Acting Classes
CURRENT CLASS BACKGROUND INFO:
"ACTING - SCENES AND MONOLOGUES"
at the AVALON FREE
PUBLIC LIBRARY, August 2010
An introductory class for students
(teens and older) and adults with an interest in acting and theater at
all levels of experience. The instructors are New York based professional
actors with a background in teaching and directing. We will select scenes,
and discuss the process of acting; including text analysis, researching
the play, developing a character and stage technique. Improv theater games
are used as a warm-up to develop an ensemble feeling among the students,
remove blocks, and sharpen communications skills.
Beginning with a sit-down
reading, each scene or monologue will be discussed, blocked and rehearsed.
A selection of scenes and monologues from modern and contemporary plays
will be available to work on, but students are also welcome to bring in
their own material if they wish (scenes no longer than 5 minutes and monologues
no longer than 2 minutes). This is one of a series of three Tuesday evening
workshops. You are encouraged to attend all three if possible, to develop
the scenes and observe other students' work from week to week.
About the Instructors
MARK EDWARD LANG is a Director, Actor (member of all three performer unions)
and Teacher, with over fifteen years of experience performing, teaching
and directing Shakespeare and Improvisation. He has worked with the National
Shakespeare Company, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Columbia School
of Business, Theater TenTen, Pirate Playhouse, Executive Development
Concepts, the New York Renaissance Festival and Africa Arts Theater,
among others; toured thirty-five states; and studied with directors from
the Royal Shakespeare Company (John Barton, Anthony Naylor, Patrick Tucker),
Shakespeare for Americans (Paul Eiseman), the New Actors Workshop (George
Morrison), and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (David Perry). Recent
directing projects include a much-lauded production of Eugene O’Neill’s
“Anna Christie” for the East Lynne Theater Company in Cape May, New Jersey;
and Shakespeare’s “Othello” on 42nd Street in New York starring Timothy
D. Stickney (R.J. on ABC-TV’s “One Life to Live”). Mr. Lang also directed
the New York premiere of the improvisational show “Instant Shakespeare”
at the 45th Street Theater. He has worked extensively with Cape May’s
East Lynne Theater Company as actor and director; is a partner in the
Laughingstock Entertainment Company (since 1993); and was Artistic Associate
of New York’s Harbor Theater Company (1999-2006). As an actor, he has
appeared in over twenty Shakespeare productions, comedies and tragedies;
favorite roles include Hamlet, Bottom, Benedick, Puck, Brutus, Orlando,
Edgar in “King Lear”, and a rather youthful Prospero in “The Tempest”.
He is a B.A. Honors graduate of Vassar College with a major in Theater,
and recipient of the Kazan Prize for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts.
ALISON J. MURPHY holds a B.A. in Literature with a minor in Theater from
Ramapo College of New Jersey. She has spent many years working with children:
teaching ages preschool to high school, as well as children with profound
disabilities. She has a gift for motivating and interacting with children
regardless of their age, ethnicity or physical challenges. As well as
teaching, Ms. Murphy is a professional actress (member, Actors’ Equity
Association) with a background in Shakespeare and 19th Century American
theater. In addition to playing Viola in “Twelfth Night”, Hermia in “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Ariel in “The Tempest” (Outdoor Shakespeare
in the Garden), she has performed with the East Lynne Theater Company
in Cape May, New Jersey since 2001, including the tour-de-force lead
roles of Cynthia Karslake in “The New York Idea” and The Actress in Molnar’s
“The Guardsman” (a role made famous by Lynn Fontanne in 1924).