Diploma Program in Performing Arts | Acting

• This overview course introduces students to the complicated world of performance as seen through the history of theatre.

• Through expression, articulation and adjustment, students will learn the importance of vocal training. With the combination of breaking habits, breath work, exercising various muscles and resonance, students will learn how to nurture their vocal instruments.

• Introducing the fundamentals of acting through various exercises. Basic techniques are presented, with an emphasis on listening and responding, which form the foundation of the craft.

• Students develop an awareness of the body as an instrument of communication so that it will be properly tuned and trained. The focus is on flexibility and breaking down physical inhibitions.

• Focusing on learning to work with a camera set-up, including green screen for film, and various TV styles of shooting—sitcoms, soaps and commercials.

• Through a variety of theatre games and exercises, actors will learn the importance of storytelling, listening and staying in the moment.  By freeing their inhibitions, students will develop tools to both trust their instincts and gain the trust of fellow actors.

• Exposing students to the diversity of films from around the globe, highlighting foreign film industries and the heritages of well-known actors from many different countries.  Students learn how films and acting influence societies in countries that play an important role in international film.

• Voice meets text in this course, covering a more advanced study of speech designed to help develop the skills for performing classics and modern dramatic literature, with an emphasis on freeing the natural voice.

• An examination of Stanislavsky’s techniques. With a combination of sense memory and imaginative work, students will grow to understand the importance and utilization of intentions in given circumstances.

• A more advanced study of movement in both theater and film.  Students explore a variety of relaxation, centering, stylizing and imagery exercises designed to increase body awareness and expressiveness, and skills are developed in ensemble, mime, mask and physical comedy .

• Acting on camera as an acting practicum.  Working in conjunction with the filmmaking program, students will be required to audition for and act in student projects, and are required to have lab time to rehearse outside of class.

• Scene improvisation through advanced theatre games and exercises.  Students will learn to rely on their impulses while listening and staying in the moment.

• Students will study scenes from published plays and screenplays, allowing them to learn the basic concepts of approaching a scene—breaking scenes into beats, defining and pursuing objectives, understanding the arc, playing actions and overcoming obstacles.

• An advanced course where movement and voice come together as students learn how to implement voice and movement training in relation to specific performances, to maximize the effect of a role with vocal and physical choices.

• Through the study of select plays and scripts, students learn techniques for analyzing, interpreting and conceptualizing structure, in a tactic vital to all actors and directors.

• Students plan and prepare for their final projects.  In pre-production for their one-act plays and demo reels, students will work one-on-one with a mentor to pick the right material.

• As a continuing effort to build their reels and develop versatility, students will once again be asked to audition for and act in a student-produced project in the filmmaking curriculum.

• Continuing to work on scenes from plays and screenplays, allowing students to thoroughly practice the techniques developed from previous acting and scene study classes.

• Further scene work, enriching the techniques developed from previous acting and scene study classes.

• Focusing each student on finding the right monologue and developing it into a professional-level performance.

• A final chance for students to add to their reels and get comfortable in front of a camera by auditioning for and acting in another student-produced film.

• Students will complete scene work from plays and screenplays and practice the techniques developed from previous classes.

• The final Thesis Project for students in the Diploma Program.  Students are expected to have an acting demo reel edited by a filmmaking student.  Actors will also be required to rehearse and perform a two- or three-character play in front of a live audience.