination and expression. Classes develop in each actor a sense of trust and good will toward their fellow actors. Eventually students participate in the development of a new theatrical production, or an existing workshop script, to present a performance at the end of the session.
High School/College Theatre Workshop
This is CVDAA's advanced studio workshop. Actors in this program usually come with previous acting experience or have participated in the middle school program, though beginners are welcome! Classes emphasize understanding acting technique and helping the actor to develop a framework or context in which to apply technique to their work. Some classes involve brief lectures regarding utilization of intention, motivation, relationship communication and other key concepts. Students are expected to take notes and to be able to easily apply techniques learned in class to their work, and to be able to talk about those techniques and how they operate within a scene. Each class culminates in two final performances of either an original work, a contemporary drama/comedy or a Shakespeare production.
To register for any upcoming workshop click here