Spring Acting Classes Postponed
Out of respect for societal efforts to minimize person-to-person contact, and due to the uncertainty of many people’s schedules, workloads, finances, etc. during this time of coronavirus countermeasures, we are postponing our spring acting classes until things become more normal. We hope to bring them back in the summer or autumn.
In the meantime, check out what we had planned below. We hope to get to this same material later in the year.
Rehearsing Shakespearean Monologues & Scenes
Sundays, 4:00-6:50pm
Spring Session 1: April 5-26 (Postponed until further notice)
Spring Session 2: May 17-June 7 (Postponed until further notice)
Tuition fee per 4-week session: 90,000KRW
(See discounts on our main Shakespeare Studio page)
This class is capped at 8 participants maximum.
Course objectives:
-develop new monologues and scene material
-experience preparation and rehearsal techniques
-get individual feedback from instructors and direction for one's scene or monologue
Sometimes it's best to just learn by doing! While our Seoul Shakespeare Company casts each year have had a chance to learn through rehearsing a production, we realize that not everyone gets this opportunity, and those who do only have the chance to do it on seasonal basis. We have created this class so that actors can continue to develop their skills throughout the year by rehearsing characters that they want to explore.
Each person will choose one piece (a monologue or scene) to work on, and may additionally volunteer to be a scene partner for other people's chosen scenes. Please come to the first class with one Shakespearean monologue or scene you would like to work on (no need to memorize). (If you can email your text to us before the first class, that will especially help us be well prepared, but it is not required.) If you are undecided, you can bring a few options to the first class, but the quicker you can decide, the quicker we can get to work on it. Class time will include a vocal warmup and mainly consist of rehearsal time, working with one person or group at a time, who will receive direction from the instructors as in a normal rehearsal, with the rest of the group learning by observing the rehearsal. We normally expect to get to each person's piece every week. The amount of time spent on each piece each week will depend on the number of participants and the demands of each piece.
Over the 4 weeks, participants will typically go through a progression from first read-through and discussion, to rehearsing the piece on its feet, to taking it off the page and being fed lines (techniques we will teach), to whatever is specifically needed based on the monologue/scene and the individual actor. The final product is up to the participant; if the participant wishes to end with a fully memorized, really polished performance piece, that is great, but it is not required. The main goal for everyone is growth, whatever that means for you.
RETURN TO THE MAIN SHAKESPEARE STUDIO PAGE FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ALL CLASSES
(Location, how to register, discounts for multiple classes, etc.)
Speech of Fire's
Shakespeare Studio
Spring 2020 Acting Classes
Spring Session 1: April 5-26 (Postponed until further notice)
Spring Session 2: May 17-June 7 (Postponed until further notice)
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS:
Lauren Ash-Morgan and Michael Downey are the Founding Co-Artistic Directors of Speech of Fire and have been training actors through workshops and rehearsal techniques since late 2015, first as the heads of Seoul Shakespeare Company (SSC), and now as Speech of Fire. They served as SSC's stage directors and text coaches in 2016-2019 and have periodically taught workshops to the public, including “Movement and Ensemble Work” (2018, 2019), “Acting Shakespeare’s Text” (2018, 2019), "Rehearsing Shakespearean Monologues & Scenes” (2019), “Exploring Gugak in Theatre Training” (2018), "Gugak: Movement and Voice" (2019), and “Preparing to Perform: Strategies for Approaching Shakespeare's Text” (2016). They have also coached many actors in SSC's “Shakesperiments” workshops, which Lauren first created in 2014. Over time they have incorporated techniques learned in Prague Shakespeare Company's Summer Shakespeare Intensive, the Shakespeare Theatre Association's annual conferences, personal study and research, and rehearsal processes for the shows they have directed and coached.
Lauren Ash-Morgan recently directed The Orderly and played Susan in Garage, co-produced in rep by Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire this past autumn. Last year she directed, designed, and produced Seoul Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear, and she is the former Artistic Director of SSC, serving as SSC’s Artistic Director, producer, and costume designer in 2014-2019 and actor/board member since 2011. Lauren's acting credits include Prague Shakespeare Company's The Two Gentlemen of Verona directed by Ben Crystal at the Estates Theatre (Silvia/Ensemble); Seoul Shakespeare Company’s The Merchant of Venice (Portia), Garage (Susan), The Winter’s Tale (Paulina/Time/Bohemian), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), Titus Andronicus (Tamora), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Hamlet (Gertrude), The Tempest (Alonsa), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Lady Macbeth, Trinculo, Gertrude, Tamora, Desdemona) and Shakespeare's Gore and Madness (Portia, Queen Margaret, Gertrude); Probationary Theatre Company’s Popcorn (Farrah), Betrayal (Emma), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Martha); Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard III (Queen Elizabeth) at the National Theater of Korea; and the independent feature film Amiss. She also directed the 2013 Seoul run of The Orderly and the short play Best Interests for Seoul Players' 10-Minute Play festival, and served as movement/ensemble coach for SSC's King Lear and the 10-minute play Trumpus Rex. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (Voice) from Ithaca College and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology, specializing in Korean traditional music and dance, and has studied and performed pansori, Korean traditional dance, and gayageum, in various capacities, since 2005, often using these techniques in theatre performance. Lauren is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.
Michael Downey played the title role in Seoul Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear last year and recently directed Garage and performed his solo play, The Orderly, co-produced in rep by Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire. He served as Seoul Shakespeare Company’s regular stage director in 2016-2018, directing The Merchant of Venice, Garage, The Winter's Tale and Much Ado About Nothing, and also wrote and directed the short play Trumpus Rex last year for Seoul Players’ 10-Minute Play Festival. Other directing credits include A Circular Play by Gertrude Stein and New Year’s Eve by Dave MacGregor. He first joined SSC as a leading actor in 2010, appearing in Macbeth (Macbeth), The Tempest (Prospero), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Peter Quince), Titus Andronicus (Titus Andronicus), and Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Macbeth, Claudius, Titus Andronicus). In 2018 he appeared as Octavius Caesar and the Soothsayer in Prague Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar at the Estates Theatre in Prague. Other acting credits in Seoul include Betrayal (Jerry), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), The Real Inspector Hound (Magnus), and Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Richard III (Clarence) at the National Theater of Korea. Michael trained as an actor at the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts and holds an M.A. in Drama Studies from the University of Auckland. In New Zealand, his theatre credits include Coriolanus, Oedipus the King, and Attempts on Her Life. Onscreen, he has appeared in Power Rangers, Shortland Street, and Xena: Warrior Princess. He co-founded The Rebel Alliance Theatre Company in 2006, their debut production being his solo play The Orderly, which toured New Zealand, was adapted for radio by Radio New Zealand, was revived in Seoul in 2013 and 2019, and is now in Speech of Fire's performance repertoire. In 2007, his play Aroha won the SmackBang PlayRight award and enjoyed a two-week season at the Herald Theatre. Michael is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.
“Consuming culture is never as rewarding as producing it.”