School Day Programs:

Story Drama (Preschool-Grade 2)

Come jump inside a story book! We'll use our bodies, voices, and imaginations to bring some of the best in children's literature to life. We'll use acting, multi-sensory props, and lots of imagination to work together to explore a story.

Theatre Skill Workshop (Grades 2 and Up)

Get in on the action! During this class, we'll work together using our bodies, voices, and imaginations to create characters, improvise scenes, and invent comic bits. We'll learn the basics of acting terminology, work together as a community, and have a heap of fun. Pick from one of the classes below:

• Ensemble Building - great for building the classroom community, taking risks, and working together.
• Story Action - great for working on writing skills, accessing creativity, and learning about story structure.
• Improvisation - great for trusting your own instincts, saying "yes" to each other's ideas, and thinking on your feet.

Specialty Curriculum Workshops (Grade 3 and Up)

Theatre exercises can be used to teach almost any classroom curriculum area. In this workshop, students will develop basic acting skills while exploring non-theatre curriculum. Working together as an ensemble, we have the power to activate literature, history, science, and so much more.

After School Programs:

We are happy to design a series of classes to fit your needs that will explore drama in an actice and engaging way.

• Grades K-2: Story Drama
• Grades 2-3: Imagination Adventure
• Grades 3 and Up: Acting
• Grades 5 and Up: Acting from a Script

Professional Development: In-Service Trainings

Gain confidence about using drama in your classroom. In this up-on-your-feet workshop, we'll share age-appropriate drama excercises that can be used to build community and enhance existing curriculum.

UI Facutly and Student Presenters:

Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Joniece Abbott-Pratt offers workshops geared towards teaching acting through encouraging social skills, self-confidence, or performing in front of a group. She enjoys using acting, dance and theatrical elements as a means of educating.

Cyndi Coyne

Cyndi Coyne is a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow and an O'Neill Finalist. She received her MFA from The Iowa Playwrights Workshop at The University of Iowa. A professional actress, she has performed in many plays in New York and L.A., and made television appearances on Law and Order and Boy Meets World.

Coyne teaches creative and playwriting workshops at different age levels.

She is also an acting coach and works one on one with monologues for auditions as well as scene work.

Kristin Horton

Kristin Horton offers workshops in directing.

Chris Leyva

A member of The UI Playwrights Workshop, Chris Leyva offers workshops in playwriting for children and adults, including script development and creating/preparing plays for performance.

Shattock Schoole of Defence

The Shattock Schoole of Defence is a mixed group of comedians, swordfighters, brawlers and malcontents. Shattock shows combine comedy, combat and chaos into a fast-paced whole with something for everybody. The Shattock Schoole of Defence can be seen at renaissance faires, community events and private parties throughout the Midwest and beyond.

The Shattock Schoole of Defence combines light-hearted comedy with authentic Elizabethan rapier and dagger fencing. They offer master classes in stage combat, freelance choreography and demonstrations are available.

Beyond the offerings of the Shattock Schoole of Defence’s Website, master classes in stage combat, freelance choreography and demonstrations are available. Evening Performances and classes are ideal during the week while various class times are available during weekends.

Lisa Schlesinger

Lisa Schlesinger offers playwriting workshops that explore dramatic exercises, utilizing short scene reading to aid participants in writing their own plays.

Nancy Rather Mayfield

Join Nancy Rather Mayfield for this exciting Theatre Workshop! Learn about the different jobs in theatre (acting, directing, design, etc.) and what goes into putting on a play. In a longer workshop, students have the opportunity to dramatize a fairy story. For an additional fee, the workshop can be built around a topic of the teacher’s choice, such as Native Americans, animals, etc.

Kate Aspengren

Explore the elements of playwriting through workshops conducted by UI Theatre faculty member Kate Aspengren. Workshops will acquaint students with the techniques required for writing for the stage and give students the opportunity to hear their own work performed through script in hand readings. Ms. Aspengren’s plays, Dear Mrs. Martin, Mother’s Day and House of Wonders, are published by Samuel French and produced regularly throughout the country. She has taught playwriting to adults, junior and high school students, and was the keynote speaker at the 1997 Grant Wood AEA Young Writer’s Conference.

Eric Forsythe

A theatre professional for most of his life, UI faculty member Eric Forsythe brings a lifetime of experience to his workshops on theatre topics that include: characterization, improvisation, scene study, auditioning, Shakespeare acting, directing tips and perspectives, and every actor’s challenge – overcoming self-consciousness. Mr. Forsythe has acted in or directed over 300 stage and media productions including feature films, soaps, television and radio.

Carol MacVey

Students explore and understand Shakespeare’s drama with UI Theatre faculty member Carol MacVey’s entertaining and informative introduction to Shakespeare workshops and discussions. Ms. MacVey provides workshop instruction in areas such as commedia dell’arte masks, acting techniques, and Shakespeare acting. She is also available for teacher workshops on incorporating drama into classroom curriculum. A former high school teacher, she has also conducted Master Teaching Classes for the National Endowment for the Humanities in aspects of English classroom teaching.

Kim Marra

Long before the age of film and television, theatre was the primary performance medium through which societies made “pictures” of themselves to understand their place in the cosmos. Explore theatre history and dramatic literature with UI faculty member Kim Marra as she lectures on how theatre – form ancient Egypt to the present – has reflected humanity’s changing perceptions of the environment, human nature and the divine in divergent cultural contexts. Her slide lecture and discussions range from Medieval theatre to women in American theatre.

Margaret Wenk

From concepts to construction, from gussets to gables, UI Performing Arts Production Unit Resident Staff Designer, Margaret Wenk shares the intricacies of theater design in workshops and seminars. Drawing on her expertise as set and costume designer for opera, dance and theater productions, she discusses the backstage wizardry necessary for successful theatrical productions.

John Kaufmann

John Kaufmann offers workshops on Shakespeare and American Contemporary High School. He also offers improvisation workshops with students and adults. He had taught improvisation to elementary to high school-aged students at Seattle Academy of Fine Art, Lowell Elementary School in Seattle, as well as Seattle Children's Theatre. He had worked with Jet City Improv and "The Intimints" in Seattle. He also developed an improvisation-based training workshop for chaplains at Harborview Medical Center and Providence Health Center.

Brett Janecek

Brett Janecek teaches the following workshops: Performance of Literature, Autobiographical Performance and Performative Diversity Training
In these workshops students are led through writing exercises and write short dramatic stories in individual and group settings.

Lauren Brickman

Lauren Brickman is a current U of I MFA Acting Candidate. Lauren explores the world of acting through theatre games and improvisation. Additionally, Lauren comes from a strong background in Cabaret theatre and utilizing this experience in workshops that focus on the creation of an original sketch, monologue, or rant.

Katherine Eberle

Katherine Eberle, mezzo-soprano will provide an hour-long look at "Pauline Viardot: composer, singer, and ‘forgotten muse". This one-woman show is a combination of a monologue juxtaposed with actual compositions written by Viardot giving the audience a unique look at a performer who impacted many important composers and writers in her life in Paris, between 1821-1910. Eberle is a specialist in women composers and has in the past re-created famous women such as Julia Child, Eleanor Roosevelt and Joan of Arc. This delightful work will make you laugh, cry, and learn more about an interesting time in the past all the while providing access to and participation in the arts through the premise that the experience, understanding, and historical appreciation of Pauline Viardot would give value, meaning, and enjoyment as well as enrich the educational experience of the general public as well as student singers, performers, and educators.