Theatre Company of Saugus

The Theatre Company of Saugus presented a Children’s Theatre Workshop during the summer of 2009. Running on two Mondays, on 27 July and on 3 August 2009, sessions were held from 8:30 AM until 3 PM. The location was the Cliftondale Congregational Church, at 50 Essex Street in Saugus, Massachusetts. It was fully subscribed.

The workshop was designed for children ages 7 to 11. Each day the children engaged in various exciting new theatrical activities, including: Singing, Dancing, Masks, Puppetry, Pantomime, Acting, Improvisation, and Arts and Crafts. The workshop focus was on preparing participants to audition as the Munchkins in our production of The Wizard of Oz.

The workshop director was Terrie Bater. Terrie has a degree in Theater Education, teaches in a dance school, and is a schoolteacher. She was assisted by Theatre Company of Saugus personnel with expertise in various aspects of theatre, including Bobby Imperato, who has several years experience supervising children’s drama programs.

There was no cost for the sessions, they were free. A limited number of spaces were available. All the information and registration materials are in the brochure.

This program was supported in part by a grant from the Saugus Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

The Theatre Company of Saugus presents a Free Summer Workshop on the Development of the Realistic Theatre. On Tuesday evenings at 7:30 during July and August 2008. Please revisit this page for late changes to the workshop schedule or subject matter. Continue reading →

Comedie Francaise, Moliere, Corneille, Racine, Theatre du Marais, Restoration, Commedia del Arte: What’s that all about?

The Theatre Company of Saugus is now in its third year of an ongoing educational program on the history of various styles of theater. Each year we have presented a series of sessions during the summer, free to the public. These are lectures by several highly qualified presenters, and/or participatory performance workshops. This is followed by a winter production of a play in that style. In the summer of 2004 we presented workshops on the history, language, and acting style of Shakespeare. This was followed in February 2005 by “Evenings With Shakespeare”, a presentation of shortened versions of two comedies, Midsummer Nights Dream and Taming of the Shrew. In the summer of 2005 we studied the Ancient Greek Drama, including the myths, comedies, tragedies, and theatres. In February 2006 we presented the Greek tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis, by Euripides.

In the summer of 2006 the Theatre Company of Saugus presented its third series of historical style workshops, on Understanding and Performing the French Neo-Classical Period of Theatrical Comedy, with emphasis on Moliere and the Commedia del Arte. The plan is to follow this up again with a related production; a comedy by Moliere to be performed in February 2007.

There were four weekly sessions, as follows:

18 July: History of the French Neo-Classical Period. Presented by Leo Nickole, emeritus professor of performing arts at Emerson College.

25 July: The Characters, Stories, and Style of the Commedia del Arte. Presented by Nancy Lemoine, drama teacher at Saugus High School.

1 August. Costumes of the French Neo-Classical Period. Presented by Rafael Jaen,Resident Costume Designer and Costume Shop Supervisor at Emerson College.

8 August. Performing on the French Neo-Classical Stage. Presented by John Conlon, emeritus professor of theater at U-Mass Boston.

The workshops were free and open to the public.

Those who wish to go further in the experience of French Neo-Classical Comedy may wish to participate in our full-scale production, of a comedy, to be determined, by Moliere, planned for February 2007.

The Theatre Company of Saugus held a series of free workshops this summer, entitled Understanding and Performing Shakespeare. We engaged several highly qualified presenters/instructors who lectured, demonstrated, and lead participatory exercises in the performance of Shakespeare, including speech, movement, and style. Sessions were planned for five Tuesday evenings during July and August. The schedule was as follows:

• Tuesday 6 July 2004: Shakespeare, a Man and His Times, a historical introduction, including the mechanics of the Globe Theatre. Presented by Nancy Lemoine, drama teacher at Saugus High School.
• Tuesday 13 July: Scene Study, Word and Action, interpreting Shakespeare for the contemporary audience. Presented by Laura Schrader, theater professor at U-Mass Boston.
• Tuesday 20 July: Speaking Shakespeare. Presented by John Conlon, emeritus professor of theater at U-Mass Boston.
• Tuesday 3 August 2004: Walk Like an Elizabethan, practicing the physical movement. Presented by Nancy Lemoine.
• Tuesday 10 August: Soliloquies in Performance. Presented by Nancy Lemoine.

The workshops were free and open to the public, and very successful. They were attended by 20-30 people at each session.