Artattack Theatre Ensemble Continues Acting Classes with Shakespearean Stage Notable
Artattack Theater Ensemble offers acting classes with OSF Actor G. Valmont Thomas
Contact: Nicole Isaacson-Hill (541) 482-6505
In Artattack Theater Ensemble's upcoming class, Rogue Valley actors will have the unique opportunity to study with a star of the OSF stage. As a part of Artattack's educational program, Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor G. Valmont Thomas continues his ongoing six-week acting intensives. The next class will begin on August 16 and conclude on September 21, Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10-12:30, at the artattack theater space at 310 Oak St. in Ashland. Adults of all experience levels are encouraged to take part. Students in the previous classes ranged from those who had never taken an acting class before to 30 -year veterans seeking to refine their craft.
The six-week session is the first in a two-unit program. After completing the first six weeks, students will have the opportunity to continue for another six week unit that will build upon what they learned in the first. "The first unit will give students a working vocabulary with which to continue their work," said instructor G. Valmont Thomas, "Upon completion of this course actors will be more confident choosing appropriate monologues and rehearsing them on their own. We will also begin scene study using scenes from contemporary plays. An introduction of script and character analysis will also be included." "I donšt teach from one style or approach," Thomas continued, "It has been my experience that each style of acting one comes in contact with has something useful in it. What I do is allow student actors the opportunity to explore the philosophies of Stanislavsky, Strasberg, Adler and Meisner, four of the teachers who most influenced the development of acting in the twentieth century."
Thomas holds a BA in Theatre Arts with an Acting Concentration, from Western Washington University, and an MFA in Theatre Arts (Directing) from Penn State University where he received a Graduate Achievement Award in Teaching. In five seasons at OSF he has played over twenty roles including: Macbeth in Macbeth, Mac in Playboy of the West Indies, Stephano in The Tempest, Shorty in Oo-Bla-Dee, Guildenstern in Hamlet, Feste in Twelfth Night, God in The Good Person of Szechuan, Red Carter in Seven Guitars, Mistress Quickly and Colville in Henry IV, Part Two, Snake in The School for Scandal, Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson.
The first two-unit program that was held last spring was a great success, according to Artattack Co-Artistic Director Nicole Isaacson-Hill, "Every student I spoke to had something good to say about the experience," said Isaacson-Hill. An unexpected benefit of the acting classes was a happy surprise for Isaacson-Hill and her partner Justin C. Lockwood; after completing the series, two of the students have been cast in artattack's upcoming production. Actor Geoffrey Riley has been acting in the Ashland area for the past several years, he took part in the two part series in spring and feels like he came out of the class with "all the tools in the world to find a characters motivations." On Thomas's teaching style, Riley said that "he's very patient and he works you hard but you feel like it's something you did together and not something that was forced upon you." In conclusion Riley said, "the twelve weeks whizzed past me and I wish I had more of them."
Artattack classes with Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor, G. Valmont Thomas in a six-week session beginning August 16 and going through September 21, Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10-12:30, at the artattack theater space at 310 Oak St. in Ashland. The cost for this class is $300 and payment plans are available. The class will be limited to 12 students. To register or for more information please call (541) 482-6505 or visit www.artattacktheater.com.
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