Acting 101 for Writers
Course Type: ONLINE and IN-PERSON
Maximum of 10 participants
Class: Acting 101 for writers, how to act a song using only the words (no music), aka “monologuing” a song.
Objective: Writers who have never been an actor can use this as an opportunity to learn how to be “directed” on how to monologue a song.
This class is designed for writers who who want to experience the way an actor works with a director when working on a song. Writers will have the opportunity to see their work from the other side of the page when a solo song they have written is directed and acted out. Writers will also get the opportunity to get “on stage” and be directed in the art of acting out a song as a monologue - a common technique used by actors and directors to stage a song, and to get to the heart of the acting of the song.
Participants will each bring a printed version of the lyrics to a song they have written, and will then trade songs with other participants. Each person will then get the chance to work one on one with the director to act through a song - looking at the beats, the story and the emotions depicted in the words. There are no costumes, props or musicians needed, this is only an actor, a writer, a director, and a stage (or a Zoom window).
A great opportunity to hear how your words would be approached by a creative team in production.
Sunday, March 3 (in person) from 2pm to 6pm PST and Saturday, March 9 (via Zoom) from 10am to 2pm PST / $50 per person
The Instructor
Bio
- Catie O’Donnell Heckel is a freelance theatre and film director, producer and educator. She has spent almost 20 years working on artistic projects in the industry, directing dozens of critically acclaimed professional productions across the United States and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She specializes in dramaturgy and directing for new musical theater works.
- She is the staff producer for NMI and has directed for 15 Minute Musicals and numerous monologues for The Veterans Project. Some directing achievements include earning The Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore Producers Award for Stilettos and Steel, her film In The Cloud being named as an official selection at the London Shorts film festival, and her productions of Ruddigore and The Mikado being named in multiple “best of theater” lists.
- She is an alumni of Lincoln Center Directors Lab in New York Directors Lab West in Los Angeles and Chicago, and holds a BA in theater and music from the University of Miami, FL and a certificate of theater education from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.