Both Junior & Senior COMPANY, KVPAC's signature theatre club for advanced and experienced students, were offered the opportunity to attend a very special workshop for free at the beginning of 2009. On January 10th, Main Street Theatre Instructor, Alan Hutton, came to KVPAC to teach STAGE COMBAT. Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other production media including film and television. It is a common field of study for actors and dancers and is closely related to the practice of stunts.
Hutton, who also teaches the Art of Defense at the Texas Renaissance Festival every year, has functioned in the entertainment industry in Texas for 25 years. In that time, he has worn many hats including actor, stuntman, and weapons-master, as well as fight choreographer, historical adviser and pyrotechnician. While wearing so many hats, Hutton has yet to develop a ‘big head' and has been happy to pass along the knowledge he has gained over the years.
Forty-five COMPANY students attended the workshop and they found it both informative and fun. Junior COMPANY member, Greta Connolly was very glad the class was made available to her. "It is pretty cool to slap someone without ever touching a face," she said. "We learned how to make the sound of the slap and together with the right movement, it just appeared so real." KVPAC's COMPANY program is designed to give talented young people an opportunity to further their theatrical knowledge and develop their acting skills. The specific workshops help to broaden that knowledge and experience.
Interactive theatre workshops are slated exclusively for COMPANY members at no extra charge as a benefit of joining the club. The Alley Theatre Acting Workshop at KVPAC was held two weeks later on January 24th. This workshop was lead by Rob Kimbro of the Alley Theatre's Education & Community Outreach Program. It too received a terrific turn out by students, promoting group-oriented theatre exercises. Kimbro taught 3 topics: Ensemble and Trust Building- through a series of dynamic theatre activities, students learned how to deepen trust and support among themselves to facilitate effective and creative group work; Fundamentals of Acting- young actors used the fundamental tools (imagination, body, voice, and teamwork) to learn techniques to strengthen performance, communication, and cooperation skills; and Improvisation- students learned to create unique characters, build an engaging story, and strengthen problem-solving skills through the interactive art of ‘thinking on your feet‘.
KVPAC will continue to expand its professional learning opportunities to its students by partnering with other Houston theatre organizations. We look forward to the Alley Theatre and Main Street Theatre returning again next season. Alan Hutton, of Main Street Theatre, will come back the last week of summer to teach two open enrollment Stage Combat summer camps. If your child is interested in Stage Combat, COMPANY or KVPAC, please visit our website for more information at www.kvpac.org.
Cody Swiger and Caleb Cook
Abigail Cook and Jenna Mazzoccoli
KVPAC's Junior COMPANY Members
Jenna Mazzoccoli and Abigail Cook, Shelby Connolly and Jeff Boeve
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