Leavengood Acting Program
offered through Off-Central Players Education Department @ Studio Grand Central
Monday-Friday, June 6-17, 2022
9:00AM-12:00 Noon
Instructor: Bill Leavengood
Cost: $300 per week or $500 for full 2-week program
Ages: 11-18
Class size: 8-14 students
The Leavengood Summer Acting Program will offer multi-faceted, professional training for young performers.
Classes will focus on:
Monologues for Auditions and Competition - Each student will select, rehearse and present two contrasting monologues, with the guidance and direction of the instructor.
Uta Hagen Acting Exercises - Students will study and then present an Uta Hagen acting exercise focusing on Destinations, Sense of Privacy, Fourth Wall Focus, Endowment and/or Conditions.
Scene Study - Each student will be paired with one or more other students and will select, rehearse and present a duet or ensemble acting scene for the stage, with the guidance and direction of the instructor.
Improvisation - learn the rules and techniques used by professional improvisors and play a number of improv games which will hone your skills at teamwork and verbal agility to create “something wonderful right away.”
An Introduction to Shakespeare - working in teams, learn the basics of understanding and performing the poetry of the Bard.
Friday Showcase - 7:00 PM on Fridays, we will present highlights from the scenes, monologues, improvs and exercises the students have worked on during the week to invited friends and family.
About Your Instructor
Bill Leavengood is a veteran playwright, director, and teacher who has been working in the professional theatre for more than 30 years. He is a nationally-awarded, two-time Eugene O'Neill playwright, an alumnus of Circle Repertory, a current member of New Circle Theatre Company in NYC and the author of more than 50 plays, screenplays and books.
Leavengood’s successes as an acting instructor are spotlighted by his students who have routinely won Top Honors, Critic’s Choice and Superiors at District and State Thespian competitions as well as multiple state, regional and national scholarships and awards. His students have been accepted into the most prestigious Theatre programs including Julliard, Carnegie-Mellon, NYU-Tisch, UC-San Diego and Northwestern, among others.
Leavengood has been a guest lecturer and workshop leader at the Educational Theatre Association’s National Conference; Florida Association of Theatre Educators Conference, and the Florida Playwright’s Process at Ruth Eckerd Hall. As a teacher of Playwriting, he has helped his students at the high school and college level earn numerous national and regional student playwriting honors from the Blank Theatre, Hollywood; Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival; The Southeastern Theatre Conference; The Gorilla Theatre; Educational Theatre Association: and Young Playwright’s, Inc. NYC. His students’ plays have been published by Baker’s Plays and The Theatre Communications Group.
Leavengood’s own published works include Florida Bound , a collection of his plays, Hellenback High, Puss in Boots and the children’s book, Cat Moon Do. Leavengood has received grants from Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Council for the Arts, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the Berrilla Kerr Foundation. Other awards and honors include the Edith Oliver Fellows Award and "Best of the Bay" Playwright in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2005. He served as Artistic Director of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation from 2000-2005 and was a proud member of the faculty at Shorecrest Preparatory School for over 25 years. He belongs to the New Circle Theatre Company (NYC), the Dramatists' Guild, and the Writers' Guild of America. www.billleavengood.com
