Raïna Fernandez von Waldenburg responds to a scene in her second year acting class. |
The second year of training at ETW focuses on craft. Students build on the foundational skills acquired in the first year, deepening, augmenting, and molding them into a set of dependable acting, movement, singing, and performance tools.
Second Year Acting: Technique and Scene Study (Raïna Fernandez von Waldenburg, Terry Knickerbocker) The second year acting curriculum combines advanced technique work in Meisner training with Grotowski-oriented physically based acting. Both techniques are designed to enable students to create performances that are intelligently conceived, emotionally alive, physically precise, and repeatable. The work concentrates on action-based script analysis, character creation, emotional crafting, and intensive scene study.
Scond Year Movement: Technique, Style, Choreography (Paul Langland, Pat Hall) In the second year of movement training, students begin to work in different styles, assemble a personal technique, and create original dances. Technical training includes Allan Wayne Work (a ballet-based release technique), Alexander Technique, and Afro-Haitian Dance, as well as advanced contact improvisation and developmental movement. Students study the role of physicalization in the creation of characters, and begin creating their own movement pieces.
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Movement instructor Paul Langland explains a choreography sequence. |
Second Year Voice And Speech: Technique, Improvisational Song, Advanced Speech (Jonathan Hart Makwaia, Lisa Sokolov, guest faculty) Second year voice work focuses on extended vocal exploration--primarily in song form, but with specific application to text and vocal character work. Through sequences of exercises, students focus inwardly to hear and express impulse through sound, finding their own unique ways of making music. This individual work, which is given considerable time in the first semester, progresses into duet, small group, and large ensemble improvisational composition as the year goes on. Rhythm, meter, intervals, vowels, and consonants are explored as they emerge in the creative process of song making. Students also continue the speech work of the first year, improving technical skills and applying them to Shakespeare and other play texts.
Self-Scripting: (Rosemary Quinn) This class helps students turn acting skills into script-making skills. They learn a variety of approaches to writing for performance, and are guided through the journey from concept to script to performance.
Second Year Projects: (various faculty advisors) At the end of the second year, each student writes, produces, designs, and performs an original work of theatre.
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