Drama: Movement and Improvisation
Led SCGSAH Drama Faculty, Ebony Mills and Anne Tromsness, this Teacher Retreat will focus on creative expression through movement and expanding creative range through improvisation. Teachers will actively participate in exercises that help develop both important skills, and will leave with techniques, strategies, and activities that they can use with their students right away!
Workshops
- Movement for the Actor
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This workshop will be an active exploration of several techniques, strategies and activities aimed at helping artists utilize their bodies as a tool for effective, creative expression. Participants will take part in exercises designed to help the artist thoughtfully and organically develop and build a robust physical presence onstage, as well as craft rich, full characters and physical intelligence. Breaking the body/mind barrier and tuning into the actor's psycho-physical connection will be the goal of this active, hands-on, full-body class. Please come dressed to move; bare feet highly recommended.
- Improvisation Workshop
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Honoring the text by setting it aside? Yes! Improvisation is widely utilized as a performance form on its own, and it can also be a powerful tool in helping actors and director connect to the text, and develop a common vocabulary for the world of the play. This workshop, designed for teachers and directors, will demonstrate strategies for utilizing improvisation techniques in the rehearsal process, to deepen comprehension of the literal and essential aspects of the script, explore physical, social and psychological attributes of character, more freely express status and relationship between characters, as well as clarifying objective and obstacle.
We will work with the plot and characters and themes of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Please review the play and its plot before coming to the workshop. Also, bring questions and ideas about upcoming productions you and your students are doing, so we can brainstorm how to take this back to your program.
We will also touch on some strategies for teaching and engaging with performance improv in the classroom. Participants will leave with a menu of strategies and exercises suitable for use with both student and adult actors.
Who
This retreat is FREE to South Carolina teachers. The content of this workshop is designed specifically for drama and theatre teachers, teachers who sponsor drama clubs, or any other teacher who works in a drama or theatre setting. All workshop materials, meals, and hotel accommodations are included with registration. Professional development credit certificates are also provided.
When
November 18-19, 2022
Friday Evening
-Welcome Reception/Meet and Greet (dinner provided)
-Optional: SCGSAH Opera and Musical Theatre Performance
Saturday
- Workshops with SCGSAH Faculty (breakfast and lunch provided)
Where
Workshops will take place on the Governor's School campus.
Registration for this event is now full.
**$50 deposit is required to secure reservation and refunded upon successful program completion. Please contact jeffrobinson@scgsah.org with any questions about deposits.
- About Ebony Mills
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Hailing from Los Angeles CA, Ebony Afiya Mills has worked as an actress, singer, theatrical director, and songwriter. After studying voice, acting, and dance at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, and Television she relocated to the east coast where she worked as a performer in contemporary and musical productions in New York, Boston, and throughout New England; bringing to life the title role in “Aida”, Ronnette in “Little Shop of Horrors”, Sheila in “Hair”, Dottie in “Noises Off,”and Dime in “Five and Dime” (Disney), as well as performing in competition-winning productions at the Boston Playwright’s Marathon, SLAMBoston, and the Southern California Drama Festival. In addition to performance, Ebony has directed/co-directed multiple productions including Voices in
Conflict (Underground Railway Theater), The Rocky Horror Show, Tempest and Midsummer Night’s Dream (YTP Theater, LA). After earning a Master’s Degree in Education, Ebony has developed and implemented arts curricula aimed at training the next generation of great performers.“When Ebony is onstage, a certain electricity is present. It’s kind of hard to pay attention
to anyone else.” [Tony Award Winning director, Mel Shapiro] - About Anne Tromsness
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Anne Kelly Tromsness has worked as a theatre educator and teaching artist for over 20 years. A veteran actor and director, she regularly works in regional theatre and consults on productions in higher education as well. Anne formerly served as the Education Director at Greenville’s The Warehouse Theatre where she developed and implemented local and regional programming in theatre education, performance, and community engagement, building a nationally recognized Shakespeare touring program. Most recently, she served as the ARMES Drama and Theatre Foundations instructor at the Fine Arts Center, where she was recognized as the SC Theatre Association Outstanding Theatre Educator for 2020, and the 2021-22 District Teacher of the Year for Greenville County Schools.
She has taught at Christ Church Episcopal School, SC Children's Theatre, served as lead teacher for the SCGSAH IGNITE program, a summer intensive in creative process for middle school students, and as a teaching artist for the Metropolitan Arts Council's SMART ARTS. She worked with the SCGSAH Outreach department and the SC Arts Commission, developing SPARK!, a program using theatre arts integration to boost literacy in elementary students in Williamsburg and Jasper counties. In 2020, the program was recognized with a research initiative award through the Arts Schools Network, and has since been expanded to a year-round program in additional districts statewide, as part of the SC Arts Commission's Arts Grow SC initiative.
Anne was a founding Co-Artistic Director for The Distracted Globe Theatre Company, in residence for ten years at The Warehouse Theatre. She previously served as the Director of Outreach, and Community Service and Service Learning Coordinator at the SCGSAH. Anne holds a BA in Women’s Studies from the University of South Carolina, and an MA in Arts Administration from Winthrop University. Other areas of special interest include collaborative practice, improvisation, arts integration, and applied theatre. In 2018, Anne completed her teacher certification in the Michael Chekhov Technique for Acting and Directing, through the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the union representing professional actors and stage managers in theatre in the United States.
About the Governor's School's Outreach Programs
As a part of the Governor’s School’s mission to serve as a resource to teachers across the state, the Office of Outreach provides professional learning opportunities to enrich arts education in South Carolina. Learn more.