Solo Performance Workshop
W. Kamau Bell & Solo Performance Workshop Present:
SOLO PERFORMANCE INTENSIVE with Director Paul Stein
WORKING WITH A DIRECTOR: Rehearsing and developing your material One on One!
December 11, 10am-1pm OR December 12, 2p-5p
As a soloist, how do you breakdown your script and adapt it to the stage? How can you make your performance engaging and vibrant? What are you looking for from a director? This workshop intensive will include performance tips, rehearsal exercises, staging techniques, and analysis of your material. Each participant will work onstage with an aspect of their craft.
Description
Taught by Paul Stein, the former Associate Producer of the HBO Workspace and currently Artistic Director of the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood, these intensives will show you how to create and make decisive choices with your show… not obvious ones.
Helpful to the beginner or experienced soloists, these workshops are for everyone from stand-up comedians to performers with more dramatic pieces. Mr. Stein’s unique look at solo performance, gained from a dozen years of working with solo shows in Hollywood and at numerous festivals, will provide perspective that cannot be missed.
Prerequisite: Please provide pages of written material for the rehearsal workshop.
Participants are welcome to purchase both blocks as they want. If you want to come to two group classes, please bring different solo pieces or excerpts from the same piece to work on each day.
About Your Instructor
Formerly, the Associate Producer of the HBO Workspace and Talent Consultant for the HBO’s Comedy Festivals, Paul Stein has coordinated, produced, directed and seen hundreds and hundreds of one-person shows. Currently, Mr. Stein is the Artistic Director of the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood, a development venue sponsored by the network. As a director, Paul has staged numerous solo shows in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, including performances at soloNova Festival, NY International Fringe, Summer Works Theatre Festival, Toronto Fringe and the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO. As an instructor, he enjoys teaching his solo performance workshop at various theaters across the country. He is a graduate of L.A.C.C. Theater Academy, Cal State University, Los Angeles; and was the Artistic Director of Moving Arts, an ensemble dedicated to producing new plays and theatre works. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild and SDC.
December 11, 2p-5p
What is a successful fringe theater show? Which Fringe Festival should I apply to? How do you create, market, and run a solo show or theater presentation at a Fringe? Find out if Fringe Festivals are a path to fame fortune from two experienced professionals. This is marketing discussion-type workshops that will offer strategy tips on how-to approach performance festivals. Helpful to the beginner and/or advanced, experienced performer.
Workshop panelists include:
Paul Stein (See Bio Above)
Antonio Sacre, fringe performer veteran of over 20 fringe festivals nationwide, presents the how and the how not to fringe, as well as asking, to fringe or not to fringe? And if you must, learn from his mistakes. Or come and tell him how to do it better.
*Not Really, but we will teach you how to not lose your shirt… or your mind.
New Fall Session starts October 2nd!
8 weeks. your story. your solo show
Founded in 2005 by W. Kamau Bell and Bruce Pachtman, in SPW you will write, develop and perform a unique and personal 15-20 minute solo performance piece in 8 sessions. You’ll work collaboratively — get loads of support — and learn a variety of writing and performance techniques. Under the guidance of an experienced facilitator, you’ll try new things and s- t- r -e- t- c -h creatively. That’s right, we’re not kidding, you’ll write a solo show in 8 weeks and then perform it, on stage, with a real live audience.
But, what if I’ve never been on stage?
But what if I’ve been performing my whole life?
What if I am a comedian, actor, musician, dancer, candlestick maker?
SPW is designed for everyone – yes, EVERYONE. Really.
| Solo Performance Workshop with MARTHA RYNBERG Saturdays: 10am – 1pm Oct 2, 9, 16, 30; Nov 6, 13, 20; Dec 4 Stage Werx Theater, 533 Sutter (at Powell), SF Final Performance: Sunday, Dec 5, 7pm Fee: $400 Register online now! CLICK HERE! ABOUT MARTHA RYNBERG (Facilitator): MARTHA RYNBERG has been collaborating with solo performers since 2006. As the original director of the W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour, “The Curve” garnered praise from nearly every major local print media source, including The San Francisco Chronicle (Four Stars), The SF Weekly (Recommended), The SF Bay Guardian (Critic’s Pick), and The East Bay Express (Critic’s Choice). Martha has been a SPW facilitator since 2008 and has supported performers featured all over the Bay Area – at Words First, the Marsh, Tell it On Tuesday, Solo Sundays, City Solo and the SF Theater Festival. She is also a co-producer of the SPW Festival of Solo Performance and the director of the up-and-coming show, DIS-ORIENTED: A trio of solo performances by Asian American women. Martha is also a writer/performer. Her own work explores the intersections of inheritance, parenting across racial lines, internalized misogyny, and adoptionism. She has been described as the creative love-child of Jim Carrey and Carol Burnett. Martha’s current work, Lady Parts is previewing in the Bay Area. |
