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

CONTACT NAME

Karen Kohlhaas

DESCRIPTION

I'm very excited once again to offer this residential January week, teaching alongside the great playwright Lucy Thurber.
Clarksdale, Mississippi is a small southern town with a huge amount of American and theater history. It's a literary, Blues, and Civil Rights destination, and was the childhood home of one of the greatest and most prolific American playwrights, Tennessee Williams.

We have had an *amazing* time in the previous workshops (this will be the 3rd). The community welcomes visitors from all over the world and offers the best in Southern hospitality. There is live Blues every single night of the year in Clarksdale, which was the former home of many Blues legends including Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf.

The acting and writing workshops happen simultaneously, with some overlap (the actors will perform the writers' works at the end of the week, and we may do a reading of one of Lucy's plays).

The two workshops are:

• All-Tennessee Williams scene study with me

• Playwriting with Lucy Thurber

We currently have limited space open in both the acting and playwriting groups.

Below is a general schedule and info to give you an idea of the workshops; please write for complete information and interview.

~Karen Kohlhaas
(our bios are below)

GENERAL SCHEDULE

The workshops meets Sunday January 12—Saturday January 18, which means travel days are Jan 11 and Jan 19. You of course can come earlier and stay later if you like.

PRE-JANUARY 12 | Arrive, explore the town and area, hear live blues music.

SUNDAY JANUARY 12 | Optional church service at St. George's Episcopal Church (Williams' grandfather's former parish). Anytime between 11am-1pm, visit the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum, and then a by-car tour to local Williams-related sites at which actors will read Williams monologues and scenes that are set in those places. We will end with a drive to historic Moon Lake, featured in many of Williams' Delta plays, and see the former Moon Lake Casino, the location of Blanche's husband's suicide in Streetcar, and the setting for scenes in Summer and Smoke and other plays. We'll end with a group dinner at a Moon Lake restaurant.

MONDAY-FRIDAY JANUARY 13-17 | General daytime schedule (EXCEPT for Wednesday 1/15 which is a day off)

Actors: Tennessee Williams scene study with me half the day and rehearse half the day. We'll do scenes from plays including those set in/influenced by the Delta, and we will use the Practical Aesthetics acting technique..

Playwrights: Playwriting class with Lucy half the day and write half the day.

Evenings | Blues, Delta history, play readings

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18

Final day of classes; preparation and public performance of scenes from class; and actors reading scenes by the writers. End with final group dinner.

**There will also be a yoga class option on most training days**

SUNDAY JANUARY 19 (or after if you wish) | Departure

Actors need to have previous training and experience; no experience with Practical Aesthetics or Tennessee Williams is required, but you should have had serious scene study / conservatory training and be willing to deeply study your play before we begin. Please send a resume when you apply.

Playwrights should currently be actively writing and should have completed work they can send in as a writing sample.

Auditors of the acting workshop can be at any level of experience, and should have deep interest in the subject matter.

Everyone is asked to apply only if you are ready to bring a professional-level work ethic and conduct to these trainings. For scene study, please only apply if you are willing to be a very prepared, generous and respectful scene partner.

Tuition

• Actors | $695 / Auditors $350

• Playwrights | $695

Attendees are responsible for their travel, meals, & housing.

Air Travel, Cars, and Hotels
The closest major airport is Memphis, about 75 miles north of Clarksdale. Some cars will be needed; in the past it has worked for some to rent cars (or drive your own car to the workshop) and others to chip in for gas. Hotels, BNB's, Airbnb's, and Hostels are available in a range of prices starting at about $65/night.

HOW TO APPLY
Actors and Auditors of the acting workshop: Please reply to this post with headshot and resume;
Playwrights: Please reply to this post with a writing sample and anything you want us to know.

You will be contacted soon for an interview.

Please also feel free to write with any questions.

Karen

bios

KAREN KOHLHAAS is a Director, Teacher, Author, Filmmaker and Tennessee Williams scholar. Director: Karen is a founding member of New York's Atlantic Theater Company, where her productions include plays by Harold Pinter, David Mamet, Annie Baker, Keith Reddin, Shel Silverstein, Joe Penhall, Hilary Bell, and Kate Moira Ryan. She has also directed for the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Live Arts, 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, the Alley Theatre, Houston, New Dramatists, Menagerie Theatre in Cambridge, UK, The Culture Project, the Practical Theater Co. in Sydney and others. Teacher: Karen has over 30 years teaching experience and is a senior teacher at the Atlantic Acting School. She teaches her own online classes in Monologues; Fearless Cold Reading, Advanced Acting; and Directing. She has taught guest workshops around the country and internationally including theaters, schools, conferences and universities in Atlanta, Austin, Seattle, Memphis, Dallas, Cleveland, Burlington, Oklahoma City, Miami, Mississippi, the UK and Australia, and also Monologue Teacher Training to university and high school teachers. Author: Karen's books include The Monologue Audition: A Practical Guide for Actors; How to Choose a Monologue for Any Audition, and the Monologue Audition Teacher's Manual. Filmmaker: Karen's films include two with acclaimed performer/playwright Taylor Mac, and several short documentaries and instructional films. Tennessee Williams Scholar: Karen is currently editing a feature documentary about Tennessee Williams in the Mississippi Delta. She is the curator of the Tennessee Williams Rectory Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and is frequently a presenter and panelist at the New Orleans and Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festivals.

LUCY THURBER is the author of twelve plays: Where We’re Born, Ashville, Scarcity, Killers and Other Family, Stay, Bottom of The World, Monstrosity, Dillingham City, The Locus, Perry Street, The Insurgents Transfers, and Port Isabel, Texas. Transfers was part of The New York Stage and Film 2016 Powerhouse Season and produced at MCC in 2018 . Lucy helped create COMMUNITY WORKS at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she wrote Orpheus in the Berkshires and Once Upon a Time in The Berkshires and Taiga in The Berkshires. The Insurgents was produced at Labyrinth Theater Company and Contemporary American Theater Festival. Her five play cycle The Hill Town Plays was produced Off Broadway by Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater in-conjunction with The Cherry Lane Theater, The Axis Theater and The New Ohio Theatre. Her play SCARCITY was originally produced at The Atlantic Theatre. Lucy wrote the text for QUIXOTE, conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet, a site-specific performance with the Psalters made for and with The Broad Street Community, also with Lear deBessonet and produced by 13P, Monstrosity. Lucy is published by Dramatists Play Service. She is an alumni of New Dramatists, A member of 13P, Labyrinth Theater Company and Rising Phoenix Rep. She got to spend time with Sundance Theatre at UCROSS in Wyoming. Lucy has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Houses on The Moon, Yale Rep. Williamstown Theatre Festival, A.C.T. and Steppenwolf Theatre. She is the recipient of Manhattan Theatre Club Playwriting Fellowship, the first Gary Bonasorte Memorial Prize for Playwriting, a proud recipient of a LILLY AWARD, an OBIE Award for The Hill Town Plays and The Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwriting Award and OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE - BEST PLAY for TRANSFERS produced by MCC. She has written for SWEET BITER on STARZ and is a writer Producer and AMC’s NOS4A2 and Amazon’s OUTER RANGE and YOUTH. She has written screenplay’s for Debra Granik, Rachel Weisz and Maven. Lucy has developed with FX, HBO, Nanette Burstein, Sarah Paulson and Lena Dunham.

DURATION

Jan 12, 2025 - Jan 18, 2025

SALARY

$0.00 – $0.00 per hour

APPLY BY EMAIL

0df33ad9-c9d8-413a-a01b-3c7025936878…
^*NOTE: Do not copy/paste the above email address as it is encoded with SPAM protection. Just click it to initiate an email from your preferred email client.