Master Class Series
Since 1999, the Actors' Training Project of Oakland, CA, has sponsored a broad series of master classes and visits with dynamic artists who are working around the country and abroad. All of these extraordinary visitors are interested in the integration of acting, voice and movement skills that is the particular work of the Actors' Training Project; they also have a wide range of other profession-related interests and areas of expertise. Informal videotapes of all of the sessions are archived for student viewing. The Master Class Series has engendered exciting performances, collaborations and projects, both trans-national and trans-continental.

Andre Bernard: Teacher of Ideokinesis, Creative Body Alignment
H.S. Shivaprakash, Ph.D.: Poet and Playwright
Kunsu Shim, Gerhard Stäbler: Composers
John McConville, M.Div.: Dancer, Choregrapher, Teacher, Director
Anna Hadzi: Actress and Producer
Michele Cuomo, MFA: Director, Actress, Dancer, Teacher
Nathan Thomas, Ph.D.: Actor, Director, Composer, Teacher, Scholar
Bill Smith, MFA: Teacher, Director, Filmmaker, Writer, Actor

November 1999
BILL SMITH: TEACHER, DIRECTOR, FILMMAKER, WRITER, ACTOR
Please welcome the incomparable Bill Smith, Founder (in 1983) and Director of Denver's important The Acting Studio (TAS). Mr. Smith's longtime Acting mentor was the legendary Bobby Lewis, a founding member of two of America's most influential theatre phenomena: The Group Theatre and the Actors Studio. Bill also received years of mentoring in Voice work from the eminent Cicely Berry, Voice Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. He brings to his teaching years of study with a host of other seminal teachers, including Stella Adler, Jerzy Grotowski, Moshe Feldenkrais, Richard Birdwhistell and many more. He earned an MFA in Directing from Ohio University, and taught conservatory Acting at both Cornell University and Pomona College. He is a Master Teacher of Arthur Lessac's system of vocal training, and also draws from aikido and hatha yoga.

Bill Smith (SAG, AFTRA) boasts three decades of stage and film credits as actor, director, writer and producer. Along with a lifetime of stage work, he performs in films, commercials, industrials and voice-overs. He was Artistic Director of both Ryor's Cabaret and TAMRAC Theatre (Titus Andronicus Memorial Repertory Acting Company). Bill also writes plays and training videos, and his articles can be seen in all of the major stage and film publications. In 1997, Bill wrote and produced a short film entitled Pulse, for which he directed actors from his own training Studio. In June of 1999, the film was entered in the Short Film Division of the major national juried competition known as the Colorado Independent Film Festival—and went on to win the award for Best Film overall.


SATURDAY, NOV. 20 10:30 TO 4:00
Everything You Wanted to Know About Iambic Pentameter But Were Afraid to Ask

This is Bill's popular master class in Verse Acting and Performance Style. We will choose a Shakespeare monologue, soliloquy or sonnet for you to work on ahead of time; you will have Bill's handouts with tips for working on your own with this kind of material. A good foundation for an audition piece. Also includes Bill's superb floorwork! Lunch break 1:00 to 1:30; please bring your lunch.


MONDAY, NOV. 22 6:30 TO 10
Ibsen's A Dollhouse: Approaches to Rehearsal

Bill will introduce us to his signature techniques known as "Talking and Listening" and "Inner and Outer Actions." This rehearsal will include approaches to finding basic dynamics and uncovering unique choices. We will be working from the opening scene of A DOLLHOUSE in the Michael Meyer translation. Warm-up (team-taught) and handouts included. Some prior preparation required.


TUESDAY, NOV. 23 6:30 TO 10
Acting For the Camera

Focus on cold reading, simulating on-camera audition technique (:30 second spots, short monologues and a few 2-person scenes,) with adjustments for close-ups, mediums shots, full-frames, master shots and "multiples" (more than one person in the frame.) Prior handouts. Suggested reading: ACTING FOR THE CAMERA, by Tony Barr.