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Solo Performance: Transcribing the Soul

Course dates

July 1 to July 14, 2019

Application deadline

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO JUNE 10​​

Discover the story you have to tell, and own your voice boldly enough to tell it. Unlock your creativity not only for solo performance, but also for every other aspect of your creative self!

  • Create a solo play from your own lived experience.
  • Write and perform from your soul.
  • Study with solo performance experts who have collectively helped hundreds, if not thousands, of performers unlock their voices as creative performing artists.
  • Learn the steps to produce your own solo work.
  • This course will culminate in a public performance of student work-in-progress/process.

man preforming in front of an audience  

COURSE NUMBER/CREDITS

Undergraduate: DRAMA 423, 3 units
Graduate/post-baccalaureate: DRAMA 623, 3 units

MATERIALS FEE

None

WHO SHOULD APPLY

This course is designed for undergraduate and graduate students, former students, students of life, professional actors, and other performing artists interested in discovering and honoring the personal stories they have to tell. Artists interested in integrating breath, voice, movement, and personal story should definitely apply. Performers seeking help in knowing that the stories of their lives are worth embodying and telling in front of an audience, apply!

HOW TO APPLY

  1. Submit a resume, photo (headshot or snapshot is fine, too), and two names and email addresses for professional/educational references. Also, please submit a letter of interest (why you’re interested in this course at this time in your training/career) and a link to a brief video of interest (please include the link to a YouTube or Vimeo page on your letter of interest—do not submit a full video file). About the video: It’s casual. You can speak directly to the course coordinator, Andrea, about why you’re interested in this course and why you would be a good fit. Why the letter and video: Andrea would like to get to know your written and your spoken self as this course incorporates both.
  2. Submit/upload the materials listed in step one when you apply online by April 29, 2019.

COURSE COORDINATOR

Professor Andrea Caban
562-985-7893


Guest Artists

Andrew Belser

Andrew Belser - www.andrewbelser.com, https://adri.psu.edu/

Andy is the Director of the Arts & Design Research Incubator, a studio laboratory where artists and designers join with scientists, writers, philosophers, and others to research and create artistic projects for national/international venues. He was the founding Artistic Director of The Gravity Project, a professional theatre company, international performance research center, and new work incubator. Andy’s teaching and directing career has centered on devising new work and revisioning classics, movement forms, voice/breath work, interdisciplinary theatre approaches, and solo work. He is the director of Michelle Krusiec’s award-winning solo play Made in Taiwan, and the producer/director of FaceAge, a multi-media installation and series of documentary films exploring aging questions in cross-generational interactions. Andy is currently Professor of movement, voice, and acting in the MFA Performance program at Penn State University.

Jennifer Conley Darling

Jennifer Conley Darling - http://www.jcdarling.com/

Jen is the President of Darling & Company Theatrical and Event Management and is a live event producer and consultant specializing in live event production and theater. Jennifer has worked with large scale music festivals, universities, a national trivia game show, Off-Broadway and independent theater companies, regional performing arts centers, film festivals, art galleries, event production companies, and TV and film companies. She is the Producing Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective, an award-winning, non-profit new play development company in NYC that produces the longest running solo play festival in the US, the soloNOVA Festival. Jen is also a founding member of the League of Independent Theater, an advocacy organization for independent theater companies in NYC.

Amani Dorn

Amani Dorn - http://www.amanidorn.com/

Amani is an actor/singer/dancer/teacher from Austin, Texas. She received an MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine and has 14 years of professional experience performing in plays, musicals, TV, film, and stunt shows. She got her start performing in musicals in Austin while an undergrad at the University of Texas, and has since performed in a broad range of productions across the U.S. and the U.K. She has also taught courses in acting, voice, movement, text analysis, and audition technique to students ranging from elementary school to college. She is currently Certified Teacher in Knight-Thompson Speechwork and a Resident Artist at PCPA, teaching Second-Year Movement and performing in main-stage shows.

Kayla Kearney

Kayla Kearney - https://youtu.be/-DmtSKaZLGM

Kayla is an actor, singer, teacher, and LGBTQ+ activist from Santa Rosa, California. Kayla received her BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Long Beach, where she worked on multiple plays, projects, and new works surrounding gender and the queer community. One of the shows, S/He and Me, moved to the Renberg Theatre at the Lily Wagner/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center for its LA premier in 2017. Currently, Kayla is a 2019 MFA Acting Candidate at the University of California, Irvine, where she trains with some of the best teachers in the country and participates in state-of-the-art productions of classic and new works. Kayla has continued her work devising and writing queer+trans works at UC Irvine by co-establishing a queer theatre group, and producing a piece with an all queer+trans creative team.

Robert Lee Hart

Robert Lee Hart - https://www.drama.yale.edu/training/acting/

Robert is a Hawthorne, California native deeply dedicated to transmuting the stories of his upbringing into honest and challenging solo works for the stage. Robert is a second-year MFA candidate at Yale School of Drama, where his credits include The Seagull and Marty and the Hands That Could. His other credits include The Duchess of Malfi, Macbeth (California State University, Long Beach); The Laramie Project, Flowers for Algernon, and Electric Roses (El Camino College). Robert is a proud alumnus of CSU Summer Arts.