Classes and Workshops at Les Arts Scéniques

The fundamentals of performing that we teach, including basics of dramaturgy and acting style, are the outcome of our practical experience working onstage. Co-director, Cary Rick has, over the years, communicated these as a guest lecturer in the drama and dance departments of universities and theatre schools in the United States and Europe.

Upcoming Classes and Workshops

Techniques

The techniques that are taught include improvisational skills, rehearsal drill, the phrasing of monologues and dialogues, and principles of movement for the stage space. Aside from these basic skills, Cary Rick’s competence as a therapist simultaneously promotes each participant’s personal development as an individual.

Improvisation

Preparing roles and/or scenes requires the ability to imagine oneself in certain situations and, within this context, act spontaneously alone and with others. Improvisation is the source of personal materials that the actor then draws on to compose his or her finished performance. The technique of improvisational spontaneity has to be practiced as a stage craft.

Phrasing

Preparing a spoken monologue or dialogue in order to convey the pertinent characteristics of the character or the situation at hand not only requires the ability to organize the flow of speech, it includes the awareness of the way character development affects posture and gesture and the determination of locality within the performing space.

Movement for the stage

Performing requires the ability to plan and execute movement actions that are simultaneously clearly visible to the audience and relevant to the dramatized situation at hand. This capacity rests on the ability to plan and control postures, gestures, and spatial positions within the context of sight lines that comply with the audience’s perspective. In other words, one must be aware of how a gesture relates visually to the scenic space from the audience’s viewpoint.

Personal development

An acting class is also a social framework that can promote individual development. Our classes are thus also geared to accommodate the integration of social skills such as leading and following, taking initiative with awareness of the consequences, and the confidence needed to express oneself without fear in a self-understood manner.

Repetition

Working through a role, monologue, dialogue or scene in order for it to convey a satisfying beginning, middle and ending for the audience requires not only skill but also critical self-reflection, and the discipline of repetition.