Nashville Rep offers Theatre Workshops

Nashville Repertory Theatre has created a collection of diverse theatre workshops for individuals with various levels of theatre experience. Each workshop is a single day session and is led by an expert in that field.

Topics range from Stage Combat to Social Media Practices to a panel of Nashville theatre producers discussing the craft. Workshop costs range from free to $30.

Workshops are open to high school age through adult, and attendees are encouraged to sign up for as many workshops as meet their interests. Find instructor bios after the workshop list.

DIALECT MASTER CLASS

Date: Monday, November 16, 2015

Time: 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Instructor: Santiago Sosa

Cost: $30

Geared towards professional actors seeking to learn how to access the International Phonetic Alphabet, this workshop helps facilitate learning how to speak in dialect and different accents. Participants gain useful tools for building helpful techniques to approaching the text. It is a launching point to the limitless possibilities for, not only speaking the text from a different region, country, or time, but also embodying it.

STAGE COMBAT: UNARMED...AND ARMED UNUSALLY

Date: Monday, November 30, 2015

Time: 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Instructor: David Wilkerson

Cost: $30

Unarmed Combat is, by far, the most common type of stage combat. Be it a fall, slap, punch, kick, shove, or hair pull, nearly every play has at least one instance of Unarmed Combat. And, unfortunately, most actor injuries occur during Unarmed Combat. This workshop teaches essential techniques and skills - allowing actors to honestly answer, "No problem," the next time a director says, "And then you fall down over there."

Plays sometimes call for acts of violence to be performed with the most unexpected of items such as phones, femurs, and frying pans. All manner of familiar objects find themselves being used unfamiliarly as characters are called to thrust, fling, or jab with the strangest of hand props. Using key unarmed concepts, this workshop throws everything at you but the kitchen sink... okay, maybe the sink, too.

X-RAY VISION FOR ACTORS:

APPLYING PLAYWRIGHTING TOOLS TO YOUR SCENE WORK

Date: Monday, November 30, 2015

Time: 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Instructor: Nate Eppler

Cost: $30

Learn to see the play the way a playwright sees it and work the scene from the inside out. This workshop provides a practical foundation in script analysis as well as an introduction to the basic tools of playwriting. Learn how to make strong, informed choices about audition sides, scenes, and full plays. By using playwriting tools to strip down scenes, the course provides participating actors with an enhanced understanding of action, character, and story that leads to more dynamic performances.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Date: Monday, December 7, 2015

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Instructor: Shane Burkeen

Cost: Free

The ability to use social media to engage people, build an audience, and promote both yourself and your product is an essential skill for any artist. This beginner-to-intermediate level class will demystify the social network by reframing the way you interact with social media across different platforms. The class gives participants practical tools to curate their social media profile, teaches them how to create content with purpose, as well as how to successfully build zero to low-cost campaigns that move audience members from the social sphere to their front door.

A FORUM: PRODUCING IN NASHVILLE

Date: Monday, December 14, 2015

Time: 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Panelists: Steve Bianchi, René Copeland, Scot Copeland, Vali Forrester, Robert Marigza, and Cathy Street

Cost: $20

Local Producers come together to share their thoughts and experiences on making theatre happen in the Nashville area. The conversation will be opened up to answer questions and discuss with participants any issues of interest. Likely topics include such things as the nuts and bolts on creating a production team, budgets and the realistic costs involved, scheduling actors and auditions, the ins and outs of finding a space, advertising and press relations. The object of the forum is to share practical information for anyone currently involved in getting shows produced or who would like to launch projects in the future.

All workshops will be held at Nashville Public Television, located at 161 Rains Avenue in Nashville.

To register for a workshop: nashvillerep.org/theatre-workshops

Instructor Bios

Shane Burkeen currently serves as the New Media/Marketing Coordinator for Nashville Repertory Theatre. He has 12 years of experience in inbound and new media marketing, graphic design, web design, and communications. Prior to joining Nashville Rep, Mr. Burkeen honed his skills in social media and marketing in the non-profit social service area, where he developed strategies to engage constituencies on a deeply personal level. Mr. Burkeen has been remarkably successful at using those engagement skills to build a nationally recognized, personal, and relevant social media profile for The Rep.

Nate Eppler currently serves as Playwright-in-Residence for Nashville Repertory Theatre and as Director of the Ingram New Works Lab. While in residence at Nashville Rep, Mr. Eppler has developed several plays including Long Way Down (3Ps Productions, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award semi-finalist 2011), Larries (Nashville Repertory Theatre 2013), and Good Monsters (World Premiere February 2016 at Nashville Repertory Theatre). Mr. Eppler is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Visit nateeppler.com for more information.

Santiago Sosa has acted with Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Nashville Children's Theatre as well as recently working on Nashville Shakespeare Festival's production of Henry V and Nashville Rep's production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as the voice/text/dialect coach. He earned a BFA in acting and directing from Texas State University and an MFA in acting from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Sosa has previously worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Players Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Door Shakespeare, Muse of Fire Shakespeare Co., Forward Theatre, Definition Theatre, and Writers Theatre-Chicago. He is the recipient of the Horton Foote award for playwriting, Robert Yeager Award for Directing, and the Advanced Opportunity Fellowship for acting.

David Wilkerson is currently Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Dramatic Arts program at Martin Methodist College. He has worked as a fight choreographer, actor, director, stage manager, and teacher for Nashville Rep, Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Opera, and Vanderbilt University, just to name a few.

Nashville Rep's 2015-16 season sponsors include The HCA Foundation of behalf of HCA Tristar, Ingram Charitable Fund, Metro Nashville Arts Commission, and Tennessee Arts Commission.

Nashville Rep is a non-profit theatre bringing classic and contemporary theatre to Nashville that inspires empathy and prods intellectual and emotional engagement in audiences. The 2015-16 season includes Rapture, Blister, Burn, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Christmas Story, Good Monsters and Chicago. The season concludes with the Ingram New Works Festival in May, a showcase of new works created in Nashville for the American Theatre.

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