THEATRE

This beginning level course lays the foundation for students to acquire the fundamental skills and tools for developing the acting process, with an introduction to Stanislavski, Boleslavski and Lugering techniques. Students strengthen their powers of concentration and focus as they learn how to analyze and create characters, breakdown the structures of monologues, scripts, and plays, and identify the given circumstances. Students create and access several different types of characters; use breath, optimum pitch, and diction to communicate the character’s purpose. Students make clear and specific acting choices; learn the language of theatre; and connect with their body, voice, and imagination while in performance. In addition, students learn how to behave as a professional actor who demonstrates respect and focus in class or on stage. In class work will consist of monologues, scenes, and improvisations.

To be expressive and present as an actor, students need a trained voice as part of their physical instrument. In this course, students study the development of voice techniques for the stage, including work by Linklater in relaxation and  limbering.   Students demonstrate the principles of voice sound production. Students demonstrate the elements of vocal production, breathing, relaxation, phonation, resonance, articulation, body support, posture and proper placement of the tongue and lips. Students will  explore the anatomy of the voice: air pressure, vibratory resonance, control of the soft palate and larynx and movement of the jaw. In class work includes stretching, relaxation, grounding, range, and the creation of a personal physical and vocal exercise warm-up.

In this course students explore an introduction to the body’s uniqueness as an expression of acting. A heightened awareness is necessary to develop the actor’s body. Through animal studies, dance body training and exercises designed to explore the body as a communication tool, students explore movement exercises and improvisation techniques. Students learn to be comfortable in their bodies, using a spirit of discovery and openness to inhabit their bodies fully. Students will demonstrate flexibility, range of movement, and physical confidence. Elements of Alexander Techniques and yoga help students improve ease of balance and coordination. Students interact and explore group movement—developing sensitivity to the energy of the group. Students identify, relax, and warm up parts of the body that hold tension and develop movement and expressiveness that work on posture, gestures, walking, and expanding physical potential as an actor.
 

In this course Level One students are introduced to ensemble rehearsal and performance techniques, with an emphasis on preparation, focus, active listening, responding and spatial awareness. Students work on monologues and scenes in a variety of theatrical genres, preparing to participate in the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California (DTASC) Fall Festival. Students continue to work on building a cohesive ensemble by practicing various group acting techniques and exercises to expand skills in a rehearsal or theatre performance. Students integrate cultural and historical contexts with personal experiences to create a group project. Students collaborate as a creative team to discover artistic solutions and make interpretive choices in a theatre work. 

A Level One course, the focus of this class is to use a range of ensemble theatre techniques to introduce  students to  theatre practices, both western and non-western. Students gain knowledge of the language of theatre, ethics, and etiquette of theatre. Students understand performance and technical theatre terminology; devised, physical and ensemble philosophies, aesthetics, and techniques. Students learn how to create, compose, memorize, stage, and perform previously produced works. They learn how to build a basic understanding of characterization and character development; and demonstrate confident stage presence, an authentic stage persona, and a unified cohort of actors. In class work will consist of exploration of multidisciplinary performance techniques that include monologues, dialogues, scene and ensemble work; dance, movement and physical theatre; playing music and singing; reflective and creative writing, poetry, photography, visual art making, film, video and new media.

Shakespeare’s text might be more complex than contemporary text, but the acting fundamentals are the same. Students will not try to manufacture character, but understand that character comes in what they do, their actions. Students can put Shakespearean text into their own words, using their own natural voice. Students learn how to research and discover meaning using scansion, blank verse, prose, and rhyming verse. Students demonstrate the use of iambic pentameter, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and antithesis, while discovering how the use of puns and double entendre were prevalent in Shakespeare’s works. Students make strong and specific acting choices, using articulation, breath, and physicality to be understood and believable. In class work will consist of monologues, soliloquies, and scenes.

A continuation of Voice and Speech 1, students strengthen their relationship with their voice, exploring new ways to enhance vocal projection. Students build upon basic vocal technique for the support of sound, articulation, and voice projection. Students demonstrate the importance of physical supports required to produce clear and enunciated speech while staying relaxed and grounded in their body. Students learn the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to accurately represent the pronunciation of languages and apply the IPA to their acquisition of Standard American dialect. Students must learn the IPA to be able to master accents and dialects which are taught in level three of Voice and Speech. 

This course is an adjunct class to Second Year Acting Shakespeare. In Movement 2, students demonstrate the physical techniques for performing classical theatre, specifically Elizabethan, Restoration, Georgian, and Victorian periods. Students identify the define physical characteristics of each period and use them to create a character. Special attention is placed on adopting the mannerisms and style of those periods. Armed stage combat provides students with a safe and reliable set of combat techniques for use on stage. Students study a variety of armed maneuvers involving the rapier, katana, and broadsword. In addition, students learn biomechanics based on the movement theory of Vsevolod Meyerhold through a select combination of biomechanics, yoga, and beginning gymnastics. Students  identify areas of tension within their bodies and utilize a wide range of body stretches and balances to improve their physical coordination and spatial awareness.

This literary course is the study of theatre history and text criticism from the ancients to post-moderns, focusing on the theatre as a social institution in American. Upon completion of this class, students will understand major theatrical movements and developments from the ancients to post moderns and have a strong background in and understanding of theatre as a social influence in history. Students will understand the types of plays performed, the key playwrights, the physical buildings, and spaces for acting and the general tone and organizations of the actors. Students learn how these ancient traditions informed our modern contemporary traditions.  Students learn that history is not a past, dead entity, but rather a dynamic revelation of the theatre as an art form and the people’s need to witness it. Students learn what was established, what was discarded, what changed, and what became new. Students have a broad spectrum of knowledge on which to base their acting.

In this course, students build on the acting styles learned in Acting 1 and 2 and add others, including methods of Practical Aesthetics, Chekhov and Meisner, to create the life of the character and the intent of the scene. Students research and perform works by contemporary American playwrights, including Lily Padilla, Qui Nguyen, Octavio Solis, Paula Vogel, and Suzan Lori- Parks. Students engage in both  practical and philosophical exploration of the craft of being and creating on stage, as an actor. Using the language of theatre and acting, students use text analysis to effectively tell a story; learn to activate each line with intention and purpose; gain an understanding of how to create specificity in each moment; pick up cues; learn how spatial relationships within a scene inform the dramatic action and relationship between characters. In addition to memorization of monologues and scenes, in class work will consist of ensemble building exercises, improvisation games and techniques, as well as movement, sound and speech activities. 

This advanced course will develop, expand, and strengthen students’ vocal range and flexibility in regionally specific dialects, using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as a tool to learn pronunciation and style. Students explore how to expand their cultural and social understanding and characterization through a regionally specific dialect. Students will demonstrate an understanding of a dialect’s specific sound changes from the Standard American accent using the IPA. Through written dialect notes, students demonstrate each individual sound change in IPA specific to that region’s dialect. Students learn through written IPA assignments, verbal listening and repetition exercises, content creation, cold reading, scene work, and voice over study how to master each dialect. The classwork culminates in an in-class scene performance, incorporating established acting techniques, script and character analysis, rehearsal notes and dialects.

This course teaches students how to access and apply the Tadashi Suzuki Method and Viewpoint Techniques to their acting. Students concentrate to reach full expressiveness and practice to achieve total body control. Students analyze Suzuki methods compared to other acting methods and apply his method to building ensemble. Students apply Suzuki ideas of centering the body by completing a cycle of exercises in groups and demonstrating their knowledge of Suzuki ideas of centering the body by creating  their own body centering Suzuki exercises. Students attain a great amount of energy and focused awareness of natural expressiveness and commit more fully to the physical and emotional requirements of acting. As it apply to full immersion into an acting scene, students demonstrate their understanding of the physical and vocal aspects of Viewpoints, including spatial relationships, kinesthetic response, shape, gesture, repetition, architecture, tempo, duration, topography, pitch, dynamics, acceleration/deceleration, silence and timbre.

The study of non-traditional playwrights, including women, LGBTQ+, and people of color, this literary course introduces students to the wealth of writings from these playwrights. Students read and study the works of men and women who brought race relations, social justice, class struggles and diversity to the forefront of American theatre. Students learn about and appreciate the culture, struggles and triumphs of these writers and how they have revolutionized American theatre, contributing to our diverse perspectives and political discourse. Some of the playwrights for study include Nilo Cruz, August Wilson, Lynn Nottage, E. Donald Two Rivers, Tony Kushner, Josefina Lopez, David Henry Hwang,  Migdalia Cruz, and Sandra Seaton.

The highest-level course for senior acting majors who are considering professional acting as a career choice, students explore Acting Techniques of Monologue Performance, Sanford Meisner, Lee Strasberg/ Stanislavski (Method Acting), Practical Aesthetics and Harry Mastrogeorge ( The Imagined Life). With each acting technique, the students make specific choices for their character through repetition exercises, substitutions, visualization, emotional recall, sense memory, dramatic analysis, improvisation, what if questioning and physicalizing. Each technique is quite different and will allow the student to find which style of character study is most effective for them moving into a professional acting career. Additionally, this course will offer the “business of being an actor,” focusing on the day-to-day elements of being a working actor. Creating an acting resume, taking, and selecting a headshot, researching TV/film/stage agencies and managers, crafting a one sentence “pitch,” and using social media engagement will help market each student’s skills. Invited guest lecturers, working in TV/film and stage, help students understand the nuts and bolts of being a professional actor and how to keep themselves “in the game.” Students formulate a personal Artist Statement and compile a portfolio of monologues for auditions.

In this course students learn that authenticity in pursuit of scene objectives is the key to success when acting for camera. Students learn to discern the difference between stage acting and film acting. Students demonstrate relaxation and spontaneity of body and voice when preparing for a film shoot and given the opportunity to enhance these abilities through improvisation and filmed exercises that are viewed in class. Students learn camera fundamentals and understand the importance of continuity through specific on-camera exercises, discovering how actors’ choices affect storytelling with the frame. Students demonstrate knowledge of the language of on-camera acting, including green screen, eyeline, piggyback and close-ups. Students also are given the opportunity to practice the technical demands of a professional film set while exploring the single-camera shooting and the actor’s relationship to the camera. 

Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, 4th Year students work in tandem with the Advance Technical Theatre students to produce short and full-length plays for public performances. These performances are completely student produced. Students work collaboratively to develop a mission statement and company name that reflect the mission statement. Students collaboratively decide on the production team and who will be responsible for marketing, promotion, publicity, and locating venues. Students develop a budget and raise funds to underwrite all costs for the productions, ultimately selecting plays to produce that fit into their mission statement.

Under the structure of California Technical Education (CTE), senior theatre students engage in community internship and apprentice projects with onsite supervision. Students develop internship learning objectives with their immediate employer-supervisor and LACHSA faculty member to provide appropriate work-based learning experiences. Students apply their theatre knowledge and skills to a professional context and understand what skills are transferable to the new contexts. Students identify and understand the practices and protocols of a particular company or industry in which they have been assigned; and  students successfully reflect on the quality of the contribution they have made to the organization, allowing them to refine and reassess their own career goals as a result of the intern experience. Students will receive school credit under their Advanced Acting class.

This course will introduction students to costume design and costuming for the stage. Students gain a basic understanding of the principles of theatrical costume theory, psychology of clothing for theatrical design, and costume construction. Students use the language of costuming, including  costume plot, color theory, patterning,  stitching, and sketch. Students develop designs that emerge through a process of character analysis based on script analysis and directorial concept. Time period research, design and rendering skills are supported through practical application and hands-on exercises. Students learn basic costume construction, including drafting and draping. Tools and resources are provided to develop students’ final projects. Final projects may consist of students working as wardrobe mistresses/masters and dressers for school productions.

Through work in this course, students demonstrate directing principles, theories, procedures, and practices in directing a scene. Students use the language of acting and theatre as they analyze text, character, and story details, play structure, conflict, themes, and images. Students will develop essential communication and leadership skills while solving problems with resourcefulness, flexibility, and creativity. Students demonstrate their ability to collaborate from a position of creative leadership in an ensemble setting; and receive hands-on experiences in directing two, three and four-person scenes that  culminate in an invited guest performance at the end of each semester.

The objective of this course is to get students excited about improvisation. In Level One students are introduced to the short form of improvisation and its core tenets: agreement, listening, commitment and support. Students learn how to play the ‘truth” in storytelling to generate interesting ideas for comedic scenes. Students learn how to play characters who are like themselves in a comedic scene and how to create and play intelligent characters with a strong point of view. The elements and language of improvisation are used to build character and relationships. Students also use the improvisation elements of time, imagination, objective playing, truth in playing, status and base reality to create character in improvisation.

The prerequisite to this class is two semesters of Introduction to Comedy. Advanced Comedy Improv features a detailed and intense study of “the scene,” the core building block of long form improvisation. Students will have the opportunity to perform a long scene, while experimenting with some of the most influential theories of Improvisation work, including the game of the scenes, as defined by the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and position play as defined by Miles Stroth. Eventually, students move into the infamous Harold Scene, with its openings, first, second, and third beats. Students also engage in Open-Ended Scenes and by the end of this yearlong course, students can create and sustaining interesting and entertaining 3-minute scenes that are completely improvised.

This course is  a theory and design class with an exploration of the duties of stage technicians. Using stagecraft terminology,  students demonstrate the basic physical properties of the technical aspects of theatre (e.g., light, color, electricity, makeup) and identify the primary duties of a stage technician. Students demonstrate an understanding of the safety requirements and efficient use of tools and materials used in the shop. They safely apply technical knowledge and skills to create functional scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes, and makeup. 

This course is a hands-on class for students who have completed two years of training in technical theatre. Students in this class are responsible for “teching” all school productions. Students demonstrate the ability to load in and strike a set for any production. Students demonstrate an advance knowledge of set construction, scenery, hang, focus, programming of lighting instruments, implementation of sound systems for special effects and reinforcements in school productions. Students analyze a variety of plays to help determine production requirements needed for sound, lighting, costumes, and makeup; develop designs that use visual and aural elements to convey environments that clearly support the production. Students explain how scientific and technological developments have impacted set, light, sound, costume, and makeup designs; create production schedules, stage management plans, promotional ideas, and business and house procedures for school productions. Students identify career opportunities in the technical aspects of theater and develop a resume for work experience in professional venues.