Workshops

Voice Over: Cartoons & Videogames (Theresa Buchheister)

Voice Over director Theresa Buchheister has directed and sound-engineered many cartoons and videogames, including Cartoon Network’s Pokémon XYZ, Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, Nickelodeon’s The Winx Club and Netflix’s World of Winx, Robocar Poli, Mily: Miss Questions, BoyGirlDogCatMouseCheese, and others that they cannot discuss because of NDAs! As a performer, Theresa has voiced cartoon characters on Pokémon, The Winx Club, Mily, and more.

Over the course of this workshop, Theresa will take you on a deep dive into the basic skills and valuable practices of cartoon and videogame voiceover performance. First, you will dip into the basics: common terms, valuable warm-ups and tricks, audition and performance techniques, differentiation from other areas of voice acting, what your voice brings to the table, and more. Then, you will put these into practice: character development, performing copy, and examining your versatility. You will be sent home with vocal homework and material to practice, and you will have the opportunity to perform an in-class expanded audition. You will present your copy, receive quick and specific direction, followed by notes and critique. If time allows, further topics will be explored just as text analysis and demo reels.

This workshop is open to those with VO experience looking to sharpen and expand their audition and performance skills, as well as to performers who are new to VO looking for an introduction to the craft.

Presented by: Theresa Buchheister –

Held online over Zoom: 

Purchase with Voice Over: Introduction for $15 off!

Quaid – Acting in Accent

This is an advanced workshop for actors who want to take their dialect work to the next level and explore the particular challenges of acting with an accent.  Rather than an instructional class that focuses on a specific dialect’s placement, signature sounds, and intonation, this workshop invites actors who are already proficient in an accent or dialect of their choice to start to bridge the gap to scene study.

Topics explored include research and rehearsal techniques, how to avoid stereotypes, finding freedom and flexibility, the issue of authenticity vs. intelligibility, and the challenge of accessing emotional life while speaking in an unfamiliar way.  Rather than seeing the dialect as a mask the actor wears, we will consider whether it’s possible to use it as a portal to new parts of ourselves, to bring our characters to fuller life.

Note: this class is appropriate for actors who speak English natively, but it is not appropriate for actors who are learning English as a second language.
*Please review registration prerequisites before enrolling (on the right-hand side of this page on desktop or below on mobile). 

Singing the Story / Acting a Song (Melissa Errico)

Presented by Melissa Errico –

To be held online over Zoom: 

Broadway actress Melissa Errico leads this online masterclass, devoted not so much to making beautiful sounds as dramatizing great songs. The goal is to address the challenge of acting and shaping songs to bring whatever your chosen music is to dramatic life. Practicing together from home over Zoom, we will use our private rooms to loosen bodies and minds, and take some risks with songs!

The class is ideally suited for the student who already has some background and experience singing, or for actors who sing. Exceptions will be considered. This course is designed to give performers a place for guided practice, a chance to work on musical scenes with peers, and a stimulating and trusting place to explore individual performance skills. While it is not a vocal technique class, one focus will be to find the most natural way of delivering the sung message or inhabiting a musical character. Class material addressed will focus on solo performance, and is appropriate for both the professional and aspiring singing actor in either musical theatre or concert/cabaret.

An accompanist will be provided to record backing tracks. Please be prepared to email your sheet music to the accompanist the week before class starts.

For the first day of class: Come to the first session prepared with a memorized song (or two), and ready to play your backing track from a device.

“The way these women would like to see/shape musical theatre gives me a lot of hope for a more inclusive, diverse, and joyful theatre industry when we return. Less judgement, more joy! Great piece written by my friend Sarah: https://maestramusic.org/blog/celebrating-maestras-in-the-time-of-covid/” – Melissa Errico

*Please review registration prerequisites before enrolling (on the right-hand side of this page on desktop or below on mobile). 

Pastore: The Actor and the Business

Presented by: Vincent Pastore

You’ve worked hard to develop your acting technique—now what do you need to know in order to take on the business? Your job is to hone the materials you use to present yourself—your photos and resume—then build a network of real relationships. When you make a new contact, when you audition or interview for a role, you may have just a few brief moments to show who you are and what you can do. You must have effective monologues prepared, be ready and able to improvise, be able to take a script apart and make it your own. You must be fully prepared to make an impression when your opportunity comes, however it comes. It’s up to you to convince the people at the table that you will solve their casting problem. Once you have the role, you must be able to bring the character on the page to life, walking and talking. No matter what the circumstances, you need to be able to claim your place in the room and to make the role your own.

Award-winning actor Vincent Pastore has starred on Broadway in Chicago and BULLETS OVER BROADWAY and is co-founder of the Renegade Theater Group. His screen and television credits include THE SOPRANOS, Guy Ritchie’s REVOLVER, and HURRICANE with Denzel Washington. Bringing guest speakers from the industry, Mr. Pastore will work with actors in this 4-week workshop to develop habits of preparation that will help you bring your acting skills to the demands of the business. You will learn to be organized and ready, to make strong and truthful choices, discovering the confidence and authority to stake your unique claim.

Chernova: Discovering Chekhov Through the Method of Etudes 2 – Scenes

Presented by: Snezhana Chernova

This class will run for the last 5 weeks of the Spring Term. If purchased with Discovering Chekhov Through the Method of Etudes 1 – Monologues both for $525

You will continue using the structured improvisation style that was developed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, and that you began exploring in Part 1 when working on monologues. You will work on dialogues and scenes from Anton Chekhov’s plays using your own images, feelings, words and personal experiences, communicating and exchanging ideas truthfully and artistically. You will interact with partners more effectively, trusting and connecting, learning to be co-creators, finding an individual understanding and revealing a unique awareness and appreciation of the playwright’s work.