Wilmette's Actors Training Center Partners With Chicago Dramatists On New Classes This Winter

Actors Training Center (ATC), the North Shore training center that has garnered a national reputation for training actors since 2007 is proud to announce a new educational partnership with Chicago Dramatics, the arts organization based in Chicago and has developed new plays and nurtured new playwrights since 1980. The partnership is focused on arts education with two classes at ATC in Wilmette starting Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020. These classes utilize the skills and knowledge of Chicago Dramatist-affiliated instructors to educate ATC's students in the field that are relevant to them and offer an opportunity to increase skills needed to pursue a career in their desired field.

"It is part of ATC's mission to bring the best in the business to our students and Chicago Dramatists has a long history of excellence in Chicago. We are thrilled that we can offer Chicago Dramatists' expertise in writing and creating to ATC's community of actors and artists," added Carole Dibo, founder and executive director of the Actors Training Center.

Carson Becker, the recently named artistic director of Chicago Dramatists, said, "It has been one my goals to expand our creative reach in order to share our resources. Our new partnership with ATC's dynamic staff and student body is a joyful step in that direction. All of us at Chicago Dramatists are excited to see the spectrum of original work that comes out of this wonderful pairing."
The classes being offered include:

Write Your Role

Wednesdays - 7 - 10 p.m.

Actors Training Center, 1120 Central Ave 2nd Floor, Wilmette

Classes begins Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020February 5 - March 18Final class and performances at Russ Tutterow Theatre at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave, Chicago

Taught by Pulitzer nominee and playwright John Green, Write Your Role will help future writers craft a dynamic scene that showcase themselves in roles they are most interested in playing. The new scenes will be performed on the final day of class in Chicago at the Russ Tutterow Theatre at Chicago Dramatists. "I am thrilled to be teaching at ATC in Wilmette where I grew up. The first play I ever did was Peter Pan in the basement of our house at Fifth and Washington. Since then I've pursued a life of acting, writing and song. To be able to bring all of my skills together in Write Your Role just three blocks from my grade school is beyond words." said Green.

Pitch Your Pilot

Tuesdays 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Actors Training Center, 1120 Central Ave 2nd Floor, Wilmette

Classes begins Tuesday, March 17, 2020 and runs through April 21

Pitch Your Pilot will be taught by Mary Ruth Clarke, a screenwriting and writing for television instructor at Chicago Dramatists, co-wrote and starred in the original "Meet the Parents" and co-adapted it into the blockbuster version, starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. In Pitch Your Pilot, Clarke will help students explore and flesh out ideas, build great characters, teach proper story structure and formatting. Over the course of six weeks, participants will learn how to pitch, write and rewrite pilots. "I fell in love with acting as a child and became a professional actor at the age of 16. And then, as an extension, I fell in love with writing plays, screenplays and teleplays. The disciplines inform each other. Being an actor has made me a better writer and being a writer has made me a better actor. I very much look forward to working at ATC," commented Mary Ruth Clarke.

Registration for classes is currently available at www.actorstrainingcenter.org. Classes are available to students from 9th grade to adult.