The 2008 Summer Intensive Final Performance will be held at 7:30PM on Saturday, July 26, at the Actors Gymnasium. Tickets will be $5 at the door

Join the fun at The Actors Gymnasium Summer Intensive!

History Of The Summer Intensive

In the summer of 2006, The Actors Gymnasium first offered an innovative six-week intensive workshop dedicated to the development of a physical performer’s capability to tell a story. In addition, the Summer Intensive provided a place for guest artists and performers to work with students and The Actors Gymnasium. Over the past years, the Summer Intensive has grown into a place for skilled performers to take their abilities to the next level.

Teachers in the initial workshop in 2006 included David Catlin of Lookingglass Theatre (physical theatre), Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (circus arts), Nourbol Meirmanov (acrobatics), and Tommy Rapley of The House Theatre (movement, dance.)

2007’s guest teachers included Adrian Danzig of 500 Clown (physical theatre); Lauren Vitz of The House Theatre (gymnastics) and one of Mongolia’s premier contortionists, O.Yadamjav (contortion). In addition, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi returned to lead the program for a second year.

What Students Should Expect

From her own experience as a performer and creator, Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi knows that audiences tend to lose interest with tricks, but not with stories. She designed this new Intensive Workshop to give already advanced circus arts students the skills to think, create and perform in an improvisational / storytelling way.

The fifteen actor/athletes in the Intensive are encouraged to:

• Think not just as soloists, but as members of an ensemble; to

• Integrate improvisation and physical theatre skills into their circus acts, and to

• Use every part of themselves when they perform, not just their brute strength.

With these newly acquired skills (dance, acrobatic and physical theater), the students are challenged to transform their own circus “tricks” into a story-telling act. The workshop culminates in an evening performance where each student performs in group numbers and/or an original act which they have created specifically for the class. The public is invited to this extremely popular event.

Who Should Register

Students who have taken at least one class at The Actors Gymnasium are eligible to register for the Summer Intensive. Space is limited and, as always, the final approval of students rests with the instructors' confidence in their ability to actively participate and contribute.

For more information, please call our office at 847-328-2795. For general information on how to register for a class, please read our registration page.