If your answer to any of these questions is "yes," workshops offered by Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse in Rock Island are perfect for you.
For 31 years, Circa '21 has hosted theater workshops for middle-school and high-school students. "We started these educational performances to give students the opportunity to learn from professionals," said Brett Hitchcock, Circa's director of audience development.
Sign up through school
Circa already has put on six workshops this year, with one more coming up Tuesday. "Nineteen hundred students have registered for the classes this year," Mr. Hitchcock said.
To attend a workshop, students must be registered by their schools. Some schools send students who are involved in drama clubs and school plays; others send any student who is interested.
Registration is closed for this year's remaining workshop, but there is plenty of time to get a group of students together at your school so you can attend next year. "If students are interested, they should contact their teachers and have their teachers contact Circa '21," Mr. Hitchcock said.
"As the majority of our actors/class teachers are from New York, we don't know which classes we'll be offering until a month before the workshop dates," he said, but he guaranteed there would be a good variety to choose from.
"Many schools make reservations a year in advance," he added. Schools do not have to wait for a class list to be available before registering students.
Sessions, show, Q&A
A typical workshop begins at 9 a.m. with registration. At 9:40 the first 50-minute session begins. After a 10-minute break, the second session begins and runs until lunch at 11:30.
After lunch, students get to watch whatever show is playing at Circa -- currently "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Afterward, they have a question-and-answer period with the cast and technical staff. By 2:20 p.m., the workshop is over and students are on their way home.
Class topics have included:
-- "Stage Combat -- The Art of Non-Violent Violence": Students learn to slap without slapping, hit without hitting, even kick without really kicking.
-- "Hip-Hop: Get Your Body Groovin!": Students learn hip-hop and street-dance moves. By the end of the class, they have a routine to perform.
-- "The Art of Improv/ComedySportz": Members of the local ComedySportz troupe teach basic improvisation skills.
-- "Auditioning for Television and Commercials": This session covers the do's and don'ts of auditioning. Students gain experience reading scripts in front of the camera.
-- "Beat Poetry Slam": Students write ideas and learn to express them through rhythmic vocals with guitar accompaniment.
-- "Find Your Face": Students learn how to develop a design for a character through lessons on creating looks for old age and fantasy, bruises, scars, and correctional makeup techniques.
-- "So You Think You Can Dance?": By the end of this session, students will be performing a simple dance combination. Throughout the process, they get pointers from professionals. No previous dance training is needed!
-- "Take a Breath!": Breathing correctly is important in theater. Students learn techniques that will allow them to breathe in the right spots at the right moments so they will be at ease.
-- "From the Page to the Stage": This session focuses on those "behind-the-scenes" people. Students get an overview of the entire production process, from original drawings to finished product. Those attending this year's classes got a backstage tour of Circa's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" set.
-- "Stage It!": This session covers basic staging, movement patterns, critical thinking, and organization in creating a beautiful staged production.
"'Auditioning for Television and Commercials' was my favorite class," said Sarah Boraas, a student at Sherrard High School who attended the workshop. "I want to be a news reporter, investigator or anchorwoman someday, and this workshop taught me a lot of skills that I can use."
"I learned how to act on camera, which will help me in my career," she added.
"The most beneficial workshop I went to was 'The Art of Callback,'" offered last year, said Sean Leeds, a student at Erie High School. He said the class "taught me the proper technique, protocol and confidence to have if I am called back after an initial audition."
Sean said he has attended workshops for three years and learned something new each time.
"There are always a new group of workshops," he said. "Some of them are the same from year to year, but with the different actors that come from across the country, there are always new talents and techniques.
"My favorite part about the workshops is that the actors are real down-to-earth people and just want to share their art," he said.
Tammy Crippen, an English teacher at Sherrard High School, has been taking students to the workshops since 2003.
"Our situation is unique," she said of the Sherrard students who attend. "Students who attend are not the 'drama department kids'; rather, they are from the public-speaking class."
Ms. Crippen also attended the workshops when she was a student. "I loved the hands-on classes, and that I got to choose which classes I wanted to attend," she said.
"The staff at Circa didn't make me feel like a kid. They treated us (and still do treat the kids) like adults. They always made me feel that my opinion and input was really important, and they still treat the students the same way now."
The workshops are fun, even if you're not interested in theater, she said. "Each of my students mentioned that in every workshop, the teacher taught them how the workshop could help them out in the 'real world,'" she said.
Amelia Martens is a senior at Orion High School.
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