Primary Stages ESPA

June 24, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

Wednesdays from 7:00pm – 10:00pm ET

via Zoom

NEW STUDENT RATE: $320

RETURNING STUDENT RATE: $300

Whatever the project, the job of any creator is first rooted in the text. Being able to delve into and interpret a text regardless of genre is key to creating your work – and for a theater-maker of any discipline, it gives a solid foundation that is then brought alive in the design and rehearsal processes. Led by director John Gould Rubin, you’ll approach each text from a director’s perspective, taking a holistic look at the work to understand the needs of all artists involved.

This class might be for you if you:

• Are an artist of any discipline looking to better understand how to approach text in order to enhance your own craft.
• Wish to refine your technique as a theater artist by focusing on the pre-work with the text that is required to create your vision.
• Want to hone your skills in theatrical collaboration.

In this class you will:

• Work on a different genre of text each week, such as Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen, Chekov, Beckett, Hnath.
• Prior to class, you will be given a play to read from that week's genre.
• In class, you will take one scene from that play and break it down together – looking both at how to break it down from the perspective of a director in terms of the scope of the work and also how to break it down for actors.
• Within the session, John will direct class members in the table work of this scene to elucidate how to break down the language.
• Discuss each week how to approach that specific genre of play so this work can be applied to any project.

By the end of this class you will:

• Understand how to effectively analyze and break down any text – both for the project as a whole and for the actors in the rehearsal room.
• Be able to focus on language in your table work – as a director communicating with actors, as an actor approaching the text, as a designer creating collaboratively, and as a producer looking to showcase the work.
• Know how to approach multiple genres of work, making you a more facile artist.
• Possess the tools to approach any pre-production process with confidence.

Learn more about John here.