Acting through Song: Marrying the Music & Lyrics through your Storytelling Abilities

This workshop’s intention is to provide students with tools for analyzing the music and lyrics of the musical theatre canon and steps for implementing your analysis in a performance setting. Through a combination of exercises, discussion and group performance work sessions, participants of this course will acquire the basic skills and knowledge to initiate the development of their own toolbox for successfully acting through song on stage and video. Up to 2 students will be selected to work individually with the instructor in the workshop for a brief session, with all other participants acting as observers during this portion of the class.

Students will leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of how to interpret the music and lyrics of a song they are performing, as well as the basic skills to execute strong and informed acting/vocal choices within the delivery of your song for a musical audition or performance.

To be considered for one of the two active participant slots, send an email to our Education staff (education@thepremiereplayhouse.com) with the subject line “ACTING THROUGH SONG SUBMISSION” and in the body of the email provide your name, age, experience level, song you wish to work on, sheet music for said song, and a short blurb about why you wish to participate actively in this workshop. Songs should be a musical theatre composition. Those selected will work on a one-minute cut of their submitted song in the class, which will be provided to them upon their acceptance email from our Education team.

Who: Anyone Ages 14+

Cost: FREE (donations accepted)

When:

• Saturday, November 23, 2024
• 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Where: TPP Office – 315 N Phillips Ave

What to bring:

• Clothes to move around in.
• Water bottle.
• Pencil/note-taking device.

Oliver Mayes is the Managing Artistic Director of The Premiere Playhouse and a committed arts education advocate. He is a performing arts professional whose work has been seen in several states throughout the U.S. such as Arkansas, California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, and Virginia. With a background in acting, directing, producing, movement choreography, writing, and teaching, his credits span various mediums including plays, musical theatre, new play development, cabaret, dinner theatre, new media, and print/video for theatrical marketing. Oliver spent 5+ years working in non-profit performing arts education recruitment/enrollment, advising/retention, and coaching then spent the following 5+ years directing and teaching acting, Shakespeare and musical theatre performance/history to a variety of high school and university level students in the pacific northwest, east coast & Midwest at various non-profits, intensive programs and universities. He has received several honors in theatrical directing, including the Kennedy Center’s 2020 Stage Directors & Choreographers Society Fellowship and a three-year stint of Sioux Falls Stage Award Nominations in “Best Direction” for his work on The Premiere Playhouse’s productions of Cabaret, Young Frankenstein and Grease. He is a scholarship alumnus of the Kennedy Center Directing Intensive and an associate member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the national union for professional stage directors and choreographers. Oliver holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota and a BFA in Music Theatre from AMDA College of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, California.