Theater Transforms: 

internships for students ages 15-18.

  For more information or to schedule an audition please contact us at

(917) 583-4447

Inner circle changed his life. It helped to set him on his life trajectory and he has been moving rapidly forward ever since. We are all deeply grateful for the magic, hard work and artistry that Jewels and Chris created. It was a profound arena for artistic expression, self growth, personal challenge, creativity and community building. -Nancy Greenfield (mother of Intern Company 2005)

The Program

Acting

Rehearsal and Performance

Voice and Movement

Script Analysis: Finding the Story

Audition Technique

Light and Sound Design

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Schedule

Classes will be held Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  An hour break will be taken for lunch and we will provide short snack breaks during the day.  In addition, students will be expected to attend evening tech rehearsals for their final performance during the last week of the program

A Note from the Executive Director

What if you could be whatever you want to be? What if you could face adversity and know in your heart that if you work hard, you will succeed. What if you could escape the mediocrity of high school and rise to the next level. What if you could abandon yourself in order to find yourself? And what if it was fun…

In the summer of 2005 we offered our first Intern Program. Our goal was to bring together a group of students, and infect them with our passion for theater. We also wanted to use theater as a medium to teach them something about life. Theater is about collaboration. Without the selfless work of an entire group, no play can ever succeed. Our philosophy is based on a simple principle: “What can you Give, not what can you get.”

We offered our students long hours of hard work. We asked that they give themselves selflessly and completely to a project. As a result, they became responsible, invested and committed. By combining instruction with practical production experience we were able to instill in our students a love and respect for the theater, a superior work ethic and a belief that they could succeed at anything.

Our work was successful. Out of a class of nine, one student was accepted to the BFA program at Cal Arts as a lighting design student, and two more were offered admission to the Cal Arts summer program. One student attended a program at Vassar College, another is working professionally at the Rubicon Theatre Company and one special student, after two years of intern work, was asked to join Inner Circle as a full company member. In addition to studying classical theater in Greece, she was accepted to Reed College on a full scholarship, and is now the author of the current main stage production at Theater 150. We take great pride in knowing we impacted the lives of our kids.

Last summer, we continued our work as we launched a collaboration with Theater 150’s Conservatory. Voice and movement and professional audition classes were added to guide students as they continue to pursue their dreams in the theater. We are most pleased that this collaboration allows us to focus on high school age students, as we endeavor to help prepare them for the coming college years. Our faculty members are all university-trained and remember the trepidation inherent in the process of college applications and program auditions. We hope that our experience will help awaken our younger students to what lies ahead and prepare our older students for the immanent transition to the college arena.

It has been a gift and an honor to work with our kids, and we are grateful for the opportunity to give something precious to them.                                          

        Chris Cotone

Classes

Monday

10:00 – 11:30 Voice and Movement

11:45 – 1:00 Audition Technique

LUNCH (students must bring their own lunch)

2:00 – 5:00 Performance and Production

Tuesday

10:00 – 11:00 Script Analysis: Finding the Story

11:00 – 1:00 Acting

LUNCH (students must bring their own lunch)

2:00 – 5:00 Technical Theater

Wednesday

10:00 – 11:30 Voice and Movement

11:45 – 1:00 Audition Technique

LUNCH (students must bring their own lunch)

2:00 – 5:00 Performance and Production

Thursday

10:00 – 11:00 Script Analysis: Finding the Story

11:00 – 1:00 Acting

LUNCH (students must bring their own lunch)

2:00 – 5:00 Performance and Production

Friday

10:00 – 11:30 Voice and Movement

11:45 – 1:00 Audition Technique

LUNCH (students must bring their own lunch)

2:00 – 5:00 Performance and Production

Intern Production

There will be three performances the final weekend!

Course Descriptions  

Performance and Production (Director - Chris Cotone, with the Faculty)

Play Production is the heart of the internship.  Through performance, we incorporate all the elements of the internship and forge them together with the exceptional commitment and selfless action required to produce a play. This investment in sweat pays dividends in maturity and self-confidence. Our students will come to know themselves as capable of success through hard work. In 2005, the interns performed Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman. In 2006, an abridged version of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed. This year’s play will be chosen to specifically suit our intern company members.

  Voice and Movement (Jewels Eubanks)

This course offers a wide range of elements, which will prepare young actors for professional training in college and beyond.  Through classic movement training and modern vocal technique the students will develop a sophisticated approach to preparing their voice and body for theatrical work and auditions.  The class will also focus on neutrality; a movement technique designed to strip away the unconscious elements we carry in our physicality. Furthermore the class will explore group work that incorporates physical improv.

  Audition Technique (Jewels Eubanks)

This class will give students the opportunity to develop and rehearse a repertoire of monologues for university and other audition situations. Issues of self-awareness will be addressed as students choose their own monologues to promote their skills. Together, we will embark on an exploration of each student’s future training. Students will be challenged to envision a dream for their future in the theater and begin to set goals towards attaining the training that will bring them closer to those dreams.  

Script Analysis: Finding the Story (Elizabeth Rosengren)

Every play, every piece of theater has a basic story to tell. The playwright provides a skeleton for that story. It is then up to each actor, the director, and the designers to bring their own unique experience to the table as we tell that story together. As a team of individuals work together, a story emerges that is more complex and captivating than any of the individual players could have created on their own. Eventually, each member of the audience will bring their own perspective to that story as well. This is the collaborative power of theater. But, this collaboration only works if we are all telling the same story. Various techniques of script analysis, based on the writings of Aristotle and Stanislavski, will be applied to the script being rehearsed in Play Production class. As a group, we will learn the basic components of “story” and use them to define and shape the story of our production. Then, each actor will be challenged to find his or her unique connection to that story.  

Technical Theater (Chris Cotone)

The magic of theater is communicated in light and sound, image and language. As a director and designer in the professional theatre, I am always looking for the spectacle that Aristotle described. If you have seen Wicked or The Lion King, you will understand spectacle, in the modern sense.  This class will introduce students to the instruments of light and sound design, and will offer hands on experience in design, from concept to production.  

 Conservatory Training Program Tuition $1500

Scholarships of all levels are available based on financial need.

 The ability or inability to pay the cost of tuition will not factor into our casting. Our primary concern is casting a company of students who are passionate and motivated.