Rising Sun Performance Company: October 2009

Sunday October 18th
10am to 4PM

Rising Sun Performance Company Presents the launch of its

2010 Theatre Educational Department!

To help introduce our program to the theatrical community we are offering a FREE day of classes to the public!

"Without the support of Rising Sun, I would never have been able to make it as an artist in New York City."

"The family-like atmosphere allowed me to grow significantly as an actor"

"...there are no other people I know that are as passionate, caring and committed to everything they do."

WOW, thats just some of what former students, guest artists & ensemble members have to say about their learning experiences with Rising Sun!

We believe strongly in nurturing theatre artists at every level, and to kick off our 2010 educational programming Rising Sun is offering a day of free sample classes!

Come take a free class with Local & Nationally renowned Theatre Artists that come from varied backgrounds such as Blue Man Group, The Actors Studio, NYU, Clowns without Borders, and many other impressive credits! (Teacher bios are at bottom of email)

Space is limited! REGISTER TODAY!

All Classes are Free & Open to all skill levels!!

Beginners, mid-career and professional students are welcome!

Email us at submissions@risingsunnyc.com &

Please be sure to include the following information:

Full Name,

Phone number,

Email and

which classes you want to attend!

More feedback from former students & ensemble!

" It was great to have the opportunity to be challenged and grow as an artist, to find a home and people that are as passionate as you are. It is a great place to work, grow, expand, learn, and challenge yourself in a safe and supportive environment"

"I loved the people I worked with they were all just stellar people: kind, considerate, passionate about what they did, talented, and supportive. New York was hard at times but "Rising Sun" was easy. In a place that sometimes was so cold artistically "Rising Sun" was warm"

"I could not ask for better exposure as a beginning actor!"

Attendees are welcome to participate all day, in a single class or multiple classes.

Teachers & Workshops & Schedule subject to change

10AM- Sign in, welcome & Registration

10:30AM First Class- Physical Theatre with Peter Musante- class description coming soon

11:30AM Second Class- Playing the Villain with Kitt Lavoie

On Playing the Villain: A discussion and series of script analysis and acting exercises focused on the traps inherent in playing the antagonist in a play, how to avoid those traps, and the critical ways in which refusing to play “the bad guy” makes a character all the more dangerous. An introduction to an approach for creating an expansive world and history for a character – and the ways to make that history work to create a textured, nuanced, personal, and deeply accessible performance.

12:30PM Third Class- Monologue Coaching and Cold Readings:

How to get your foot in the door- With Jason Tyne-Zimmerman

Monologue Coaching and Cold Readings: There's more to auditioning than just showing off your talent. Talent aside, you also need to make people want to work with you. By considering the gestalt of the audition situation, you can showcase yourself more effectively and show off your talents more clearly.Please bring your standard audition material. A prepared monologue is recommended to attend this class

1:30PM Fourth Class- Viewpoints and Composition: How to listen to and follow your impulses. with Jason Tyne-Zimmerman

Viewpoints is a vocabulary for thinking about and acting, movement, and gesture. It is not a "technique" in and of itself, but will allow you to identify internal impulses and external catalysts to enhance and support any acting technique that you already know.

Please dress comfortably and be prepared to move.

2:30PM Fifth Class- Lucid Body with Christine Maddox: Class description coming soon

3:30PM Class Enrollment & Q& A

4PM End of Day

Teacher Bios

Peter Musante is a Brooklyn-based actor/musician currently performing Off-Broadway in Blue Man Group. As a Blue Man, he's worked in Chicago, Boston, Orlando, Bogota, Colombia and can be seen in ad campaigns all over Vegas and Brazil. Out of blue, he has taught improv to kids, improvised in drag at Universal Studios Hollywood, crooned cowboy tunes in Tokyo, worked as a standardized patient for medical students and, most recently, developed workshops for children with autism. After graduating from UCLA's School of Theater in 2005, he played Huck Finn in Big River at Vista, CA's Moonlight Amphitheater and won the San Diego Theater Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

Kitt Lavoie has directed more than seventy-five shows in New York City, including the original productions of more than thirty plays. He is author of seventeen produced plays and musical books, including Twice Rather Perish and The Median Line (both winners of the Herbert J. Robinson Award for Dramatic Writing). Kitt also works regularly as an associate stage and television director Lonny Price, with whom he has recently worked on the Roundabout Theatre’s Broadway revival of 110 in the Shade (starring Audra McDonald and John Cullum), the American Premiere of Night Season by Rebecca Liefkowitz, the PBS filming of the Tony Award winning John Doyle revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, and the New York Philharmonic production and PBS filming of Camelot (starring Gabriel Byrne), as well as the feature film version of Athol Fugard's play Master Harold... and the boys, starring Freddie Highmore and Ving Rhames, which is currently filming in Cape Town, South Africa. Kitt has also appeared onstage as Macbeth, Benedick (Much Ado...), and Roy Cohn Angels in America, among others, and has designed sets/lights for more than sixty shows. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School, is a founding member of the Professional Playwrights Workshop at the Players Club and is a Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC). Kitt is Artistic Director and co-founder of The CRY HAVOC Company. Most recently his work was published by Samuel French and he was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Short Script. (www.cryhavoccompany.org). http://www.kittlavoie.com/

Jason Tyne-Zimmerman earned a Masters degree from NYU (New York University) in Educational Theatre and a Masters of Fine Art from NU (Northwestern University). At Rising Sun he has directed "Baby with the Bathwater", "And That's the Way It is (if you think so)", and an invisible theatre project in the style of Augusto Boal. Additionally, he has acted off-Broadway in "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding", "An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein", and "A Change of Seasons". Jason has been working with Rising Sun since 2002.

Teaching philosophy: In teaching the arts, I make it my primary objective to facilitate the creation of the artists' vision, to utilize the artists' mind and body as a tool, and to focus on the creative processes of the artist. With all things, my teaching is always student-centric. I never expect my students to speak with my voice or create the art that I would create, but I do expect my students to be open to new processes to create their own art.

Christina Maddox - Bio coming soon

Akia (Director/Founding Artistic Director) has been is an active member of the flourishing Off-Off/Indie & Off Broadway theatre communities having produced, directed, and performed with numerous NYC companies since 1997. She is the Company Manager for the New York Production of the International Hit “Blue Man Group” at the Astor Place Theatre. She has worked as Associate Producer/ Production Coordinator for The Puerto Rican Traveling theatre, where she co-produced the Playwrights Unit Reading Series and INSIGHT 13 Series, as General Manager for the 1st annual FRIGID Festival and as Volunteer Coordinator for the 2009 FRIGID Festival. Proudly, she is the Founding Artistic Director of the Rising Sun Performance Company, now in its eighth season, and has been involved on all levels with each of its 35+ productions. In addition she is a Board Member of The Paul Butterfield Fund & Society, and Company Manager & Producer for The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, where she serves on their honorary awards committee as Sub-Committee Chairman and as an At-Large Judge.