Workshop Listing

African Dance for Beginners, by Mama Yeye, Guest Artist  Learn basic dances from the African Diaspora. You will get a taste of history, rhythm and song of the dance and center floor combinations. We will focus on a different dance each session. African Dance for Everybody, by Mama Yeye, Guest Artist  We will go through dances and moves found throughout West Africa. Bring your energy, your excitement and joy! Sarongs for all of the female dancers! Afro Caribbean “Moves from the Islands”, by Mama Yeye, Guest Artist  These upbeat movements found in the Caribbean will whine your body and jam rock your soul. Wear loose-fitting clothing and bring your energy and a friend. On the islands, the women wear sarongs!

A Mirror Up to Nature, by Jessica Austgen, Colorado Shakespeare Company  For the experienced high school ‘Shakespeareoid,’ a way to uncover and discover character. Workshop focuses on how space, and audience and rhythm affect the text. Come with memorized scenes and monologues. Stage time dependent on number of participants; observers are welcome.

Improvisation from Hollywood to You! By Mike Rock, Guest Artist  Mike Rock presents a high-energy, fun, intense, fast-moving improvisational workout emphasizing communication, teamwork, cooperation and not taking things too seriously. He provides a challenging, stimulating arena for creating and learning in a non-judgmental way through theatre games and team building in an up-beat, positive atmosphere. Forget your fear, take risks, say yes, “just do it,” and have fun! Voiceovers: Can You Hear Me Now?, by Mike Rock, Guest Artist Come explore the opportunity of a career in voiceovers and learn techniques to help you land that voiceover job.

Acting in Film, by Ken Womble, UNC  In this workshop students explore the craft of film acting. Through acting in movie scenes, they experience the unique demands of film. The differences between theatre and film acting are stressed; including film acting’s emphasis on active listening and reactions.

Acting: the Active Process, by Tom McNally, UNC  A 20-year thespian tradition: Tom McNally's hands-on, fast-paced, lively workshop includes demonstrations and participation in learning acting techniques of purpose, obstacle, tactics, circumstances, relationships, character and orchestration. A special segment of the class is devoted to psychological gesture of the character. Actors Aerobic Workout, by Theresa Collins, Guest Artist  Get your day started right by moving your body and getting your heart pumping, all to the sounds of Broadway! Comfortable clothes suggested. Appropriate for all fitness and experience levels. The Actor's Tool Kit, by J. Frank Stewart, Guest Artist  This workshop is full of exercises to build solid technique. There are a number of exercises in concentration, imagination, movement and working with scripts. It is very "hands on" (everybody plays), full of games and fun. It is the recipe for finding ways to be consistently more interesting, to learn to explore your way around a play (without having to wait for the director to tell you what to try).

Advanced Commedia Technique: Part 2, by Scotty Walsh, Artiste de Cabaret  Building on the previous workshop, we now introduce techniques of tumbling, pratfalls and proper stage combat technique for bare hands, slapstick (batochio) and staff (bastone).  Classical comedy bits (lazzi) will be introduced, along with an increased vocabulary of walks and gestures.  Choreographed group actions (macchina) will be explored and group scenarios (canovacci) will be performed.

Advanced Clowning Technique, by Scotty Walsh, Artiste de Cabaret  Building on the previous workshop, we now introduce techniques of tumbling, pratfalls, juggling, balancing and partner acrobatics, as well as the theory for justifying the use of these techniques in performance. We will discuss the pros and cons of the famous red nose and its role as the smallest theatrical mask.  Here we will continue to develop individual characters and styles, avoiding the techniques used by “unfunny” clowns and focusing specifically on the question, “what makes the audience laugh?”

Alliance for Colorado Theatre and Mentor Meeting, by Jodi Papproth, ACT President  Get and share your best ideas for building your theatre program. Topics include: patron programs, fundraising, communicating with administration, recognizing the value of the sports programs, designing a show for adjudication and travel to state and national thespian events, and where ever the discussion leads us. Come learn about the support that being a member of the Alliance for Colorado theatre can bring to you and your classroom. This quick information meeting will be followed by a meeting for ACT mentors and mentees.

The Art of Play, by Kerstin Caldwell, Guest Artist  At its core, improv is about tapping into the inner child and allowing it to play. This workshop will use various traditional and non-traditional theater games to help the actor warm up, create their character, environment and objects. We’ll have so much fun, it won’t even feel like work!

Auditioning for Musical Theatre, by John Leonard, UNC  This workshop covers every area of auditioning for musical theatre, including: type, proper audition material, attire, working with the accompanist, and the other dos and don'ts.

Barbizon Lighting and Special Effects, by Kelly Van Oosbree, Barbizon  This is a hands-on session with some of the newest theatrical lighting equipment available. Feel free to experiment and play with some of the latest conventional and automated equipment that you will encounter in the professional and university settings. Learn to write a moving light cue on a Hog iPC, mix colors on the newest color-mixing scrollers and dichroics and focus a new Source Four Enhanced Definition Lens Tube!

Basics of Stage Make-up, by Maggie Cochran, Norcostco  Learn how much fun stage Make-up can be! We will discuss Make-up products, the creation of a personal Make-up kit, and there will be a demonstration to introduce special effects and character Make-up.

Build Your Musical Theatre Audition Book, by Jodi Youmans-Jones, Casper College   Certified Organic Improv, by Brian McManus, Bovine Theatre  This workshop will explore the art of ‘jumping,’ stepping into the light with absolutely nothing in your mind but readiness. We’ll examine this as a method for edits and moving improv scenes forward organically, without planning or writing out the scene in your head beforehand. You’ll leave with a greater trust in yourself and some techniques to expand this unnerving moment into a comfortable working space. Some long form experience required. Don’t think about it. Jump.

Character SLAM: Inside Out, by Lindsay Price, Theatrefolk  How do you find the character clues a playwright leaves in the script? How do you use them? In this script analysis workshop playwright Lindsay Price gives you tips, exercises, and guidelines on how to examine a play from the inside out. Learn how to build a three-dimensional character in whatever play you’re working on!

Dance Auditioning, by Laurence Curry, Guest Artist  Learn simple and easy tricks that help you learn dance moves quickly. At your next dance audition you will know how to memorize the move through association. Wear comfortable clothes; this class will have you up and practicing.

Dance:  For Your Audition Solo by Jennifer Johnson, Dance Art Studio  Do you have to prepare choreography for an audition? In this workshop you’ll learn how to construct a dance that will highlight your best attributes (limited to 40). Show them what you have in the limited time of your set audition.

How to Make Your College Audition the Best It Can Be! by Kathy Morath, AMDA  This workshop will; broaden the student’s awareness of useful material (songs and monologues); demonstrate the selection process for songs and monologues; teach audition skills that center and relax the student; present reality-based audition dos and don’ts; increase confidence, poise and professionalism in the student’s audition presentation; and workshop the skills in front of the group in a mock audition setting. Workshop will consist of a lecture, group participation and workshop, printed materials for distribution, and a general Q & A session.

Design on a Shoestring: Working with Limited Resources, by Casey Kearns, University of Wyoming  This session for students and teachers explores the approach to stage design using limited resources, time, money, facilities, and skills. No single answer is the solution. Limited resources hinder our artistic ability? No, perhaps, expand our creativity! Bring your tricks and tips to share.

Designing a Repertory Lighting Plot for the High School, by Brian Hapcic, UNC  This workshop is designed for theatre instructors who would like to develop a repertory lighting plot in their home space. If you face the common challenges of a multiple-use facility, multiple users and types of events in your performance space, or limitations in your ability to move and focus lighting instruments per production, then this workshop is for you. We will discuss the specific needs of your space and the possibilities for a repertory plot that meets the needs of all users. This workshop will also be beneficial for the student or instructor looking for new ways to use the lighting capability of his/her theatre, even if not faced with some of the challenges listed above. Please bring the following items if available: ground plan of the space, with hanging positions and circuit layout; lighting instrument inventory; number of dimmers and capacity; type of lighting desk.

Gay-Straight Alliance Resources and Connections, by Andy Lyons, GLBT Center  This is an informal workshop that will provide for an open discussion on resources and community connections that are available for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth. In agreement with the Colorado Thespian vision statement, “We believe in the value of teaching human culture, history, diversity, responsibility, and integrity.”

Hugger Mugger, by Geoffrey Kent & Erin Ramsey, Guest Artists  Shakespeare and contemporary playwrights frequently call for their characters to enter into physical conflict. This workshop introduces the basics of performing staged fights including safeties and how to be a good partner. Techniques include falling down, hair pulls and fisticuffs. This workshop is high energy.

Improvisation as an Acting Tool, by Gillian McNally, UNC  Improvisation can be a powerful tool in the classroom and the rehearsal process. In this workshop students will participate in improvisation exercises which focus on characterization, ensemble building and creating a believable “world of the play.”

In the Palm of Your Hand, by Kerstin Caldwell, Guest Artist  It is often thought that good improvisation comes from strictly being funny. This workshop dismisses that theory entirely by encouraging storytelling skills vs. joke-telling skills. By paying attention to yourself and your scene partner, you already have all you need in the palm of your hand, without having to “make anything up”. Getting out of your head and into your awareness, you’ll notice a huge change in connection and reality while feeling like you’ve just done something brilliant. And you will! This workshop is for students wanting to get past the beginning level of their improvisation work.

Introduction to Clowning, by Scotty Walsh, Artist de Cabaret  An introduction to the theory and application of clowning where we discuss and explore such difficult questions as “What does it mean to be a clown?” and important topics like, “How to avoid being a clown that nobody likes.” We will briefly cover the history of clowning and the classic clown archetypes of whiteface, auguste (rednose), contre-auguste (opposing fool). We will discuss the fundamental theory of clown, and most importantly engage in honest self-exploration, self-expression, and embracing our personal failures and shortcomings, which is sometimes painful for us, but usually very funny to others.

Introduction to Commedia: Part One, by Scotty Walsh, Artist de Cabaret  An introduction course to the Classic Italian Masked Comedy of Improvisation, which greatly influenced everything from Shakespeare to Bugs Bunny and Moliere to Charlie Chaplin and introduced such famous characters as Harlequin, Pierrot and Punch (Arlecchino, Pedrolino and Pulcinella).  In this workshop we discuss the history of the Commedia Dell’Arte, its stock characters and their respective stances, walks, and gestures.  The theory of mask is introduced, as well as the classical Italian theory of improvisation.

The Journey from Stage to Screen, by Alberto Bonilla and Kathy Koch, School for Film and Television  This interactive workshop focuses upon the often, misunderstood nature of acting in front of a camera. Communication over real space, focus, preparation and an understanding of the action, in all its forms, are discussed and demonstrated. The class will employ the use of the camera and a monitor.

Make-up Tips for Teachers, by Maggie Cochran, Norcostco  In this workshop, teachers will learn how to best utilize Make-up in a large group setting. We will discuss Make-up stations, the creation of master Make-up kits, and the basic principles of stage Make-up including special effects and character Make-up.

Making Great Improv, by Hilary Blair, Denver Center Theatre Academy  Great improvisation is not about having one clever or funny "star" but about the group working as an artistic whole. The concept of "The Group Mind" is key because all groups can benefit from increased communication, heightened awareness, and melding of the brains. Learn new games and exercises and practice old ones to bring back to your improvisation troupe.

More Matter, Less Art, by Melinda Scott, Colorado Shakespeare Festival  Using script samples from Shakespeare's plays, this workshop explores how the meter and rhythm of the text gives clues to playing a scene. Through a hands-on approach, workshop participants will discover that Shakespeare (himself an actor) provides "the player" with direction for character choices, blocking fun, challenging and illuminating work and using more-using language, word order and meter.

Musical Theatre Auditions, by Jodi Langel & Ken Steider, Guest Artists

Musical Theatre Dance – Fosse! by Jodi Youmans-Jones, Casper College  Come and learn the style of dance that took Bob Fosse and shows like CHICAGO and CABARET to the top at the Fosse Workshop. This workshop is high energy, full of fun, and deals with the real stuff! Learning everything from the traditional Fosse walk to the actual Broadway choreography of CHICAGO this workshop is worth a try. Be prepared to be tantalized and thrilled and steamed up by the time we are done.

Musical Theatre Dance: All That Jazz and The Wiz, by Bud Coleman, University of Colorado  Come prepared to sweat. We will learn choreography to All That Jazz from Chicago in the Bob Fosse style and Brand New Day from The Wiz in classic Broadway high-energy mode. Wear clothes to move in and appropriate shoes.

Musical Theatre Songs – Emotional Babble or Honest Relationships?! by James Olm, Casper College  Mr. Olm will listen to and work with students on their musical theatre audition pieces and selections, incorporating necessary relationship into their work. Limit audition selections to 16-24 bars, and be prepared to sing it memorized and without piano accompaniment. Group involvement and discussion will be encouraged.

ONE ACT: Lakewood High School, Troupe #1697, The Bald Soprano  Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano is Theatre of the Absurd at its finest. When the lives of two married couples intersect, the playwright explores the true mediocrity of daily life and the human condition. In a setting where everything is extraordinary and nothing is, The Bald Soprano will have you laughing, shouting, and wondering, what exactly is the point?

ONE ACT: Liberty High School, Troupe #4633, Scotland Road  In the last decade of the twentieth century, a beautiful young woman in nineteenth-century clothing is found floating on an iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic. When rescued, she says only one word: Titanic. The woman, Winifred, is taken to an isolated spot on the coast of Maine where an expert on the sinking of the liner, a mysterious man named John, has arranged to interrogate her for six days. His goal: to crack her story, get her to confess she's a fake, and reveal her true identity; his one clue: her enigmatic references to an unknown place called Scotland Road. In a stark, white room furnished only with a ship's deck chair, John, assisted by a skeptical doctor named Halbrech, plays a cat-and-mouse game with Winifred, probing and searching for ways to break her down. But Winifred is a formidable opponent, and as John is drawn closer to her, he becomes desperate. As time runs out, Halbrech tracks down the last, living survivor of the disaster, a reclusive old woman named Frances Kittle who has lived in seclusion for 75 years. Miss Kittle is brought to meet Winifred to test her, but the tables turn when Winifred recalls an earlier confrontation with Miss Kittle, one that took place on board the fated liner the night is sank, three-quarters of a century before. By the play's end, one of the characters is dead, all the character's identities have been questioned, and John and Winifred's shared secret is revealed as they make one final journey to Scotland Road.

ONE ACT: Air Academy High School, Troupe #4106 , The Battle of Bull Run Always Makes Me Cry  Written by Carole Real is a comical story about a first date told solely from the female’s perspective. As she explains the date to her friends, she mixes reality with her romantic ideals of what a date should be like.

ONE ACT: Air Academy High School, Troupe #4106 , A Long Walk to Forever  Written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and adapted by Bryan Harnetiaux captures a defining moment between two childhood friends. When a crossroads comes in the life of one of the friends it reminds them both of a path not taken.

ONE ACT: Alexander Dawson High School, no troupe, A Touch of the Absurd: Three non-realistic plays.  Each of these plays comically upends our realistic viewpoints. David Ives’ play Sure Thing is a series of scenes repeated with variations on each scene with hilarious consequences. His other piece Time Flies takes us into the pond of two mayflies forced to deal with their sexuality and mortality when they are informed they are only going to live for one day. The third play is the absurdist masterwork The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, a piece that influenced many playwrights who have chosen to expand on the parameters of theater. David Ives pays tribute to Ionesco regarding him as a wildly undervalued poet of the theater. Inspired by an English language text, Ionesco took the phrases from lessons in the book and combined them to make the absurd reality of the play. Thus it is really a collage of statements that creates it own poetic world that strangely mirrors our own. Hilarious, poetic, full of non-sense, Sure Thing, Time Flies and The Bald Soprano allow us to look at theater in a completely different light.

ONE ACT: Mitchell High School, Never Swim Alone

 ONE ACT: Ponderosa High School, Final Draft

 ONE ACT: Brighton High School, Writer’s Block and Bet’s on Me

ONE ACT: Alexander Dawson High School, Sure Thing, Time Flies and Bald Soprano

Pimp My Theatre, by Steven MacDonald, University of Colorado  Come armed with whatever questions you might have about production management, sound, sets, lights, and construction. We’ll even discuss computer and sound design and DMX.

Playwriting, Works in Progress, by Stephen Gregg, Playwright & Screenwriter  What is the industry looking for? How can you write that award-winning play script or screenplay?  This workshop will focus on what distinguishes playwriting from other forms of writing you might be more familiar with, especially fiction. The best way to learn it is to try it, so bring a pen! We will also have an opportunity for play writers who have something in process to work on their ideas. Bring your scripts in progress and your ideas, and visit with the script doctor to learn how to make your story unfold on the page and develop into a full-fledged script that is marketable.

Preparing a Technical Portfolio for Interviews, by Anne Toewe and Tripp Storm, UNC and Guest Artist

Preparing Students for Technical Jobs, by Opera Shop

Provoke a Play, by Taylor Pringle, Denver Center Theatre Academy  Explore the creative process of devising original theatre pieces. Learn inventive ways to generate a performance. Pick a topic, create dialogue, choreograph, improvise, and compose. Present an innovative and spontaneous performance by the end of the workshop. Make art while investigating how to take tools back to your own work.

Pursuing a Degree in Theatre Education, by UNC Theatre Education Students  Come share ideas about training to become a theatre educator with teacher candidates in training at UNC.

Real-World Musical Theatre Auditioning, by Mitch Samu, Guest Artist  With over 25,000 auditions under my belt as both a pianist and music director, I have seen almost all of it -the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. For several years I worked for Bernard Telsey Casting, NYC and most shows on Broadway as a “hired gun” piano player. This workshop will tell you the truth about what it is really like at an NYC audition when you are auditioning for the big fish, for the real kahoona. I will tell what they are saying about you, I will tell you what they are thinking, I will tell you what they will like and don’t like. And I will tell the number-one most important thing to do to prepare for any audition, anywhere, any time! It will be fun and it will be real!

Rhythm and Tap: Dance, by Jennifer Johnson, Dance Art Studio  Dance, dance, everything hinges on the basic knowledge of those crucial tap steps. Come to a workshop designed to teach you what you should already know about tapping your feet. Learn the basic tap steps every theatre student should know plus a basic skills counting tap syncopation.

The Russian Dialect, by Tracy Salter, UNC  This workshop is designed to introduce the student to the International Phonetic Alphabet (the symbols and sounds of speech). The student will then learn the substitution of sounds in relation to learning dialects.

Scholarship Opportunities (by invitation only), by Bob Johnson, EdTA Board Member

Self-Defense Singing, by Vance Fulkerson, UNC

The Scottish Dialect, by Tracy Salter, UNC  This workshop is designed to introduce the student to the International Phonetic Alphabet (the symbols and sounds of speech). The student will then learn the substitution of sounds in relation to learning dialects.

Scenic Art – Tools, Products and Techniques by Mary Lucas, UNC  This workshop will examine common (and not so common) tools used in scenic painting. Products used in painting for the theatre will also be covered. By the end of the workshop, students and teachers will be exploring through demonstrations and hands-on work to create realistic wood, bricks and marble for their own theatre productions.

Stage Movement and Mime Techniques for Actors, by Pamela Jamruszka Mencher, Red Rocks Community College  This workshop introduces acting students to concepts that enhance physical expression used in characterization, and also explores basic mime techniques. This is a workshop that gets you up off your feet and participating in the exciting aspects of combining elements of stage movement with mime.

Straight Talk about entry into the Professional World, by Frank Stewart, Guest Artist  The workshop leader has been both a professional actor and an entertainment attorney, working in the worlds of theatre, film and television for more than 25 years, and representing film, television and theatre actors, directors, writers, designers, casting directors, producers, studios, and others.  This workshop provides teachers a chance to ask any and all questions about the professional world.  If your students are constantly asking for advice about schools, cities, unions, career options, film vs. stage, and similar mysteries, this might be a good chance to ask some of those questions yourselves.

Style of Dance in the Musical Theatre World, by Jodi-Youmans-Jones, Casper College

Swing Dancing for Stage One, by Joe DeMers and Danielle Hatley of Denver Swing Club  This workshop is designed to introduce you to the basic moves and footwork for performing swing dancing on stage. You’ll learn the high-energy, fun moves of swing, plus the figures and combinations essential to all swing dancers. This class is perfect for those who have never danced before, as well as those looking for some new moves.

Swing Dancing for Stage Two, by Joe DeMers and Danielle Hatley of Denver Swing Club  This workshop will focus on the high-energy moves and footwork that make swing dancing so much fun to watch. We will teach a routine comprised of lead-able moves geared toward entertaining the audience. Improve your stage presence, self-esteem, coordination, creativity, attentiveness, and communication skills.

Tech Olympics, by RMUSITT  This workshop gives students a chance to put their skills to the test in a competition to see who is the fastest and the best at light focusing, prop changes, and costume changes.

Theatrical Jazz, by Jennifer Johnson, Dance Art Studio  Broadway jazz has been with us since the turn of the century: it can tell a lyrical story in smooth, modern movement like no other dance form. Come prepared to loosen up those joints and put your body into action. This dance class covers basic jazz turns, jumps, and choreography used in Broadway style jazz.

Theatre Teachers’ Forum, by Mona Wood-Patterson, Durango High School  Troupe directors and theatre teachers this is your chance to come together and discuss the joys and problems of our shared position in bringing high school theatre to life! Together, we can discuss our craft, share ideas for shows, help one another solve problems, or just inspire each other. Long-term Durango theatre directors Mona Wood-Patterson and Charles Ford will moderate the discussion. We need each other!

Up on Your Feet Shakespeare, by Gillian McNally, UNC  In this workshop, students will participate in movement, improvisation and test exercises that help unlock Shakespeare’s plays in fun, non-threatening ways.

Yoga for the Actor, by Theresa Collins, Guest Artist  Breath is closely tied to everything we do. Learn how to become more relaxed and focused through breathing the Yogic way. And acting involves more than just your voice. Learn how to stretch and warm up your body through yoga in preparation for the stage. Wear comfortable clothes and bring a towel or small blanket if you have one.

You Can’t Stop the Beat! – Hairspray - Dance Workshop, by Jennifer Carrabetta  Learn choreography from the hit show, Hairspray and be prepared to boogie 60s style! Dance a bunch, sing a bit, and have a blast! We will put together the entire production number, so come ready to learn! All levels welcome. Big hair encouraged.