Classes:
Going on now:
Scene Study Workshop:
Mondays 7-11pm with Bjørn Johnson (Award-Winning Actor, Director, Acting Teacher and Fight Choreographer)
A focused, intense, and safe environment in which actors are free to explore their craft, technique, and instrument. The class experience begins with a brief conversation with Bjørn regarding the work of some of our great teachers and recent insights and experiences within the industry and the actor's craft. The class then participates in an individual warm-up and relaxation exercise ("a relaxed instrument is an available instrument"). Following a short break, the class continues with prepared work: scenes, monologues, songs and exercises, gleaned from some of the great teachers of Acting.
Four classes for $150!
Classes held at Catchlight Studios (home of Kelsey Edwards Photography) on 633 N La Brea, 90036
For the following classes, sign up for an 8-week session for $250, except Beginning & Intermediate/Advanced Dance ($150 per 8-week session). All classes on-going, join at any time. Drop ins welcome for dance and movement classes, $20 per class.
Sign up for two classes and receive 50% off your second class.Meisner Technique:
Mondays 10 am-2 pm with Martha Demson (Open Fist Theatre Company Artistic Director)
Students will work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise, to access an emotional life, and finally to bring the spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to text.
The Practical Actor: Audition Technique for TV & Commercials:
Tuesdays 9:30 am–12 pm with Kevin McCorkle (The Young & the Restless, Cold Case, Lie to Me) & John Lacy (24, Big Love, Monk)
Note: on break for the month of July
A hybrid of on-camera commercial technique fused with in-the-trenches practical audition guidance and overall industry navigation.
Classical Acting Technique:
Thursdays 10a-12p with Barbara Schofield (AMDA Faculty, MA and PhD from Tufts University)
An intensive exploration of the fundamental techniques necessary for the successful audition and performance of Shakespeare’s characters, with special focus on the confident language facility (verse, prose, iambic pentameter, articulation, vocal support and heightened specificity; style work (tragic, comic and heroic size); memorization skills; and imaginative and compelling story telling. Upon completion students will have mastered at least 2 contrasting monologues for auditions, and have an in depth experience with Shakespearean scene work.
Teacher Bios
Martha Demson
Martha is the current Artistic Director of the Open Fist Theatre Company and received her principal theatrical education from Yale University and Sanford Meisner. During her tenure, Ms. Demson has directed and/or produced many award-winning productions for the Fist, including (as a director) Beautiful City (Walker), PAPA (deGroot), Abingdon Square (Fornes), Casanova (Congdon), Escape From Happiness (Walker), Vieux Carre (Williams), Flight of the Earls (Humble), God's Country (Dietz), and (as a producer) How To Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients (Visniec) (which moved to NYC and was recently remounted for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Greig) (winner of Production of the Year by LA Weekly), The Devils (Dostoevsky, adapt. Egloff). She made her off-Broadway directorial debut in January 2001 with a production of Anna Devlin's Ourselves Alone. Ms. Demson is the recipient of 4 LA Weekly Theatre Awards and 7 Drama-Logue/Garland Awards.
Bjørn Johnson
Though a working actor himself, Bjørn Johnson has been training actors for over twenty years in New York and Los Angeles. His credits include teaching on the faculties of: Circle-In-The-Square Professional Training Workshop, The Juilliard School of Drama and Opera Programs, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Bjørn apprenticed to B.H. Barry for seven years, ran Michael Kahn's private acting studio for three years and has studied with Larry Moss since 1979. Bjørn continues to work as an actor and director himself, drawing from his extensive background on Broadway, Off-Broadway, leading regional theater (Neil LaBute’s The New Testament, Light Up the Sky, Educating Rita), television (the series finale of ER, Mad Men, Dexter) and film (Beerfest, The Instrument). After coaching actors in LA for ten years, Bjørn opened his own studio in 2001. With his expertise and seasoned experience Bjørn created a unique atmosphere for his students allowing them to drop their defenses, break through to higher levels and, most importantly, teach them how to overcome obstacles and succeed in all media of acting. His refreshing style and honest feedback keep his studio growing with loyal working actors. For more information, go to www.bjornjohnson.net.
John Lacy has been a working actor in Los Angeles for over 20 years, working on dozens of network shows as well as appearing in nearly 200 television commercials. He conceived and taught the influential commercial class GET THE CALLBACK at Ava Shevitt's Village Studio and this year has been a frequent guest teacher at TALENT TO GO with Francene Selkirk and Judy Kain at Zydeco studios. His dramatic training includes the Meisner Technique in Stuart Schreiber's Meisner & Movement Workshop and scene study with the acclaimed Mark Monroe and most recently Stuart Rogers at Theatre Tribe.
Kevin McCorkle is a veteran actor with twenty-six years of consistent work in film, theatre, television and commercials. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s degree, Kevin began his career in the Atlanta market working in film, theatre and commercial projects. He soon decided to spread his wings and moved to New York where he continued working primarily in Soaps and commercials. After two years in the Big Apple moved Los Angeles and has lived here since 1985. Recent film credits include Bobby, The Island and Radio Free Albemuth, independent films Midnight Son and Beyond the Mat. On television as Gil Sherman in Cold Case, as astronaut Gus Grissom in American Dreams, The Unit, Lie To Me, and currently on The Young and the Restless as Detective Sid Meeks. In those spaces in between the shows Kevin has appeared in over 300 commercials including three years as the spokesperson for Bob Evan’s Restaurants, and frequently as Tiger Wood’s caddy (for many of the products that Tiger pitches) and lots of different companies and products. In addition to acting Kevin is passionate about teaching and producing. Currently teaching in the School of Theatre at USC, he also teaches an independent class, A.I.M. Actors In Motion at Catchlight Studios. Kevin has also been a guest lecturer at Loyola Marymount University, The SAG Conservatory and as a youth instructor at Weist Baron in New York. Producing credits include the features Midnight Son, Mic and the Claw and Hero, Lover, Fool as well as the short Solomon Bernstein's Bathroom. Currently with his production company Free Lunch Productions two features Beyond the Mat and Midnight Son are in post production. Kevin is excited to be part of the Open Fist Conservatory teaching with John Lacy, bringing a “Practical Approach to Success as a Television and Commercial Actor” to the Open Fist. Kevin is looking forward to guiding actors (beginners and pros) through the process of creating more success, joy and consistency in their acting careers.
Barbara Schofield teaches all levels of acting from beginning to advanced, including classical acting technique, period styles, audition monologue technique, directing, stage voice and theatre history. Among her many stage credits, she has worked as director or actor in New York at the Roundabout/Susan Bloch Theatre (Great Catherine with Tamara Geva), Jean Cocteau Rep.(Hamlet, Bar in a Tokyo Hotel (Tennessee Williams world premiere, Cymbeline, No Exit, The Cocktail Party, The Maids), Westbeth Theatre Center (New York premiere Riverman), The Kitchen (world premiere of Karla Barker’s Uncontrollablelements), House of Candles Theatre (Three Sisters, Romeo and Juliet, Endgame, The Seagull, The Killer ), and regionally at Boston’s Lyric Stage (The Caretaker), Tufts, Balsch Arena Stage (Merchant of Venice with Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria), Missouri Repertory Theatre (Antigone), Kansas City’s Lyric Opera (Cosi Fan Tutte) California’s Sierra Madre Playhouse(Proof) and for her LA artistic home at Open Fist where she most recently appeared in the critically acclaimed Light Up the Sky by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. She received her MA and PhD. in Theatre from Tufts University, and spent many years abroad performing in Germany and England, completing her undergraduate degree in Drama and receiving her acting training in London and Berlin. She had taught acting and stage voice at Tufts University, University of Missouri, the University of California and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she is currently a master acting teacher, director and theatre history instructor.