SAXTONS RIVER — Main Street Arts (MSA) is hosting an audition prep and acting workshop, led by Sean Roberts, in MSA's theater at 35 Main St.
Workshop classes are scheduled for the first, third and fourth Monday of each month starting April 4, and ending June 27. Classes will be held on April 4, 18, and 25; May 2, 16, and 23; and June 6, 20, and 27, from 7 to 9 p.m.
“As MSA returns to its 34-year tradition of producing community theater, we find many actors could use a good restart on their theatrical training,” according to a news release. “Veterans and beginners alike have skills to develop and hone.”
Adults and youth age 11 and up are invited to come with nothing prepared.
Over the course of three months, the workshops will help each performer become more natural and (1)reactionary in their acting, and help them develop and master their monologues and first impressions for future auditions.
Participants may come with a dramatic and a comedic monologue and comedic and dramatic songs from a play to sing. Acting techniques from Sanford Meisner and Bertolt Brecht will be utilized. “Students should expect to leave ego at the door and be ready to forget to act,” according to a news release. “Dress for comfort and movement.”
Roberts, an experienced actor and director, has been involved in theater since high school where he performed the role of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Working with Main Street Arts, he played the role of Jesus in MSA's production of Jesus Christ Superstar that was presented at the Bellows Falls Opera House.
Over the years, he has directed multiple nonprofit community theaters and schools in the region, and, in 2017, he founded the theater company, World Under Wonder Playhouse in Windsor, Vt. Some of Sean's favorite directed shows include Lord of the Flies, The Crucible, Harvey, Scrooge the Musical, No Exit, and Noises Off.
Wishing to foster a caring community, Roberts says he uses theater as a way to reach people and to get them to ponder and question their place in the world. Inspired by Sanford Meisner, he finds the imagination to be the main place to draw from, never saying yes or no to an action a character takes. He simply asks “what if” and what would be needed to make a character make a choice.
Also pulling from Bertolt Brecht, Roberts drives home the desire to inspire the audience with a message and purpose within the piece being presented and to challenge the expectations or normality of the time.
Learn more about this workshop and other classes and activities at mainstreetarts.org.