The Actor's Workshop of Ithaca
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The Ithaca Journal- Feb '14 Workshop To Present Winter Showcase

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By Jim Catalano

The Actors' Workshop of Ithaca student will host its annual Winter Showcases this weekend at Cornell's Risley Theatre. There will be performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, with the Workshop's three separate classes spotlighting unique work in each show.

The students will be performing a cornucopia of comedic and dramatic scenes, one-act plays and monologues to showcase what they have learned throughout the semester.

General admission at the door is $10, $8 for students and seniors; proceeds go to AWI's student scholarship fund. For more information, call 339-9999 or visit actorsworkshop.biz or the events' Facebook pages.

In additional news, for the first time since its inception almost 15 years ago, AWI will offer classes that are not part of its comprehensive two-year Meisner program. Next semester, Craig MacDonald, the recently retired Syracuse University acting professor and current director and actor, will be joining the workshop's staff.

MacDonald, who was a Meisner instructor at Syracuse, will be offering a course that will augment the workshop's current program. "It's very exciting to have the opportunity to share my Meisner-related approach to the transition to text with a well-trained pool of actors," MacDonald said. "For years I've admired the amazing success of Eliza and the Actors' Workshop. I'm flattered and thrilled to be invited to teach there" with fellow Meisner instructors Katie Spallone and David Kossack.

VanCort is equally as thrilled. "It occurred to me recently that because we have people traveling for up to an hour and a half to study at AWI, we need to be a 'full-service salon,'" she said. "Every time Craig has come in as a guest instructor, I've left feeling inspired. I feel so lucky we have him at AWI!"

MacDonald's class uses a hands-on approach to teaching people how to explore nuanced and specific ideas and strategies about text. It's open to all actors workshop students and to people have not taken classes with the Actors' Workshop of Ithaca; prior acting experience is not required. "The course is short, sweet, brilliant, and a great way for people who haven't experienced actors workshop classes yet to test the waters," VanCort said.

 

 

The students will be performing a cornucopia of comedic and dramatic scenes, one-act plays and monologues to showcase what they have learned throughout the semester.

General admission at the door is $10, $8 for students and seniors; proceeds go to AWI's student scholarship fund. For more information, call 339-9999 or visit actorsworkshop.biz or the events' Facebook pages.

In additional news, for the first time since its inception almost 15 years ago, AWI will offer classes that are not part of its comprehensive two-year Meisner program. Next semester, Craig MacDonald, the recently retired Syracuse University acting professor and current director and actor, will be joining the workshop's staff.

MacDonald, who was a Meisner instructor at Syracuse, will be offering a course that will augment the workshop's current program. "It's very exciting to have the opportunity to share my Meisner-related approach to the transition to text with a well-trained pool of actors," MacDonald said. "For years I've admired the amazing success of Eliza and the Actors' Workshop. I'm flattered and thrilled to be invited to teach there" with fellow Meisner instructors Katie Spallone and David Kossack.

VanCort is equally as thrilled. "It occurred to me recently that because we have people traveling for up to an hour and a half to study at AWI, we need to be a 'full-service salon,'" she said. "Every time Craig has come in as a guest instructor, I've left feeling inspired. I feel so lucky we have him at AWI!"

MacDonald's class uses a hands-on approach to teaching people how to explore nuanced and specific ideas and strategies about text. It's open to all actors workshop students and to people have not taken classes with the Actors' Workshop of Ithaca; prior acting experience is not required. "The course is short, sweet, brilliant, and a great way for people who haven't experienced actors workshop classes yet to test the waters," VanCort said.

Eliza VanCort