If you’re ready to explore your creativity, build confidence, and have fun while learning the art of acting, come join us for an exciting and inviting acting class for adults that will help you discover your inner performer! The program culminates in a final presentation at The New Vic in Santa Barbara on August 14.
June 26 – August 14, 2023
Mondays 6pm – 9pm
$400 per person 12 Student Max
Welcome to our beginner acting classes for adults! Our class is not just about learning the technical skills of acting, but also about exploring your creativity, building confidence, and expressing yourself in new and exciting ways. In this acting class, you’ll learn the basics of acting such as character development, script analysis, physical and vocal expression, and improvisation. But what sets our classes apart is our emphasis on using acting as a tool for creative self-expression and personal growth. Taught by award-winning actor/director, Brian McDonald, you will be guided through exercises and activities that help you tap into your unique creativity and develop your own voice as an actor. We believe that everyone has something unique to bring to the stage, and we can’t wait to help you discover and showcase your talents in a final presentation at the completion of the course. Most importantly, our acting class is a supportive and welcoming space where you can feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things. We know that stepping out of your comfort zone can be scary, but with our guidance and encouragement, we’re confident that you’ll build your confidence and feel empowered to express yourself in new and exciting ways.
Learn to write a 10-minute play for the stage with, professional playwright, Michael Bernard. Our course for adults will cover the fundamentals of playwriting, character development, structure, dialogue, stage directions, punctuation, and formatting.
The first and final playwriting class will meet in person at The New Vic in Santa Barbara. All other classes will be online via Zoom. On August 12, students will have completed a 10-minute play which will be distributed to directors and actors. In the final week, the student’s will have the opportunity to work with directors and actors on Zoom for two evening rehearsal session which will take place the week of August 13-18. The final day of class, Saturday, August 19, will consist of an in-person rehearsal of each play on stage at The New Vic, followed by a 2pm presentation of the plays for the public.
MICHAEL BERNARD spent 10 years as the Associate Artistic Director of The 52nd Street Project, a nationally recognized theater company that creates original theater with kids from Hell’s Kitchen New York City and theater professionals. Michael wrote, directed, and performed in many original plays at The Project. He also directed Twelfth Night, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream and As You Like It featuring teenagers and adult actors which toured to London and France. At UCB NYC Michael directed shows including The Chipperton Family Vocal-Tainers’ Shooby Dooby Dooby Hour which was an official selection of The HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen. In Santa Barbara he spent four years as the Artistic Director of Elements Theater Collective where he played King Charles/William Scott/Lady Davenant in Or, Richard Nixon in, Nixon’s Nixon, and Sorn in Stupid F-ing Bird. He also directed In a Word and ran their annual “Play in a Day” theater festival. As a Continuing Lecturer in the UCSB Theater Department he has directed Hookman, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, and The Government Inspector. He played Stephano in The Tempest, Gayev in The Cherry Orchard, and Cassius in Julius Caesar with the LitMoon Theater Company (toured to Albania, Armenia, Georgia and Macedonia for International Festivals). He played Francis Henshall in One Man Two Guvnors at SBCC and Howard in Death of a Salesman at the Ensemble Theatre Company. He is a company member of Immediate Theater, an LA improv company dedicated to the creation improvised one act plays and is featured in their film “The Long Isolation” as the evil Dr. Simon Farley. His play Diamond to Dust: A Flying A Fantasy will premiere at Westmont College in February 2023. He wrote the script for the musical revue Baseball Swing at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Los Angeles and his play A-Li-En the Family was featured in Sci-Fest, LA’s first Science Fiction Theater Festival. He was then commissioned to adapt two Neil Gaiman stories “The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds” and “The Secret of Innsmouth” for the second and third Sci-Fests. Michael co-write the original web series “Ashes to Ashes” which was an official selection of The Hollyweb festival and can be seen at ashestoashestheseries.com. He has also written for Disney, Nickelodeon, Henson Productions, Nick at Nite, DC Comics, Showtime, Spike TV, The Sundance Channel, Noggin, WE, MTV, VH1 and some commercials. In addition to UCSB Michael has taught in the Theater Program at SBCC, as well as for the Young Actors Conservatory and The Young Playwrights Festival at ETC, and at The Creative Arts Workshop.
Physical Theater is healthy for mind, body, and soul. Explore the fun basic techniques of humor, mask, and mime expressed through creative movement. No prior experience necessary, as this is a beginner’s acting class. Please wear clothing suitable for playful movement. Master teacher James Donlon’s international career spans over 50 years training Oscar winners, Broadway, Television, and Regional Theatre actors. The New York Times called Donlon’s solo performances “an extraordinary blend of skill and lunacy.”
JAMES DONLON has been a celebrated master teacher, international performer and director since 1970. He has been on the faculties of acting schools such as The American Conservatory Theater, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The National Theatre Conservatory-Denver Center, The Yale School of Drama, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, and the Oregon Center for the Arts. Donlon has presented residencies with special institutions like El Teatro Campesino, Mexico City ‘s Bellas Artes, Prague’s national Academy of Performing Arts (AMU), Dublin’s Gaiety School of Acting, and Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College where he taught Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin and Big Apple Circus clown icon Barry Lubin. He has been a film movement coach for Oscar-winners Javier Bardem, Kathy Bates, and Frances McDormand, as well as film stars Benjamin Bratt and David Strathairn. James created fight choreography for Linda Ronstadt. Among his past students are legendary Broadway musical actor Terry Mann, and Hollywood writers Peter Hedges (The Odd Life of Timothy Green), Angus MacLachlan (Junebug), and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). James is the only physical theater artist ever invited to perform with legendary San Francisco street mime Robert Shields of CBS’ The Shields & Yarnell Show. He is the first American clown to perform in the famed Teatro Dimitri of Switzerland. James has performed his original work throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America to critical acclaim. James has been awarded the Golden Hands Gloves by the World Mime Organization for his life-time achievement of excellence in the art of Mime. https://www.jamesdonlon.com/
JAMES DONLON has been a celebrated master teacher, international performer and director since 1970. He has been on the faculties of acting schools such as The American Conservatory Theater, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The National Theatre Conservatory-Denver Center, The Yale School of Drama, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-San Diego, and the Oregon Center for the Arts. Donlon has presented residencies with special institutions like El Teatro Campesino, Mexico City ‘s Bellas Artes, Prague’s national Academy of Performing Arts (AMU), Dublin’s Gaiety School of Acting, and Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College where he taught Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin and Big Apple Circus clown icon Barry Lubin. He has been a film movement coach for Oscar-winners Javier Bardem, Kathy Bates, and Frances McDormand, as well as film stars Benjamin Bratt and David Strathairn. James created fight choreography for Linda Ronstadt. Among his past students are legendary Broadway musical actor Terry Mann, and Hollywood writers Peter Hedges (The Odd Life of Timothy Green), Angus MacLachlan (Junebug), and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). James is the only physical theater artist ever invited to perform with legendary San Francisco street mime Robert Shields of CBS’ The Shields & Yarnell Show. He is the first American clown to perform in the famed Teatro Dimitri of Switzerland. James has performed his original work throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America to critical acclaim. James has been awarded the Golden Hands Gloves by the World Mime Organization for his life-time achievement of excellence in the art of Mime. https://www.jamesdonlon.com/