Performing Arts Camp 2008

		Performing Arts Camp 2008 Class Offerings Where the camp motto is “no experience is necessary” to have fun! This year Stagebridge campers will get to take two classes in the morning and two classes in the afternoon. In the morning, campers will select one acting and one storytelling class and in the afternoon, choose any two classes. All campers will participate in the BIG SHOW on Friday afternoon which will be video taped. New this year is “Summer Stock” where campers can choose to concentrate on musical theatre adding singing and dancing to their morning selections. The “company” will present selections from a Broadway musical at Friday’s show. We are also pleased to offer “Expanding Creativity in the Workplace” which includes special workshops for health care professionals and activity directors of senior facilities. This mix of classes and special workshops will give you the tools to apply creative activities to your work. A fun way to earn Continuing Education Credits/Units through California State University, East Bay and play at the same time.
		MORNING CLASSES (75 minutes each): Campers will select one acting and one storytelling class

		Summer Stock: The Musical! Josiah Polhemus Join Josiah in an acting class devoted to scenes from a musical. Selected scenes will be in connection to dance and choreography classes and will result in a staged reading performance at the end of the week. Musicals under consideration: Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man and Grease.

		Playback Theatre Roni Alperin Playback Theatre players transform personal stories told by audience members into theatre pieces on the spot using movement, ritual, music and spoken improvisation. Workshop participants will learn the subtleties of the style and form of Playback Theatre, refine acting and improvisation skills and share in the often profound experience of hearing each other's stories and bringing them to life.

		Character Development Stuart Kandell Tired of always being yourself? Be someone else. In this class you will learn the basics of developing a character through voice, gesture and movement. We’ll use monologues, acting exercises, and improvisation to help you explore and develop a whole new persona. This is a beginning level acting class.

		Introduction to Storytelling Liz Nichols Let Liz show you how easy it is to discover your hidden storyteller. Using simple, fun storytelling games and sure-fire story prompts, you’ll be telling tales in your own unique voice and style before you know it! You’ll leave with a traditional tale – myth, folktale or fable – you can share anywhere.

		Joyful Noise Gay Ducey Gay can get folks of all ages to join her in a song or a story – including you! Bring your stories, or learn new ones you can use tomorrow. Discover ways to tell stories that are richer, more fun and better able to take listeners along on a magical ride -- whether into fantasy or into your own personal and family past.
		AFTERNOON CLASSES (55 minutes each): Campers will select two classes

		Masks and the Art of Doing Nothing Leonard Pitt Leonard uses a variety of hand made masks to explore the creation of character in the body and the voice. The class discovers how to increase the expression of the character through t he interplay between stillness and small movements of the body. People typically think they have to "do" to be interesting. In fact, the opposite is true. This process of achieving more by doing less takes us to the heart of performing and reveals the essence of what it means to be on stage.

		Spoken Word Tureeda Mikell As an experienced teacher, Tureeda will help you find your voice, your inner child, explore rap, rhyme, rhythm and blues, you choose. Students will receive poems from the masters like Yeats, Shakespeare and Hughes. Read, write, read your words aloud; edit, and review for performance and/or publication. Come as a child and experience the pleasures of the spoken word.

		Drumming Billy Cauley Working with rhythm is fun, entertaining, builds community, and fosters concentration, new learning and determination. This gives participants instant feedback that reflects one’s efforts in relationship to achieving goals. Scientific studies have shown working with specific rhythms and tempos in a controlled situation fosters the development of new brain wave connections and the birth of new brain cells at any age. Join us for these classes to develop and build a new synchronicity of life.

		Gotta Dance! – Musical Theatre Dance Workshop Bruce Bierman In this fun and challenging workshop, you will learn how to tell more about a character as well as how to advance the plot of a story solely through dance, movement and gesture. Together with the teacher/choreographer, students will create choreography from one of the great Broadway musicals and then present it. Students will also study the work of two of the greatest Broadway choreographers: Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse.

		Sing, Sing, Sing! Ellen Robinson Love Broadway? Any singer who wants to broaden their singing experience, improve vocal technique and even learn harmony to go with some of your favorite show tunes, this class is for you! The songs we learn will be selected from scenes in a musical that will be performed at the end of the week in collaboration with the dance and acting classes.

		Clowning Jeff Raz Take a trip through the world of comedy starting with Chaucer and ending with Cirque du Soleil. Along the way, we'll visit Commedia dell'Arte (complete with masks), vaudeville, circus and more. Participants will be invited to learn mask technique, verbal and physical comedy routines and classic clown entrees.