Saturday and Sunday July 22 and 23, 2023 10am – 4pm Tuition: $600 Per Person. 16 Students Max.
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. 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/
Sunday, July 9 from 1pm-4pm $200 per person 16 Student Max.
Discover the magic in masks for the stage actor. Learn to focus energy, gesture, and emotion to create colorful characters. Masks provide the spark for invigorating physical and mental exercise in a fun, imaginative, and healthy process. No prior experience necessary. 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/
10-week course culminating in final readings on the New Vic Stage. Ages 20 and up
June 17 – August 19, 2023
Saturdays 9am – 12noon In-Person and on Zoom.
$800 per person 12 Student Max.
Learn to write a 10-minute play for the stage with, professional playwright, Michael Bernard. This course will cover the fundamentals of playwriting, character development, structure, dialogue, stage directions, punctuation, and formatting. Students will complete a 10-minute play that will be read by actors on the New Vic stage 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.