Enroll in Classes

 

AUDITION – GETTING THE PART!! HOWARD SHANGRAW, Instructor

Adults 18 and up.   Tuition Fee: $275

Dates: June1 -July 20.   8 weeks Mondays.  7-9 pm, CVRep Black Box

The AUDITION can be a nerve-wracking stressful proposition. In this class learn to love the audition! The mission of the class is to give actors some tools to strengthen and deepen craft and enjoy the audition. Learn positive techniques and find the joy in presenting your work. At the end of class, you’ll have two contrasting monologue ready to go. Learn to find monologues that best suits you. Class size is limited so everyone works every week.  Class ends with a “mock audition” that gets you ready, secure and excited to audition.

IMPROV COMEDY INTENSIVE – DARREN HELD, Instructor

Adults 18 and up.  Tuition Fee: $225   CVRep Black Box

Dates 

Fri. 7/31, 7 – 10 p.m. 
Sat. 8/1, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. – (1 hour break for lunch) 
Sun. 8/2, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. – including show for family and friends at 12 p.m. 

Back by popular demand! Join us for our Intermediate Improv Weekend Intensive, where we take a dive into unscripted collaboration, exploring characters and building scene work through short-form improv games and exercises. This will culminate in a performance showcasing your new skills for family and friends! 

Students will learn: 

• Foundational improv skills to enhance play and agreement
• How toincorporate storytelling tools and story structure into scenes 
• Practice radical listening and staying present in scenes to provide support
• Develop unique character points-of-view
• To organicallyidentifythe “who, what, where, and why” of each scene 
• Tocreate imaginary objects and environment
• How toestablishand raise the stakes on scenes with emotion 
• The skills to put on an improv comedy show!

 

SKETCH COMEDY WRITING INTENSIVE! – DARREN HELD, Instructor

Adults 18 and up.   Tuition Fee: $225    CVRep Black Box

Dates 

Fri. 9/17, 7-10 p.m. 
Sat. 9/18, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. 
Sun. 9/19, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. 

This Sketch Intensive is a collaborative; hands-on experience designed for anyone who wants to learn how to write a comedic sketch. You’ll discover how to generate ideas, heighten effectively, and collaborate in a supportive environment to bring sketches to life. Writers will learn the fundamentals of strong sketch structure and character-driven humor. By the end of this intensive, you’ll have written 5 different kinds of sketches!  

FACULTY BIOS:

HOWARD SHANGRAW: An award-winning actor, director, and teacher, his professional acting career includes productions off-Broadway, summer stock, feature films, episodic television, day time soap operas and regional theatre productions for South Coast Repertory Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Laguna Playhouse, Grove Shakespeare Festival, and various equity waiver theatres in the Los Angeles area.  His directing resume includes productions of classical and contemporary repertoire and musicals for CVRep, Orange County Performing Arts Center, South Coast Repertory, Stella Adler Theatre, Teatro Mediterranean Barcelona, Spain, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts Acting Company, and Hi-Desert Cultural Center, where he served as Artistic Director. He taught acting for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, South Coast Repertory Theatre’s Conservatory programs, Hi-Desert Cultural Center, and Idyllwild Arts Academy, where he chaired the theatre department from 2004-2014. Currently Howard serves as CVRep’s Director of Conservatory and Youth Outreach.

ANDY HARMON: Andy Harmon is a writer, stage and film director, and teacher. He has directed plays at venues in the US and Europe, including The Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, Donmar Warehouse in London, and Wasa Teater in Finland. His writing includes the plays Freud’s Golem and La Comedia: Dante’s Journey to the Gates of Paradise (with Boel Larrson) and the book Change Journey: Voices of the Creative Quest, a resource for writers. Trained in improvisation by Viola Spolin, he holds a BA and MFA from Brandeis University and has taught acting and improv in London, Stockholm, Paris, and Los Angeles, as well as at the CVRep from 2012-19.  In addition to the Frank and Harry web series, his films include The Virtuoso and the restoration and editing of the recently discovered Actor Aid footage for the Live Aid YouTube channel. The Writers Studio that he founded at the CVRep in 2012 now continues to meet independently every two weeks on Zoom.”

DARREN HELD: Darren is the Creative Director of Held2gether, Improv for Life – an improv comedy school and performance space in Long Beach since 2010. A graduate from New York’s Stella Adler Conservatory, Darren went on to perform in several stage, film, and TV productions on both coasts.  His improv and sketch comedy background includes The Groundlings, Upright Citizens’ Brigade, Second City, and Held2gether. He’s directed hundreds of sketches and improv comedy shows and worked with hundreds of companies utilizing the amazing tools of improv to enhance confidence, communication, and leadership skills. His mission is to empower people from all backgrounds through the power of comedy.