Pre-K - 3rd Grade
My classes are of an interdisciplinary nature; combining Early Childhood Development studies with various methodology in the theatrical world, and my own practice.
For students of this age group, my classes are run with accessing the necessary aspect of Fantasy Playing as part of brain development.
We start with a physical warm up, which helps maintain mental focus, group mentality, and body/mind coordination.
We then segue into a musical exploration, discussing moods of music with the essence of movement (Lyrical, Vibratory, Percussive, Sustained, Suspend, and Collapse) and then enter into an improvisational story based on the essence of the music, and how our bodies naturally respond.
Next, we will apply these essences to story telling and words, with utilizing mythology, poetry, and fables.
The use of pictures is very strong in this age group, many of whom are just beginning to learn to read and write. We look at comic books and discuss color and composition of pictures to begin script writing as a story board process, and re-create the pictures with our bodies in which we begin to enact the theatrical experience of our visions.
For students of this age group, my classes are run with accessing the necessary aspect of Fantasy Playing as part of brain development.
We start with a physical warm up, which helps maintain mental focus, group mentality, and body/mind coordination.
We then segue into a musical exploration, discussing moods of music with the essence of movement (Lyrical, Vibratory, Percussive, Sustained, Suspend, and Collapse) and then enter into an improvisational story based on the essence of the music, and how our bodies naturally respond.
Next, we will apply these essences to story telling and words, with utilizing mythology, poetry, and fables.
The use of pictures is very strong in this age group, many of whom are just beginning to learn to read and write. We look at comic books and discuss color and composition of pictures to begin script writing as a story board process, and re-create the pictures with our bodies in which we begin to enact the theatrical experience of our visions.
4th-12th Grade
While grades 4-12 are vastly different in terms of core content, my approach to all is, fundamentally , the same.
I have combined research and expert theories on Kinesthetic Learning Strategies and applied them to a variety of acting methodology to use theater to teach any topic, and heighten the learning of it.
Creating a series of warm ups and acting exercises, the group begins a discussion on what they, the students, know and don't know. We problem solve through our bodies. It is a true collaboration, where we all, as a group, problem solve together.
Kinesthetic Learning has been proven to be the most successful learning method that reaches the most students. Theatre, in its nature, is a Kinesthetic artform, and the students get the opportunity to act out and feel a variety of subjects, and also see other students perform them, doubling the nature of the learning experience.
Sample Curriculum topics I have worked on are:
The Underground Railroad
The American Revolution with a focus on Conflict/Resolution
Bullying
Compliment Creating
Test Taking Strategies
Math (Division, Multiplication, Place Values, Solving Strategies)
Writing a Personal Narrative
Science (The Ecosystem, Flora and Fauna, Adaptations, The Water Cycle, The Life Cycle)
The Explorers
Folklore
Theatre can truly be applied to any topic and created a heightened sense of learning!
I have combined research and expert theories on Kinesthetic Learning Strategies and applied them to a variety of acting methodology to use theater to teach any topic, and heighten the learning of it.
Creating a series of warm ups and acting exercises, the group begins a discussion on what they, the students, know and don't know. We problem solve through our bodies. It is a true collaboration, where we all, as a group, problem solve together.
Kinesthetic Learning has been proven to be the most successful learning method that reaches the most students. Theatre, in its nature, is a Kinesthetic artform, and the students get the opportunity to act out and feel a variety of subjects, and also see other students perform them, doubling the nature of the learning experience.
Sample Curriculum topics I have worked on are:
The Underground Railroad
The American Revolution with a focus on Conflict/Resolution
Bullying
Compliment Creating
Test Taking Strategies
Math (Division, Multiplication, Place Values, Solving Strategies)
Writing a Personal Narrative
Science (The Ecosystem, Flora and Fauna, Adaptations, The Water Cycle, The Life Cycle)
The Explorers
Folklore
Theatre can truly be applied to any topic and created a heightened sense of learning!
College Aged and Beyond
Doctors must stay up to date with the current ailments, and current ways to treat patients. My approach to theatre training is the same.
By staying informed on theater critique and trends via articles, conferences, and my own personal experience as a professional actor, I plan my classes based on methods that will truly prepare my acting students to the theater world in which they will soon enter.
It is my true belief that the popular psycho-analytical approaches to acting, and the realism movement as a whole, are long since out-dated, and with film and television being the more accessible medium for both arts, the theater world will, and has been, metamorphosing in order to reach a greater amount of audiences.
Recent studies on brain activity in relation to attention span states that we, as humans, loose interest after 3 minutes. This means that the modern theatre actor needs training to allow them to find ways to make these changes believable with the use of their most powerful tool: Their Body.
Methods I practice and teach are:
The Viewpoints Method (Anne Bogart and Tina Landau)
Essence Work (Jean Sabatine)
The Suzuki Method of Acting (Tadashi Suzuki)
By staying informed on theater critique and trends via articles, conferences, and my own personal experience as a professional actor, I plan my classes based on methods that will truly prepare my acting students to the theater world in which they will soon enter.
It is my true belief that the popular psycho-analytical approaches to acting, and the realism movement as a whole, are long since out-dated, and with film and television being the more accessible medium for both arts, the theater world will, and has been, metamorphosing in order to reach a greater amount of audiences.
Recent studies on brain activity in relation to attention span states that we, as humans, loose interest after 3 minutes. This means that the modern theatre actor needs training to allow them to find ways to make these changes believable with the use of their most powerful tool: Their Body.
Methods I practice and teach are:
The Viewpoints Method (Anne Bogart and Tina Landau)
Essence Work (Jean Sabatine)
The Suzuki Method of Acting (Tadashi Suzuki)