Half-Day Afternoons
Songmaking from Experience and Metaphor
Stage Combat and Sword Play
Theater History: Yesterday and Tomorrow
Yoga for Youngsters
Discovering Shakespeare
Acting 101

The optional Theater Games Class from 4pm-6pm

Yoga at the Unknown Theater Summer Program is not only a way for kids to get a sense of the workings of their own alignment and posture, but through games, word play, physical storytelling and challenge they will learn a sense of self confidence, discipline, focus, and awareness, as well as a way to let go of stress. Each week will be a combination of standing and floor postures as well as arm balances and inversions. They will work with the teacher, individually, and with each other, gaining a better understanding of how to balance their lives and themselves (literally!) in the face of anything.

Jennifer Webster has been practicing yoga for over 9 years in both New York City and L.A. She has studied everything from Iyenger to Ashtanga. Certified, she is currently teaching over 12 classes in the Pasadena and Greater L.A. area and continues to hone her own practice as well as her teaching skills with renowned teachers such as John Friend, (Founder of Anusara), Naime Jezzeny, and Sue Elkind.

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MODERN DANCE with TRIP Dance Theatre

TRIP Dance Theatre is one of Unknown Theater’s founding partner companies, and we now add this Summer Training Program to our list of collaborations. Fusing technology, visual art, theatre, sound and martial arts -- with modern dance and contemporary movement styles such as Butoh, Wigman and release technique -- TRIP Dance Theatre draws together choreographers/dancers Monica Favand, Craig Ng, Elaine Wang, Kara Masters, Karen Ivy, Quilet Rarang, Janet Collard, and Sundara Duncan. Choreographers’ works have been performed throughout the East and West coasts and in Europe, Asia and South America. Highlights include: a live broadcast in 2001 on KCET TV's Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, performances with the L.A. Philharmonic in their Symphonies for Youth Program, and performances at the Martha Knoebel Dance Theatre, Japan American Theatre, LACE Theatre, Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Luckman Theatre.

www.tripdance.org

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PLAYWRITING with Brett Webster

Brett takes his students on a journey from the thought to the page, and the page to the stage. Through the use of word games, improv, and the imagination, he hopes to teach us that we all have strength in our voice and a story to tell.

Brett Webster's plays have been featured at Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, Hyde Park Theatre in Austin, and both No Shame Theatre and Unknown Theater in Los Angeles. His plays have recently been honored by the New South for the New Century Play Festival, FronteraFest, PlayLabs, and the Unknown Play Project. Additionally, he is the author of the children's play COCK-A-DOODLE-DON'T and the creator of the WHITE ELEPHANT PLAYS, both of which debuted at Unknown Theater last year. As a former Youth Director, he specialized in fostering arts awareness in kids of all ages. He is currently Unkown Theater's resident playwright and director of the Unknown Play Project.

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MARTIAL ARTS FOR THE ARTS with Eric Michael Halderman

This class will be structured around Martial Arts training, specifically for the young actor. With an emphasis on safety and basic foundations for using Martial Arts in artistic productions.

Eric Michael Halderman has 20 years of experience as a Martial Artist , and a Black Belt in Taekwon Do since 1989 -- a former award winning Pennsylvania Statewide competitor with over 60 major awards. He is also an expert in hand weapons, breaking, and forms. Eric works in the industry as an actor and stuntman and has trained under an extensive array of well know coordinators, martial arts instructors and film military advisors. For years he has taught full-length classes and private courses to adults and children.

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MUSIC COMPOSITION with David Permenter

Class description coming soon.

David Permenter bio coming soon

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COMEDY IMPROV with Tara Jean O'Brien

This class will introduce students to the basics of improvisation focusing on the fundamentals of teamwork and trust in creative scene building. Students will find the techniques to be helpful in acting classes as well as audition situations, but more importantly, the games and exercises introduced in class will provide a basis for each student to become more confident and trusting in his/her daily life. However, the key to getting the most out of this course is to come and have fun, and laugh ‘til it hurts.

Tara Jean O’Brien has studied improvisation at the USC School of Theater, Improv Olympics in Los Angeles, and at the British American Drama Academy in London, England. She has also been a member of the People's Republic of Improv, the resident comedy group at the Powerhouse Theater in Santa Monica, for four years. She has taught at improvisation workshops for kids presented by the Powerhouse.

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SONGMAKING FROM EXPERIENCE AND METAPHOR with Brenda Varta

In this workshop, through listening, writing, and making melodies, students will learn the basics of the developing lyrics and setting them to music for theatrical purpose. Capitalizing on strong metaphors, moving melodies and captivating rhythms, song in theatre can further elevate moments where discovery, emotion, and change converge. Students will review transformational moments in their own lives, find unique language to bring those key experiences to life within, and then create music and lyrics that fit the meaning...whether it means rock 'n roll, traditional, folk or hip hop forms. (No instrument necessary).

Brenda Varda has composed songs & theatrical scores, created sound designs, and played with several bands for the past 6 years in L.A. Her theatrical musical creations include "The Wench Upon the Stage" a full-length musical about 1660's London, a dark cabaret "The Mad Blue Demon of the Night", and the multimedia production "the Spanish Cafe". Other productions at Cut Poison and Burn, Grimm!, Crazyface, and several assorted Crime Scenes and Music Nights at Sacred Fools, along with musical direction of the 99cent Show at The Evidence Room and for Overtone Industries. At The Met she created music for Grimm Too, and Tres Grimm and the joint production of Amerikafka with Zoo District. She is also the originator and co-producer and musical director for Women's Night Out. Currently, she is the Musical Director for 24th Street Theatre, and works with students in the their After Cool Program and with the Heart Project. She is the founder and director of Wordspace in Los Feliz - a writing studio for classes and new performance works.

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STAGE COMBAT AND SWORD PLAYwith Jamieson K. Price

Without conflict there is no drama - and the best conflicts on stage and screen (we think) always include a good knock-down, drag-out fight or two (even better when swords are involved!). Theatrical combat emphasizes safety in performance, the illusion of violence in story-telling, resulting in a safe yet thrilling non-verbal scene which is appropriate for each character. This course will teach aspiring young actors and stunt people basic tumbling skills: rolling and "how to fall down without hurting yourself." The children will be given a basic introduction to swordplay and staff-work, using kid-friendly and very safe foam swords and quarterstaffs. Basic techniques for punches and kicks will also be demonstrated and students will learn how film, television and stage actors put together the intricate fights that make up so many of today's action sequences. All physical contact will be strictly supervised and controlled to ensure the safest possible learning environment.

Jamieson K. Price, with more than 10 years experience as a father and 20 years as a professional actor and trained stage combatant, possesses the necessary combination of patience, knowledge and creativity to make stage combat and sword work safe, educational and fun for kids.

Jamieson has taught combat and sword play at CSULB, Cal Arts, the summer youth program at A Noise Within, and the South Bay Conservatory.

As an actor, Jamieson juggles a career that includes voice acting in Anime (Japanese animation) and video games, teaching and choreographing combat for many Southern California companies, colleges, universities and high schools, performing on stage with the Unknown Theater and other professional companies in Los Angeles as well as making the occasional film or television appearance. He has appeared on "Frasier" and "The In-Laws" and enjoyed a dramatic death at the hands of Heath Ledger in Mel Gibson's The Patriot. Each spring he puts his stage combat training to good use as he portrays Marcus, the Roman Captain who crucifies Jesus in The Glory of Easter at the Crystal Cathedral.

At home in Long Beach, Jamieson shares childcare and chauffeur duties with his wife, Bethany. Together they manage two careers and the schedules of 16-year-old Meghan, 9-year-old Cynthia, and their 1-year-old son, DJ.

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THEATER HISTORY: YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW with Arthur Horowitz, Ph.D.

Every civilization since the beginning of time has engaged in some kind of performance. World Theater moved from primitive and ancient rituals to very different forms of performance practice in the civilizations of ancient China, Egypt, India and Africa. In this class we will follow theater's continued development from the ancient Greek theatre to the onset of our modern theater. Significant stopping places along the way will include the commedia dell'arte, Elizabethan and Jacobean English theater, right up to the ways in which theater is staged today.

We will try in this class to look at these changes and developments from our modern point of view- to show the impact of these movements, styles and traditions upon our contemporary world - to relate what happened then to what is happening now and what might happen next in playwriting, acting, movement, design and production. In short, we will try to determine how a knowledge of theater history can affect future creative work.

Arthur Horowitz is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Pomona College where he teaches theatre history, playwriting, and dramaturgy. He just completed directing Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen at Pomona-a 'site-specific' production staged in an old Physics Lecture Hall on campus. Art is the literary manager/dramaturg for Unknown Theatre, serving as dramaturg on their first two productions-J.B. Priestley's Johnson Over Jordan and Howard Barker's Scenes From an Execution. His book "Prospero's 'True Preservers': Peter Brook, Yukio Ninagawa, and Giorgio Strehler - Twentieth Century Directors Approach Shakespeare's The Tempest" was published in 2004. He just completed writing the entry on 'Drama' for the forthcoming Oxford University Encyclopedia of the Modern World. Other examples of Art's scholarly writing on theatre and performance have appeared in Contemporary Dramatists, The Reference Guide to American Literature, New England Theatre Journal, The Journal of Beckett Studies, Theatre Journal, The Independent Shavian, Ibsen News and Comment and Western European Stages. Other dramaturgy work include productions of Athol Fugard's Hello and Goodbye and T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, (both with Unknown's Chris Covics as director - Knightsbridge Theatre), Euripides' Electra (A Noise Within), Othello (Knightsbridge) and King Henry V: Crispian's Day at the Boar's Head and The Duchess of Malfi (CalArts). Art received his Ph.D. in dramatic art from the University of California, Davis, and previously taught in the Theatre Departments of UC Santa Barbara, Marymount Manhattan College and the California Institute of the Arts. Art also has more than twenty years experience as a Middle School/ Secondary School teacher.

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MASK AND MIME with Caprice Spencer Rothe
 
This class will explore "body talk" -- how we can say things to each other without speaking a word. Using "mask" characters and simple mime illusions, which are developed in class, the students will create their own silent stories.

Caprice Spencer Rothe is best known for her work as Alien Movement Choreographer on the films "Cocoon" and "E.T, the Extra-Terrestrial" in which she also appeared as "the Hands of E.T." As a professional mime and theater clown, Ms. Rothe performed and conducted workshops extensively in elementary and secondary schools throughout California and taught the advanced movement class (mask performance) for the Youth Conservatory at South Coast Repertory Theater, Mime, Mask, Movement courses at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts - West, and Long Beach City College. Caprice currently teaches Theater Arts and directs plays at St. Anthony High School in Long Beach, conducts professional Physical Characterization workshops, and is a Resident Director with the Vanguard Theatre Ensemble.

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DISCOVERING SHAKESPEARE with Angela Stern

Class Description coming soon.

Angela Stern has been acting all her life. At age 18 she began directing when she was asked to return to her High School to direct the Summer Program. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She spent several years directing theater in both Santa Barbara & Los Angeles. In 2001 & 2002 she was offered an opportunity to teach Shakespeare at Carbrillo High School through a special grant dedicated to bringing back the arts to young people. Her students performed in Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream & an evening of monologues and scenes. Unfortunately the grant was cut and no new program has been established in it's place. Angela is thrilled to work with a company so deeply dedicated to bringing the arts to our community's children.

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ACTING 101 with John Payne

John Payne was last seen as Don Quixote in Unknown Theater's Johnson Over Jordan, he also recently appeared as The Player King in Hamlet and Macduff in Macbeth directed by Armin Shimmerman with the Uprising Theatre Company of Los Angeles. He can currently be seen in the Channel101.com T.V. series The Wright Stuff as Telegram Boy and Harry Houdini. Previous roles include Vladimir in Waiting For Godot directed by Richard Schechner at the Confrontations Festival in Lublin Poland, Harpagon in The Miser directed by Beth Milles, Henry Harry in Brilliant Traces at the Edinburgh International festival. Title roles in The Swan directed by David Wheeler, Woyzeck, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Malcolm in Malcolm's Call. World premieres of Black Snow, Silence/Cunning/Exile, and The L.A. Plays at The American Repertory Theatre. Death of a Salesman with Ralph Waite at the Papermill Playhouse. Also in New York: Cassius in Julius Caesar, Paroles in All's Well That Ends Well, Garrick in Whenever I Fall at Your Feet, Anton in How Far To Jaisalmeer?, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 at La Mama, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's Tale, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, G.O.D., Good n Plenty, The Apollo of Bellac. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and The Matchmaker directed by David Feldshuh. On film, he can be seen as Gunnar in 'The Magic Stone' from Lara Classics and as Agent Gary Ladelfo in 'Cerebral Print: The Secret Files' soon to be released by Angry Baby Monkey Pictures. John is a member of East Coast Artists, is a graduate of the A.R.T. School at Harvard University, and has lectured at Cornell University.

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THEATER GAMES (Optional Class) with Vanessa Waters

The theater games class is all about play! We will focus on theater games that allow us to free our imaginations, trust one another, work as a team and have fun together. This will be a fantastic way to end each day, with a smile and wanting more theater!

Vanessa Waters has been working with children for more than ten years. She has been an employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District for the past five years, working as a teacher with children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Vanessa has also taught dance and drama for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Maria for two years. She is currently volunteering at My Friend's Place, where she works with the homeless youth of Los Angeles.

Vanessa is also an actor. She received her bachelor's degree in theater from Ithaca College and is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. She has acted in over twenty-five plays, been on television and appeared in numerous films.

Vanessa is Unknown Theater's Special Programs Director and responsible for the Outreach Program. She is thrilled to be dedicating her life to theater and children.

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