CHARACTER BLUEPRINTING

When: Monday, July 11, 2011
Time: 7:00-11:00 pm
Led by: Josh Chenard
Cost: $75

A systematic approach to actor training that allows for transformation, consistency, clarity and power, Character Blueprinting guides the actor to give over to the character, allowing for a nuanced, authentic, and vibrant journey. Based in universal movement patterns, creative intellect, and psycho-physical principles, Character Blueprinting provides actors with an effective tool that roots each performance in discovery, action, and reaction. More than a device for character building, this work helps you capture, clarify, and create the entire journey of the character. Created by VCU Performance Faculty member Josh Chenard, this fresh approach to actor training has been workshopped in Boston and Los Angeles. Great for auditions, scene work, stage, or film, Character Blueprinting will be a valuable and vibrant addition to your actor's toolbox!

Bio: Josh Chenard is an Assistant Professor of Acting at Virginia Commonwealth University where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate acting. A certified instructor of the Michael Chekhov Technique, Mr. Chenard was granted certification through the late Mala Powers, acknowledged world wide as the foremost authority on Chekhov’s techniques, and the National Michael Chekhov Association. Josh trained extensively with Ms. Powers, as well as with Master Chekhov teacher Lisa Dalton, with Tony Montanaro, one of the great mime artists of the 20th century, with international film and stage actress Emmanuelle Chaulet, and with renowned vocal practitioners Patsy Rodenburg and Catherine Fitzmaurice. Versed in a variety of acting techniques and styles, Josh has taught workshops and classes all over the country including Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, and Atlanta. A popular acting coach on both coasts, Josh works regularly with actors appearing on stage, network television, and in film. As an actor, Josh has worked in Educational, Regional, and Professional Theatre including at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Bar Harbor, Maine, the AYTB Theatre Company in Boston, Massachusetts, and at the University of Southern Maine where he garnered two Irene Ryan nominations and appeared in the American Premiere of Xavier Durringer’s A Taste of the Killing on the Tip of the Tongue. Other performances include roles in Crimes of the Heart, Run For Your Wife, The Glass Menagerie, All That I Will Ever Be, The Flies, Ten Little Indians, The Marriage of Figaro and Frankenstein. As a director, Josh has directed over 30 productions including And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little, Blithe Spirit, Two Precious Maidens Ridiculed, Animal Farm, La Bete, Prelude to A Kiss, and The Imaginary Invalid. Josh will be directing Richmond Triangle Players September production of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer.

Description: Outdoor venues are one of the biggest challenges an actor can face. How can you be heard? How can you then be understood? Perhaps most troublingly, how to you retain the integrity and nuance of the text while still reaching the last row? Perhaps most urgently, how can you accomplish all this and still have a voice on Monday?

This course will provide you with specific and repeatable vocal tactics for outdoor performance that will allow you to answer all these questions. We will focus on breath support, filling the space, vocal health, clarity in a large space, dealing with difficult acoustics, and how small vocal adjustments can have a big impact in the out-of-doors.

This course will never ask you to "be louder." On the contrary, this course will give you the tools you need to be heard without shouting and understood without sacrificing the intimacy and precision of your performance.

Bio: Thomas L. Cunningham earned his MFA in Theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University. He works as both a Performer and Voice/Dialect instructor. Mostly recently Thomas provided Voice/Dialect coaching for The Grapes of Wrath at Barksdale Theatre. Other Voice/Dialect credits include Goodnight Desdemonda (Good Morning Juliet), Coppenhagen, Southern Cross, and Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. Thomas has given voice to The Bear in Richmond Shakespeare's Elizabeth Rex, and battled crickets and tree-frogs for two consecutive seasons of Richmond's Shakespeare Festival at Agecroft Hall, keeping the Bard's words alive amid all the calamities the out-of-doors can muster. Other out-door credits include Twelfth Night at Dogwood Dell and The Labyrinth Project for the Sibue International Theatre Festival.

For more information, Email Julie@richmondshakespeare.com or call 804-232-4000 to make your reservation today