Olney Theatre Center - Education & Families - Residencies, Workshops and Classes

TechFest 2008

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Returning by popular demand, TechFest is a weekend intensive workshop for teachers and students in Technical Theater. Taught by Olney Theatre Center’s production staff, students rotate through our shops, learning a variety of basic skills and techniques to aid them in mounting their school productions. Participation Fee: $40 per student.
Click here for a registration form.

High School Multi-Cultural Performing Arts Festival

Click on the below links to find out more information on this new program.

Festival Basic Info
Festival Application Instructions
Festival Application Form
Festival Guidelines

National Players Residencies

With the support of the Maryland state Board of Education, Olney Theatre Center for the Arts has developed a network of Educational Connections to engage students in the excitement of live theater and to involve them in the creative process. Through our touring company, the National Players, and the work of our teaching artists, professional performances of the world’s great dramatic literature and challenging creative writing workshops are accessible to students in every school district in Maryland. Many of Olney Theatre Center’s Educational Connections can reach, inspire and excite your students as well.

The National Players bring literature to life in special 90-minute matinee versions of the works of Shakespeare and other classics. Nearly every student performance in Maryland is preceded by a workshop and followed by a lively post-show discussion of the play with the acting company. Teachers are provided study guides and other resource materials in advance to help enrich the performance experience.

National Players Workshops and Classes

National Players workshops are a unique way to bring actors and audience together before or after a performance. The company is composed of experienced, young professionals trained and educated in the art of drama and the skills of theater. We have found that workshops should be customized to fulfill the needs of the specific audience with which it will interact. Differences in age, interest, education and experience demand a degree of flexibility. We believe that sponsors should evaluate the workshop participants to offer them the best possible experience.

If space permits, workshops are most successful in smaller groups of 20 to 40 students. With large groups, the acting company can divide itself into up to six units in order to serve between 120-240 students. Workshops last approximately 45 minutes.

Topics

ACTING/ACTOR PREPARATION - Company members engage students with preparatory exercises that actors use to warm-up for performances. By leading students through physical, vocal, and mental warm-up games, the students gain a greater appreciation for acting and for theatre craft.
SHAKESPEARE!- National Players can create a variety of different Shakespeare workshops. Whether your students need a better understanding of the basics of Shakespeare's plays or a more in depth exploration, National Players can create a workshop that meets your needs.
STAGE COMBAT - A specialty workshop in the rudiments of illusion and the techniques of physicalizing effective stage fights. Players demonstrate the techniques of stage combat: hand-to-hand and sword fighting. Students are instructed in the basic elements and safety precautions used in stage fighting.
VOICE AND MOVEMENT - Often conducted with the acting workshop, Players demonstrate various exercises they use to keep the voice and body in performance shape. Basic stage movement is demonstrated. Participation of the students is determined by the size and interest of the group.
SCENE ANALYSIS - Designed for the classroom, Players discuss the particular play to be performed. They demonstrate various scenes and discuss interpretations. This workshop is arranged and planned to introduce the students to a live performance of a classic.
THE NATIONAL PLAYERS EXPERIENCE - The company engages students in a discussion of all aspects of their work with the company. This workshop is particularly helpful to students interested in the professional theater. Discussion includes education options and early professional opportunities. Players can also provide workshop discussions with large audiences, giving the entire group the ability to interact with all members of the acting company.
POWERPLAY - An interactive playwriting workshop designed to prepare students for live performance by teaching the basic elements of dramatic structure and engaging them in the creative process. Through a series of exercises and improvisations the students write monologues and short scenes that are then brought to life by the actors in the company. PowerPlay provides the students interaction with the Players prior to the performance, gets them excited about the show they are going to see and puts them in touch with their creativity.
TECHNIQUES OF POWERPLAY - Teacher training workshops empower classroom teachers with new tools to help them reach requiredachievement goals in a variety of curricula, including English and language arts, fine arts, history and social studies.
IMPROVISATION - A favorite among students! Players engage your students with improvisational exercises and games designed to encourage your students' imagination and self-confidence. While participating in this workshop students learn basic improvisational skills.
PLAYWRIGHTS-IN-PROGRESS - Veteran National Players serve as artists-in-residence in a semester-long series of classroom writing and improvisation workshops and mentoring sessions that lead to the development of student-written plays.

For more information, please call 301.924.4485 X115.