Dates: July 27 – August 7, 2009
Hours: Noon – 7 p.m.
Location: Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 1524 35th St., NW, Washington, DC 20007
Ages: students entering grades 10, 11, 12 or the summer after high school graduation
Description
Arena Stage Academy’s Musical Theater Training Company provides professional training for the serious student in American musical theater. Taught by expert faculty, company members train in singing, acting and dance technique in daily classes. They then apply these skills in rehearsals, working toward a polished, final showcase. Members of this elite ensemble learn the importance of training within their art form, experience the professional rehearsal process within a company, and begin to develop a professional network.
Faculty
The Musical Theater Training Company faculty represents the high standards of musical theater and education professionals. All members have worked regularly on Arena Stage’s mainstage productions, and demonstrate the excellence that comes with arts training.
Parker Esse (Choreographer/Instructor) starred on Broadway in Fosse and has appeared in South Pacific, Camelot and Damn Yankees at Arena Stage. He choreographed the world premiere and national tour of Katie Couric’s The Brand New Kid (The Kennedy Center) and the world premiere of A Christmas Carol 1941, as well as The Mystery of Irma Vep (Arena Stage). Most recently Parker was associate choreographer on the Broadway musical A Tale of Two Cities and assistant choreographer on the critically acclaimed production of On The Town for City Center’s Encores. Regionally, Parker has appeared in A Chorus Line (TUTS), Swing! (North Shore), Will Rogers Follies (Sacramento Music Circus), and Mame (Kennedy Center). He served as associate/assistant choreographer with Warren Carlyle on Mame (The Kennedy Center); Pirates! (Paper Mill Playhouse and Goodspeed); Dancing in the Dark (The Old Globe); and Stairway to Paradise, Juno, and Finian's Rainbow (City Center’s Encores). He has assisted Baayork Lee on Mack and Mable (Shaw Festival Theater) and South Pacific, Camelot and Damn Yankees (Arena Stage). He holds a B.F.A from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
George Fulginiti-Shakar (Music Director/Instructor) is a music director, pianist and vocal coach for major theatrical and cabaret performances in the Washington area. He was awarded the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Music Direction of Arena Stage’s acclaimed production of Cabaret and has an additional seven nominations for other productions. His most recent production was Grey Gardens at Studio Theatre. His other credits include Shakespeare Theatre, Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Center Stage (Baltimore), Public Theater (NYC), Ohio Theatre (NYC), Perseverance Theatre (Juneau, Alaska), and Athens Theatre Festival (Greece). George was also a guest music director at the Eugene O’Neill Music Theater Conference as well as choral master for the past seven international Army Soldier Show tours. He is on the teaching faculties of Studio Acting Conservatory and Theatre Lab and regularly gives master classes at American Univ., George Washington Univ. and Catholic Univ. He is president of the board of DC Cabaret Network.
Lynn McNutt (Director/Instructor) has appeared at Arena Stage in Cabaret and Damn Yankees. Ms. McNutt appeared in the national and international tours of Annie (also Goodspeed) and regionally in A Moon for the Misbegotten, Crimes of the Heart, Major Barbara (Charlotte Rep); She Loves Me (Indiana Rep); The Spitfire Grill (regional premiere, Carbonell nom, Florida Stage); Northanger Abbey (world premiere, OOBR Award Best Play, NYC); Margaret of Anjou, Claudius (self-directed and adapted, Flatiron Theatre, NYC); The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Maid’s Tragedy (Shakespeare Theatre, ACA). She holds a B.F.A. from Florida State Univ. and an M.F.A. from Shakespeare Theatre’s Academy for Classical Acting. In addition to her work on stage, Lynn is currently on the faculty of the Univ. of Miami in Florida, teaching in their conservatory music theater program. She has also taught for Camp Arena Stage.
Anita Maynard-Losh (Producing Artistic Director) leads the theater’s education and outreach programs and also directs Camp Arena Stage, the theater’s multi-arts summer camp. She trained and taught at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, was on the faculty at Webster Univ. in St. Louis, headed the theater department at Univ. of Alaska Southeast and was Associate Artistic Director of Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, where she directed 18 mainstage productions, including 10 musicals. She also directed four operas for Juneau Lyric Opera. The Alaska Native-inspired production of Macbeth that Anita conceived and directed was performed in English and Tlingit at the National Museum of the American Indian as part of the Shakespeare in Washington Festival. She has been an assistant director, dialect coach and vocal consultant on numerous productions at Arena Stage and is a member of VASTA.
Final Showcase
Date: August 7, 2009
Time: 7:30 p.m.
The Musical Theater Training Company presents its final showcase for family, friends and members of the Arena Stage artistic team, including its casting director.
Facilities
Classes are held in the beautiful, air-conditioned classrooms, dance studio and performing arts facilities at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. Rehearsals and the final showcase are held in the renovated, 500-seat theater in Nolan Performing Arts Center.
Requirements
Serious, focused students entering grades 10, 11, 12 and the summer after high school graduation are encouraged to register.
No audition is required. Company members will be evaluated in dance, singing and acting on the first day.
Tuition: $1,000. Financial aid is not available at this time.
Registration:
Register online >
A nonrefundable deposit of $300 is due upon registration. The balance of tuition is due April 15, 2009. After April 15, no refunds will be made for dismissal, absence, withdrawal or delayed attendance.
Contact:
Anita Maynard-Losh, Arena Stage Academy
1101 6th St., SW
Washington, DC 20024
academy@arenastage.org
(202) 234-5782
Proceeds from the Arena Stage Academy help support educational programs offered at little or no charge by the Community Engagement Division of Arena Stage.
Arena Stage Academy admits students of any race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin and does not discriminate in the administration of its educational admissions, personnel or financial aid policies.
