The Art and the Audition with Karen Kohlhaas
New York, NY
US

CONTACT NAME

Karen Kohlhaas

DESCRIPTION

Hi Everyone,

I’m looking forward very much to this year’s ART+LIFE class.

Join us to build inspiring and satisfying relationships between your ART and your LIFE, and prepare for the year ahead.

All info below. Feel free to reach out with questions. This class meets online.

~Karen

KAREN KOHLHAAS is a theater director, acting and directing teacher, filmmaker, author, and Tennessee Williams Scholar. Full bio at art-and-audition.com.

NOW ENROLLING

Fridays 10am-1pm Eastern | December 5, 12, 19, January 16 | Tuition $350

TO APPLY | Reply to this post and request the Friday group. Please send a statement of any length about where you are with your ART+LIFE. IF ANY PROBLEM with the Playbill link, please email me directly at [email protected]

ART+LIFE | Questions

Do any of these threaten or impair your artistic—and/or your art-business—life?

• Perfectionism

• Lack of focus/organization

• Procrastination

• Artistic despair, bitterness, or helplessness

• Overwhelm

• Not planning time or finances effectively

• Not feeling savvy enough about your business

• Drama (the bad kind)

• Uncertainty about the future

Or, are you simply looking for ways to up your artistic and professional game and get more out of what you're doing right now?

ART+LIFE | Outcomes

When I design any class, I start with the outcomes I want you to have. My goal is that you finish ART+LIFE with

• More of your art in your life on a daily basis

• New habits and systems that make the most of your time, money*, and energy (*we do examine where our money goes, but no one is ever asked to reveal any personal financial info)

• Concrete art & art-business goals and intentions for the upcoming year & ways to update and adapt and collaborate with what actually happens. The 6 month/1 year/2 year plans are based on a self-assessment process during the first 3 weeks of the class.

• Regular contact with inspiration and beauty

• Info, thoughts and plans for how you present your image to the world

• Winter rest practices that help set you up for the coming year

• The thrill of completing a personal challenge that I assign with your input

My agent began to send me out for more commercials after I sent them a sample of the work that I had been prompted to create in ART+LIFE, and I ultimately booked a commercial a month after taking the class! I took ART+LIFE in the midst of the pandemic when I was feeling very isolated and lost in my acting career. I was enormously glad that I did because the class gave me renewed vigor as an artist. Karen sets tasks that challenge you both as an actor and as a human being that ultimately serve to move you forward in your artistic and professional career. This class is invaluable for any artist looking to be inspired, challenged, and revitalized in their career. —REGINA GIBSON

We do a LOT in ART+LIFE, and, all of it is designed to unpack at your own rate throughout the year. We also do a 6-month check in.

"The number one benefit for me has been increased physical and emotional health and vitality along with a deeper relationship with my self and my inner creative/artist self. The class got me going on my actor reel, website and other business aspects of the actors life, and it also pulled the haze off my “north star”, my guiding light. I feel increased clarity about who I am and what I want to create with my voice, my gifts and my opportunities. I’ve watched how meeting weekly with another actor to rehearse, write, discuss business stuff and make small goals has made the journey more productive and fun. I’ve grown a lot in the last year and the journey feels less murky. The path feels brighter." —SINDA NICHOLS

ART+LIFE | How we do it

This class is an ideal way to prepare for a New Year. We focus on:

TIME AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT

• Build routines that support the often erratic schedule of an artist

• Create systems that prioritize your long term artistic success


• Practice self-care that builds your mental, physical, and emotional energy


• Learn financial practices that support your life needs and your artistic goals

INSPIRATION, CHALLENGE & COMMUNITY


• Touch what inspires you on a daily basis

• Identify role models and "inspiration mentors"

• Push your edge by completing a personal challenge assignment: after getting to know you and your goals, I give a personal challenge to each artist that might be art-oriented or business-oriented or both. You can accept, reject, or modify the challenge, but you know it's probably a good one for you if you are slightly terrified of it

• Take risks, and invest in and root for other members of the group as they take risks too


CRAFT

• Assess reflect, get feedback, and pinpoint where you are in your craft

• Figure out which areas you want to focus on and strengthen first

• Build no-matter-what, doable short routines that maintain and build your craft daily

BUSINESS

• Get savvy about the business of your art

• Develop thought-out strategies for increasing your business awareness


• Build business routines & systems

• Name clear business goals that support and enhance your career goals

• Build in systems to update and re-commit to goals

IMAGE | YOUR PRESENTATION TO THE WORLD

• Evaluate how you "face the world". How are you choosing to show the world who you are and what you do best? Wardrobe/appearance, website, reels, photos, social media. With the help of guest teachers, we'll look at options for making authentic and purposeful choices in all of these areas.

GOALS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS


• Finish with clear, testable, updatable 6 month, 1 year, and 2 year plans


• Execute your "brain candy" Projects small & large that you've always meant to do

• Use a series of tools & worksheets to assess where you are and set clear goals
, and ways to update them, because life IS change

• Schedule progress toward your goals in a way that works for YOU

I do this course every year without fail. ART+LIFE is my favourite time of year because it truly sets my artist mind afresh for the year ahead and makes me excited about the projects that lie in wait - especially the ones I create for myself and the ones that I’ve been dreaming of in my head. This past year I was able to easily work dedicated writing time into my schedule and now I have a finished short film and two plays on the go that I’m currently finishing. As an actor, we forget that we are artists everyday - not just the ones when we’re on stage or set. I have truly felt like an artist and fulfilled from the tools and realisation that ART+LIFE has given me. JAQUI SHIEL

MORE OF WHAT ALUMNI ARE SAYING

I think that in this time we are in, the greatest gift of this class is showing artists that even through our despair it is possible and vital to create and to create daily. Even if all you can muster is 5 minutes.

I booked a job!! I’m going to be a guest star on Law & Order SVU!! It was one of my ART+LIFE GOALS for 2020 that I thought wouldn’t happen this year because of lockdown. I’m so grateful for all your guidance & techniques.

Since class, I wrote a play and a webseries, directed a play, have been asked to perform my solo show, and got cast in an independent film!

I know where I want to be, and I have a map for getting there. So simple. So profoundly empowering as an artist. I know that even when I am not feeling motivated or inspired, I don't have to climb the mountain, simply do the steps. I know where I am in my progress. I don't have to reinvent the wheel every day.

This class changed my life. I have grown in my acting by facing one of my fears. It also got me to do one of the things I had been talking and thinking about doing for so long! If you are chronically late, messy, disorganized, crazy, afraid...this class will give you tools to face the world. It’s wonderful!

The class helps artists to think without any artistic/creative limitations. It helps artists feel free while still being productive by DOING. Also, it helped to trust that one creative thought can lead to another and that other thought can get us far, or can be the project of our dreams.

Two of my three mindmaps are coming true! I am going to LA for some pilot season stuff (which is SOOOO outta the blue and almost NOTHING to do with anything I tried to make happen!)....and I am in the process of moving! I LOVE THOSE FREAKIN MIND MAPS!!!

The "brain crack" lesson is huge.
I also think that when we wrote down every possible way to work as an actor for different jobs and venues was very helpful.
"Hello, This is Me" Monologue—super useful!

I felt passionately about only doing women driven projects and that has truly shaped my year. I've helped develop a few plays, all written and directed by women, playing strong female leads. I've done two all female short play festivals, shot the pilot and just wrapped the first season of a webseries with an all female crew. And shot the lead in my first TV pilot (will air in December) that was part of a writing contest helmed by the mayor to get more strong female voices in film and tv in NY! These experiences, in the safety and creativity of female heavy spaces, have facilitated huge growth for me in my instrument and coming into my power as an actor (something I've shied away from for some time) This was all born out of going back to my ART+LIFE tools (satisfaction survey, evaluation questions, 1 year plan) after the election when I was feeling very lost in deep grief and had no idea what my role as an artist was anymore.

Being asked to share and present material EVERY class kept momentum going for me. I couldn't slack off, and it propelled me forward into the projects I wanted to accomplish after the class.

I feel as though I have gotten closer to understanding what kind of work I want to do. The discipline and long term planning your class taught me has given me a lot of inner strength to pursue my own artistic path in the theater world.

I made a video of my vision/goals and am able to watch it every day to remind myself of my direction. This has helped ENORMOUSLY. There have been some tough creative times over the last few months - times of tears, and more tears, complete despair, resistance, and total angst. It has kept me moving forward on the path.

The things I turn to over and over again are the evaluation questions, those questions that you send out before the class starts, satisfaction survey, braincrack, the plans, and especially the time management baby step aspect.

DURATION

Dec 2, 2025 - Jan 16, 2026

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