Begins september 30, 2024
Monday – Thursday
6:45pm – 10pm EST
Additional rehearsal hours required
Applications are Now Open! Apply by Nov 17!
Questions? Email admissions@atlantictheater.org.
Designed for the working actor, the Evening Conservatory distills the physical, emotional, and analytical tools of acting into a concentrated three-semester program. Students will push beyond their creative comfort zones to take their talents to new heights.
Evening Conservatory Training
Atlantic Alumna Ella Rae Peck (Image: The Hollywood Reporter)
Opportunities:
- Rigorous scene study training
- Final performance project
- Graduates eligible for Annual Alumni Showcase
- A professional network for life
- & more!
The Fall Semester
The first semester concentrates on the foundational work of the Atlantic Technique. Emphasizing script analysis, playing an action truthfully, and working moment to moment, students learn the basics of vocal production, speech and movement technique, while taking work habits to a higher professional level.
The Spring Semester
The second semester solidifies the students’ understanding of script analysis and encourages integration of emerging skills through the in-class performance of semester-long rehearsal projects. Students also embark on an exploration of a structured improvisational character study which they write, research and perform. This semester culminates in an informal workshop performance open to friends and family.
The Summer Semester
The last semester challenges students to apply their training under the pressures of performance. Work includes advanced scene study, an ensemble performance project and preparation for the business.
Core Classes Include
Script Analysis, Moment Lab, Performance Technique, Voice, Speech, Movement, Production, Business, and Casting.
Evening Conservatory Courses Include:
Students are introduced to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with a concentration on intentional and clear speech that serves the story. The importance of IPA fluency is stressed as a practical tool for ‘scoring’ classical text and learning dialects. Poetry and Shakespearean sonnets are used as application opportunities for further skill development. Advanced Speech classes can include the formal introduction of dialect work.
Students explore on- and off- camera auditions, including: Monologues, Cold Readings, Audition Sides, Callbacks and the Interview Process. By working with a professional casting director to examine how on-camera acting differs from acting for the stage, students gain confidence and experience in front of the camera, as well as the necessary skills to aid them in winning the role.
The Laban/Bartenieff principles are used to explore, describe and analyze movement to promote physical clarity and specificity. The class develops body awareness, strength, flexibility, and coaches actors toward becoming more physically centered for ease and efficiency in movement. Grounded in Suzuki and ViewPoints work, students are introduced to work and vocabulary that rigorously trains their bodies, physically challenges them, and develops in them greater physical expressivity.
Business class defines and demystifies how actors actually go about getting a job. This class looks at what function agents, managers and casting directors fill and how actors engage with them. Students learn self-tape technique and prepare materials, such as resumes and headshots, in order to effectively enter the professional arena.
Students work on scenes of increasing length and difficulty in order to learn the steps of analysis and develop their stagecraft. Emphasis is placed on finding clear, compelling objectives, playing those objectives truthfully and learning how to stage scenes effectively. Great attention is paid to developing professionalism, maturity and ensemble spirit in the class groups. In advanced Script Analysis, students take on a Throughline Rehearsal Project in which they are directed by a faculty member in a substantial group scene. Scenes from the plays are brought in for multiple rounds. In each round, the scenes lengthen and the students learn to deepen their interpretation of the scene and the play. For their final presentations, students address the design aspects of their plays, using their ingenuity to stage the scenes as fully as possible. Advanced Script Analysis may focus on canon-specific work such as Chekhov or American Writers.
This class provides students with a set of physical habits that complement those learned in Script Analysis. The actors learn how to implement an analysis through improvisation-based exercises and scene work. The focus is on how to simplify acting and find the parallels between behavior in real life and behavior on the stage, bringing together skills learned in Moment Lab with those learned in Script Analysis.
In Moment Lab, actors explore their potential to “act before they think.” They are readied to dive into the given circumstances of a play with impulsive freedom, curiosity, and dynamism. By prioritizing heightened presence, holistic listening, and brave intimacy in their acting, students learn to deepen and expand their improvisational skills, with and without text. The lab encourages the honest and specific connection to another actor in each and every moment of performance. Using Sanford Meisner’s Repetition exercise as a touchstone to practice heightened moment work, and drawing on ideas and philosophies from various performance aesthetics, actors will focus on the concept of “radical presence” in their acting via a range of exercises, etudes, improvisations, and short scenes.
In the first semester, actors are introduced to Whole Body Voice© work which is rooted in the methodology of the late great voice coach Chuck Jones. Actors explore breath connection and a flexible, strong, expressive speaking voice range via a dependable warm up sequence. In the second semester, actors deepen into their warm up practice and work on application of the vocal exercises using various assigned and chosen monologues. Vocal power, stamina and sustainable vocal health is explored at this intermediate stage. The focus is also on a playful and specific interdisciplinary process, addressing vocal challenges arising in acting class scenes. Adding to the toolbox, in the third and final semester, is Fitzmaurice Voicework©, a bioenergetic approach to voice that builds on the first two EC semesters. As actors go into production rehearsals for their one-acts, they own a diverse and professional vocal toolset for their whole body as a healthy speaking instrument. Your whole body is the vessel for active listening and speaking truthfully, in the moment.
Alumni Testimonials
“The Atlantic technique has given me so much confidence. When I get an audition or take on a new monologue, I have a toolkit that makes connecting with roles so much more fluid and natural.”
– Michelle, Class of 2018
“Learning a technique for script analysis is the greatest gift I have received as an actor.”
– Chris, Class of 2019
“I learned so much from the faculty and gained an entire group of fellow actors as friends. Being a part of that group has been invaluable toward my growth as a performer.”
– Vienna, Class of 2019
Health & Safety
At this time we will no longer be requiring masks or proof of vaccination from Atlantic staff, faculty, or students. Click here for additional information.
2023 Evening Conservatory Graduates
Yessica Armero
Bart Blachnio
Yuri Buives
Samara Graham
Yasmin Keita
Sooah Madison
Dante Montgomery
Jess Mount
Izzy Raye
Anson Romney
Kolbe Scott
Remi Segal
Jack Tavcar
RJ Wilson
