BSX Theatre Thrills and Skills

BSX Theatre Thrills and Skills Classes

From Term 1 of the 2008 school year onwards, Black Swan Theatre Company’s BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills Development Courses will be endorsed by Western Australia’s Curriculum Council. This means that participation in the BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills courses will earn secondary students points towards Secondary Graduation.

BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills classes are an intensive series of performance classes for people 16 years and over. Four courses, each about 10 weeks in length and in line with DET term dates, will be offered throughout 2008. Each course has a different focus and methodology associated with it and is lead by a leading West Australian professional artist.

Classes will be held weekly on a Thursday evening from 7pm – 9pm, and each course will conclude with a showing of work for family and friends in the Black Swan Theatre Company main rehearsal room. To keep the classes intense, numbers will be restricted. Black Swan recommends prospective participants book early to avoid disappointment.

Black Swan’s Education Manager, Lorraine Scorer said, “We’re absolutely delighted to have gained Curriculum Council endorsement for the BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills classes. Drama education is a major strategic focus for Black Swan, and this endorsement is a further step in our productive cooperation with the Curriculum Council and our positive relationships with Western Australian secondary schools.”

For more information please contact the Office Administrator on (08) 6389 0311, or email information@bstc.com.au.

Term 1: Production Design

Join up-and-coming set & costume designer, Brad Reid for a nine week program giving students a unique insight into the creative design world of Theatre.

Course 1: Production Design
Every Thursday 7pm- 9pm
7 February – 3 April 2008
Location: Old Masonic Hall, 6 Broadway, Nedlands
Tutor: Brad Reid
Cost: $180 including GST for a 9 week course and model making kit

With unprecedented access to the resources of Western Australia’s Flagship Theatre Company, this practical course will allow participants to experience first-hand the designer’s role within the theatrical production process. Over the nine weeks students will create their own individual set & costume design presentation.

Budding creatives will have the opportunity to:

• Take on the role of Designer & practice aspects of design within a theatre environment.
• Attend an interactive briefing addressing the relationship between Director and Designer with input from one of WA’s leading theatre directors.
• Develop an original concept into a working set & costume design.
• Learn and apply model-making techniques in order to create a set scale model.
• Take a tour of wardrobe and participate in a briefing with Sara Walker, Black Swan Theatre Company’s Head of Wardrobe.
• Take a sneak peak behind the stage of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Have a walk through the space, & uncover the reasoning behind a multitude of design decisions.

Term 2: Improvisation - A Tool for Actors
Applications Now Open!

Improvisation can unlock the actor and free them up to explore characters, narrative and connections. The course will look at spontaneity, creativity, character generation, scene building, narrative structure and having a laugh.

If you missed out on our improvisation workshop last year, Sam Longley, one of Perth’s finest actors & comedians and Artistic Director of ‘The Big Hoo-Haa’ is back for our Term 2 Thrills & Skills Course.

Course 1: Improvisation
Every Thursday 7pm- 9pm
1 May – 3 July 2008
Location: Old Masonic Hall, 6 Broadway, Nedlands
Tutor: Sam Longley
Cost: $185 including GST for the 10 week course

If you have ever dropped a line and found yourself blank, been asked to go off script in an audition and panicked or had to think quickly so as not to get busted by your parents, then improvisation is a tool you need.

Improvisation is the art of making stuff up. Actors often get bound to scripts and lost in text interpretation and they forget to create. Improvisation can unlock the actor and free them up to explore characters, narrative and connections. The course will look at spontaneity, creativity, character generation, scene building, narrative structure and having a laugh.

Term 3: Non-Naturalism

Some of the greatest theatrical literature was never meant to be played realistically. Heightened characters, absurd circumstances and surreal imagery are some tools used in non-naturalist theatre. The course develops skills in textual analysis, physical characterization and introduces participants to the areas of absurd theatre, epic theatre and theatre of cruelty.

Join Andrew Hale, who will be on stage at the Playhouse Theatre as Cyrano de Bergerac in October for our Term 3 BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills workshop.

TUTOR: Andrew Hale
WHEN: Every Thursday 7pm- 9pm
DATE: Thurs 24 July – Thurs 25 September
WHERE: Old Masonic Hall, 6 Broadway, Nedlands
COST: $185 including GST for the 10 week course

Non-naturalism in the theatre exposes us to new ways of seeing and understanding ourselves and our reality. Symbolism, repetition and the manipulation of the audience expectations are some of the tools used in non-naturalistic performance.

This BSX Theatre Thrills and Skills workshop introduces participants to the use of non-naturalistic language, imagery and performance styles of the theatre of the absurd, the theatre of cruelty, and unlocks the potential of the subconscious as a creative tool.

Secure your place in Non-Naturalism now by downloading a BSX Theatre Thrills & Skills Non-Naturalism Enrolment Form and return to us by fax (08) 6389 0322; post PO Box 3232 Broadway PO Crawley, WA 6009 or email information@bstc.com.au.

Start date: Thursday, 24 July 2008
Duration: 10 weeks

Please be advised that enrolments close 5pm Monday 21 July 2008.

Term 4: Shakespeare

Shakespeare shouldn’t be daunting! This course is designed to help participants understand Shakespeare’s work with greater ease. Discover ‘verse’ as an actor’s tool, understand Shakespeare’s demands on muscular and physical performance and explore some of his monologues and scenes.

Start date: Thursday, 16 October 2008
Duration: 10 weeks

Rave Review

What one of our participants, Jennifer Forlonge, had to say about our BSX Theatre - Thrills and Skills Improvisation Workshop:

"With a swing in my step I attend my last day of work for the year today. I can not attribute my heady wistful demeanour to next week’s potential over eating, consumerism or sleeping in, but to the completion of “Improvisation: Tools for actors” or as we knew it the “Sam Longley is an Impro God...(and he’s really really tall)” Improvisation programme. I feel privileged to have participated in this programme which culminated in last nights “Please laugh at us because we are your friends and this is free” one night only show.

Sam Longley delivered innovative, intriguing and inspirational classes on a weekly basis leaving me looking forward over the last 10 weeks, not to the weekend, but to Thursday nights. The two hours at the quaint Masonic Hall in Nedlands with its quirky automated bathroom lighting has been the highlight of my week with class seeming to finish too quickly, too early, too soon – I am sure someone can blame day light saving for that too. I enjoyed classes so much I even arranged a recent overseas trip around Thursday night’s!

I am poking Santa this morning with a new Christmas wish list – I hope he is his checking facebook. No ipod, Prada handbag or over priced bath products, all I want for Christmas is more Impro. Please Santa can we have more…"

Jennifer Forlonge
Lover of impro and all things ad hoc