At the Centauri Arts Academy, we offer several performance-related programs, including Movie-Making, Playwriting & Performance, Devised Theatre and – of course – Acting Classes. Like all performing arts companies, we’ve faced our challenges over the past 10 months, and our instructors have found ingenious ways to ensure our students all have the opportunities to perform.
In-Person Acting Classes
If you could be a fly on the wall in our after-school acting classes, you’d be surprised to see how quickly the acting students have adapted to a socially-distanced approach to rehearsals and in-studio performance. In a recent acting class, students were asked to think of scenarios where two characters wanted to be together but were physically prevented from doing so. This idea made it credible that characters in the performance should be more than six feet apart. In one scene, two people were separated by a river. In another, an astronaut spoke with friends back on earth. Students performed their scenes for one another, each audience member socially distanced. I asked our acting teacher how classes had changed since COVID. She said that acting students had adapted so quickly to wearing masks and staying further apart that it hadn’t been an issue. “We need each other more these days,” she said, “so the biggest difference is I give them some time each week to socialise.”
Virtual Acting Classes
We’re been offering virtual acting classes since March, and twice our in-studio classes have moved temporarily online. Virtual acting workshops and performances work surprisingly well. In the summer, our acting camp staged a murder mystery on Zoom, with audience members invited to vote on who they thought had committed the crime. Dissecting a script, developing characters, building imagination and learning how actors use their voice: all these can be explored virtually. During the winter holidays, we’re offering a one-day intensive acting class to help students develop and record audition pieces. Now that arts high schools and drama programs require online auditions, these skills will be essential.
The Future of Acting Classes at the Centauri Arts Academy
Our acting workshops are thriving, but there’s no doubt we’ll need to be creative with our end-of-year performance in June. We’re already exploring options which will excite acting students and audiences alike. One such option is an in-studio performance, with a live feed to audiences at home – but a second option is even more exciting… an outdoor, socially-distanced show in the courtyard behind our studio, which will make use of existing balconies and windows.
Our acting classes continue to thrive, despite COVID-19. Perhaps that’s because we all need a little creativity as we adapt to a changing norm… and creativity is something that artistic people do well. But I think there’s a deeper reason: in difficult times, we need each other more, and we all have more we need to say. What better way to share meaningful experiences, and communicate them to others, than in an acting class?
To learn more, check out Centauri Arts Acting Classes for Teens
