Free workshops will be held throughout the upcoming Somerset Community College (SCC) theatre season, with the first being held on Monday, September 12 at 7 p.m. The workshop falls just before the college’s presentation of short films at the Eighth Annual Autumn Shorts Film Festival on Thursday and Friday, September 15 and 16.
SCC TO OFFER FREE THEATRE WORKSHOPS
Somerset Community College will host a series of theatre workshops open to the public during its upcoming season. These workshops will be free of charge and will offer a variety of subjects to theatre enthusiasts of all ages.
The first workshop is entitled Learn Your Lines and will be held in Stoner Little Theatre on Monday, September 12 at 7 p.m.
SCC Theatre Director, Steve Cleberg, will conduct this workshop that will offer a proven technique for efficient line learning.
“Most actors see line memorization as that nagging, tedious routine that takes place between the first off-book rehearsal and their performance,” said Cleberg. “It’s a dreaded practice that often leads to procrastination, dismay and even panic. Many actors resign themselves to the fact that struggling with their lines is all part of the process. The fact that they manage to survive only encourages continued practice of haphazard and inefficient approaches to this important part of acting.”
This workshop provides a technique that, once mastered, will make the effort actors put into their approach to acting pay off earlier and more deeply than ever before. You will become an actor who takes pride in your ability to “own your lines” early in the process.
On Monday, November 21 beginning at 7 p.m., a second workshop will be offered at Stoner Little Theatre. Anyone who would like to learn about improvisation for the theatre is welcome to attend The Harold. At this workshop, participants will learn about the basics of improvisation and how they lead to one of the most exciting performance structures. If you’ve always been intimidated by improvisation, these sessions will show you techniques that will lead you to embracing the form and learning how working in this structure can improve your acting skills in scripted plays. You may also see how learning this skill makes other aspects of your life more manageable.
In the winter of this season, Steve Cleberg will conduct a workshop session entitled, What Shakespeare Teaches Playwrights about Acting. This workshop will be an exploration of how the greatest playwright of the English speaking theatre not only wrote beautiful poetry but also wrote a kind of “music for actors.” See how Shakespeare structured his speeches, lines and even his syllables in a way that translates words into stage-worthy actions. Learn how, as a playwright, you can employ the same devices using your own unique style of writing. This session designed is for playwrights, actors, and theatre audiences alike.
FILM FESTIVAL COMBINES INTERNATIONAL SHORTS WITH LOCAL CINEMA
Somerset Community College Theatre & Film will present short films from home and around the world when the college hosts its Eighth Annual Autumn Shorts Film Festival in Stoner Little Theatre on Thursday and Friday, September 15 and 16 at 7 p.m. A new slate of films will be shown each night. There is no admission charge for the event.
The fest will continue its annual international tradition with short films from Spain, Canada, Singapore, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Jordan, Germany and the Philippines. The fest will also feature films from American filmmakers as well as shorts from Louisville and Manchester, Kentucky.
On each night of the festival, the audience will get a chance to vote for their choice of the best film. Ballots will be distributed at the end of the evening and audience members will be able to cast their vote for the “People’s Choice” award.
SCC will also feature special showings of their own film projects. On Thursday night, SCC will screen two episodes of its web series entitled Summerfalls. The first episode, The Choices We Make, was the episode that started it all. This episode tells the story of a young man who must live up to his own high standards when his father becomes ill. It features performances by Tyler Fish, J.R. Sroufe, Navada Shane Morgan, Tony Armstrong, Denise Phipps and Dana Floro.
The second episode is the world premiere of the latest episode, A Room with a Feud. The short comedy was written by local screenwriter Chris Harris. This episode takes a light-hearted look at relationships. It features performances by Nicholas Kidd, Brianna Phipps, Chris Dickens, Haylea Barker and Caitlyn Wheeler.
The finale of the film festival will be a showing of SCC’s latest film project, Connected. This film features John Alexander as a radio show host who receives an on-the-air call from a stranger who disrupts the local celebrity’s well balanced world. Additional performances are by Bruce Singleton, Amber Frangos, Theresa Jean Kibby, Navada Shane Morgan, Mark Isham, and Lisa Wright.
The Autumn Shorts Festival will conclude on Friday night with an awards ceremony recognizing outstanding merit in filmmaking from among the official selections.
Get the latest updates on the upcoming film festival by liking and following Autumn Shorts Film Festival on Facebook.
For further information about the SCC Theatre program, contact Theatre Assistant Sommer Schoch at 451-6766 or by email at Sommer.Schoch@kctcs.edu.
Screening Schedule for the 2016 Autumn Shorts Film Festival
Thursday, September 15, 7 p.m.
The Box - C.ment Studios (Bangalore, India)
Wadi Al Nasara - Waref Abu Quba (Darmstadt, Germany)
Winston's Ghost: The Photography of Ryan Gustman - Daniel Spiller Productions (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
By Train - Robert Craft (Manchester, Kentucky)
Ladrones De Tiempo - Fran X. Rodrìguez (Madrid, Spain)
The Paper Revolt - Ryan Rosendal (Kirkland, Washington)
Vatula -The Whirl Wind - Shyam Sundar Chatterjee (Mumbai, India)
Burrito Boyz - Pacific Arts Movement (San Diego, California)
Lila - Carlos Lascano (Madrid, Spain)
Summerfalls: The Choices We Make - Special Screening (Somerset Community College)
Summerfalls: A Room with a Feud - Special Screening (Somerset Community College)
Friday, September 16, 7 p.m.
Amna - eTV - Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo)
Clown Not Die - Ako Zandkarimi (Sanandaj/Kurdistan/Iran)
Besties - Marta Renzi (Nyack, New York)
A(s)cend in the Red - The Explore Kentucky Initiative (Louisville, Kentucky)
Sisters - Lea Vidakovic (Jurong, Singapore)
Super Fun Sequence Five - Robert Craft (Manchester, Kentucky)
Wish - Yash Gadre (Pune, India)
I'm Human - Razan Haikal (Amman, Jordan)
Uncle Antlers - Carla Veldman (Toronto, Canada)
My 2014 Neighbor - Go Motion Productions (Pasay City, Philippines)
Connected - Special Screening (Somerset Community College)
"People's Choice" Awards each night. Awards Ceremony Friday night following the screenings.
John Alexander plays a radio show host who gets more than he bargained for when a stranger calls in. The film, Connected, will premiere on Friday night, September 16 at Somerset Community College’s Eighth Annual Autumn Shorts Film Festival.
Brianna Phipps and Nicholas Kidd are featured in the premiere of Summerfalls: A Room with a Feud. It will be shown on Thursday night, September 15 at SCC’s Eighth Annual Autumn Shorts Film Festival.
From Madrid, Spain, the short film Lila tells the story of a young, creative woman who uses her talent to help other people in unusual ways
Using an intriguing combination of puppetry and film, the short Sisters comes to the Autumn Shorts Film Festival from Singapore.