Drama Studio Classes
Drama Studio acting classes are small in size and are taught by a professional faculty. Most classes include weekly 90-minute sessions over 24 weeks from September to May. Some classes are 60-minutes long and some intensives have fewer weeks per semester. All classes perform in an informal “sharing” of their work at the end of each session.
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INTRODUCTORY COURSES
There are no pre-requisites for these courses, and they are excellent for any student, regardless of their experience in acting. From students who are very shy to those who have been in many performances, these classes are a great introduction to the Studio's unique style and curriculum.
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Can’t wait until age nine to start at Drama Studio? Then wait no longer! Due to popular demand, we are now offering a class for younger actors. In “Acting Up” we’ll explore a fun introduction to acting through improv games, theatre play, stories-on-stage, and creative movement. Bring your imaginations as you get a head start and join us for a Drama Studio class just for you!
Acting Up (AU)
Ages 6-8. beg. 9/12/25 for 20 weeks
Section A : Fridays, 4:15-5:00PM, Register Today
Section B: Fridays, 5:10-5:55 PM, Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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Dive into the world of fun-filled Improv games and create scenes and stories on stage! Join us onstage as you build your acting skills, learn to take risks, and work with other actors. A great preparation for our full length year long class, 201, with a focus on improvisation building. This is a great class for our recent Acting Up graduates, or for those new to Drama Studio before they take 201, or for those wanting a second Improv course while in 201! Don’t miss out on Lights Up!
Lights Up! (LU) Ages 8 - 12 begins 9/5/25
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
Fridays, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
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Introduction to Acting is a full year course, September—May. This course offers an exciting curriculum to introduce students to the acting process. Both 201 and 301 offer work in improvisation, movement, scene and monologue work, and ensemble building. As students advance in acting skills, they learn to take risks, work comfortably within a group, concentrate, and think on their feet. They develop skills of self-expression, awareness, and “being in the moment.”
Introduction to Acting 201
Ages 9-12
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
Section A: Mondays, 5:50-7:20 PM, beg. 9/8/25 Register Today
Section B: Thursdays, 4:15-5:45 PM, beg. 9/4/25 Register Today
Section C: Saturdays, 1:15-2:45 PM, beg. 9/6/25 Register Today
Introduction to Acting 301
Ages 13-18:
Instructor: Sara Baraldi
Thursday, 4:15-5:45 PM, beg. 9/4/25 Register Today
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This course is a great way to start "life at the Drama Studio" in the spring and will prepare students for the 201 or 301 class in the fall. Come join us for a fun introduction to the Drama Studio's theatre classes! In just one semester, we'll sample improvisation games, scenes, monologues, and ensemble theatre. Students will also receive free tickets to all productions, and the chance to attend shows as a class.
Introduction to Acting 101
Ages 9-12
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
Saturdays, 3:00-4:00PM, beg. Spring 2026
Registration coming soon
Ages 13-18
Instructor: Eleanor Tynan
Tuesdays, 5:00-6:00 PM, beg. Spring 2026
Registration coming soon
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No previous experience needed for this fun introduction to choreography! This course introduces students to basic dance technique, emphasizing foundations of creative movement, modern and jazz dancing. Students will grow in body awareness, strength, flexibility, and coordination as they learn basic dance vocabulary, contact technique, and choreograph their own dances.
Introduction to Dance for Actors (IDA)
Ages 9-18
Saturdays, 10:00-11:00 AM, beg. 9/6/25
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
INTERMEDIATE SCENE STUDY
AND CONTINUING ACTING
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Prepare to advance your theatre training! What do you need in your next year of acting? In YAP each actor will have the chance to build his/her acting technique and skills through a broad range of improv games, script work, monologues and created ensemble theatre pieces. YAP allows for more in-depth individual focus on each actor’s goals, as the improv games and script selections will be developed based on each actor’s needs and advancement. What will your YAP year bring?
Young Actor Prepares (YAP)
Ages 10 - 13
Mondays, 4:15-5:45 PM, beg. 9/8/25 Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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Through creating and exploring different character forms, students will advance in acting skills, build scene study techniques, and gain improv experience. This course will allow students to zero in on their character work, and have the fun of creating a wide range of characters, from realistic to stylized. Through improv, monologues, stories, scenes, fantasy, and theatre games, students will have the challenge of fully investing in the characters they create and bring to life.
Character Work, (CW)
Ages 10-13
Thursdays 5:50-7:20 PM, beg. 9/4/25 Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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With material drawn from contemporary scripts, monologues, and improvisation, students learn how to approach a script, how to stage a scene, and how to bring a character to life. Students explore subtext, motivation, and relationships and learn about character development, improvisation, timing, and movement.
Introduction to Scene Study (ISS) Ages 10-14
Wednesdays, 4:15-5:45PM, beg. 9/10/24
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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Through improvisation, ensemble forms, writing, and scene work, students will develop monologues and scenes using material and stories from their own lives. The class will learn how to create a range of characters, interact in a performance ensemble, and further refine acting and movement skills. This course will create a series of pieces that highlight each student’s personal narrative.
Inside Out (IO)
Ages 11-15
Wednesdays, 5:50-7:20 PM, beg. 9/10/25 Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
IMPROVISATION AND COMEDY
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Using techniques of story theatre, students will create pieces based on the well-loved Aesop’s fables. They will select fables that have meaning for them and set them in improv pieces relating to their own lives. They will gain experience in creating a range of characters, both fabled and realistic, and develop monologue, movement, and ensemble skills.
Aesop’s Improv, (AI)
Ages 10-15
Saturdays, 11:30–1:00 PM, beg. 9/6/25
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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An introduction to the basic concepts of Improvisation for Actors. Students will learn how to create clear scenes by focusing on the Who, What, and Where. We will understand how to craft a good scene in the moment, using the tools of Yes And. A variety of fun and fast-paced games and exercises will give students a strong base from which to grow their improv skills.
Improv Technique (IT)
Ages 11-16
Tuesdays,5:15-6:45pm, beg. 9/9/25
Instructor: Phoebe Olin
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Students will develop an ensemble approach to improvised comedy scenes, with an emphasis on long form improv and character development. Enrollment by audition.
Advanced Improv Troupe (AIT)
Ages 13-18
Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30 PM, beg. 9/10/25
Instructor: Phoebe Olin
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From the stages of ancient civilizations to tv shows like Saturday Night Live, sketch comedy has delighted humans for thousands of years. Creating comedy sketches is easy if you understand a few basic principles. "Stick to the joke", "Exaggerate and escalate", "Figure out who's the weirdo and who's the normal", these are just a few of the hints we will learn as we take our random thoughts and expand them into fully realized comedy sketches.
Sketch Comedy
Ages 14-18
Friday, 5:00-6:30 PM, beg. 9/5/25
Instructor: Liam Toner
ENSEMBLE AND MOVEMENT
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No previous experience needed for this fun introduction to choreography! This course introduces students to basic dance technique, emphasizing foundations of creative movement, modern and jazz dancing. Students will grow in body awareness, strength, flexibility, and coordination as they learn basic dance vocabulary, contact technique, and choreograph their own dances.
Introduction to Dance for Actors (IDA)
Ages 9-18
Saturdays, 10:00-11:00 AM, beg. 9/6/25 Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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ICW is an intensive workshop class for dancers wishing more experience with choreography. Students will focus on developing small group dance pieces, working one on one with the instructor to develop the work, using choreographic principles, music, poetry, lighting, and...who knows? Enrollment by permission of instructor.
Intermediate Choreography Workshop (ICW)
Ages 13-19
Fridays, 7:15-8:15PM, beg. 9/5/25 Register Today
Instructor: Amelia Hays-Rivest
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A course in the art of stage combat, introducing students to hand-to-hand, quarterstaff and pole exercises, then moving to rapier and dagger, broadsword and longsword. Students will learn the rudiments of fight choreography and the rules of performing safe combat on stage.
Stage Combat (SC)
Ages 14-19
Saturdays, 11:!5-12:45 beg. 9/6/25 Register Today
Instructor: Sena Yacteen
ADVANCED ACTING
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Do you know the difference between Naturalism and Realism or between Surrealism and bsurdism? Ever heard of Epic Theatre? Is Farce just another comedy to you? Have no fear - Styles is here! This course will track the evolution of the dramatic arts by studying plays from various periods throughout history. Students will read scripts and perform scenes and monologues from multiple genres spanning the plays of ancient Greece through late Twentieth-Century America. An essential course for anyone who wants to understand the foundations of theatre.
StylesAges 15-18
Wednesdays, 5:00-6:30 PM beg. 9/10/25 Register Today
Instructor: Dan Morbyrne
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You're it! Want a class that gives you all the tools needed to become a commanding and versatile actor? That builds more advanced acting skills but also helps you embrace confidence on the stage? Look no further than The Actors Gym! In TAG, we will work together as a team to strengthen everyone's relationship to scenework, improvisation, monologue preparation, stage presence and sharpen and refine our acting muscles. Come out and join the team!
The Actor’s Gym (TAG)
Ages: 14-18
Monday 5:00-6:30 PM beg. 9/8/25
Instructor: Patrick O’Konis
SPECIAL INTEREST COURSES
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An exciting course for students interested in the craft of playwriting, based on the premise that playwriting is an extension of acting. Students will learn the basic principles of playwriting through written exercises as well as improvisation work and complete a one-act play (10-15 pages in length). Plays written on the adolescent experience will be eligible for production in the Studio's annual Winter Shorts Festival of one-act plays.
Playwriting (PW)
Ages 9-adult
Mondays 6:30-8:00 PM beg. 9/8/25 Register Today
Instructor: Patrick O’Konis
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An intensive course in musical theatre, with the emphasis on classical American song from the period 1910-1960. Students will build repertory, explore acting choices in presenting songs and develop a musical revue of songs to be presented at the final class each semester. Private coaching is a vital part of this course. As in recent years, the students will meet as a group about 5 times a semester; the remaining classes will be individual and can be flexibly scheduled.
Permission of the instructor is required.
Musical Theatre (MT)
Ages 13-18
Tuesdays, 4:15-5:15 PM, beg. 9/9/25
Instructor: Steve Hays
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Dive into the world of storytelling through an introduction to the basics of animation. Learn all about the 12 principles of animation, storyboarding, and the different formats for stories. From stop motion to hand drawn, we will learn the basic skills every animator needs to tell a story. By the end of our second semester each student will end up with a storyboard and concept art for an animated film and we will work together to create a mini 30-second trailer to share.
Animation for Actors
Ages 13-18
Tuesdays, 7:00-8:00 PM beg. 9/9/25
Instructor: Sena Yacteen
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This course offers an exciting curriculum to introduce adults to the acting process. Through an exploration of improvisation, scene work, movement, voice, and ensemble building, students will learn a variety of approaches to the art of performance. We will play, take risks, and develop skills of self-expression, awareness, and clear, truthful communication. Open to anyone ages 18 and up.
Adult Acting
Ages 18+
Tuesdays, 6:00-7:30pm, beg. 9/10/24 Register Today
Instructor: Eleanor Tynan