OTR 2020 – West Region
West Region: April 25: Old Town Playhouse (Traverse City, MI)
Registration is only $39 and includes a lunch! Registrants will receive a discount code to their show if they’d liked to stick around and see it.
Old Town Playhouse
148 E Eighth St
Traverse City, MI 49684
(231) 947-2210
Rooms at $109.95 plus tax are on hold until April 13 at:
Park Place Hotel
300 E State St.
Traverse City MI 49684
(231) 946-5000
Mention CTM when registering to get the reduced rate of $109.95. This hotel is an easy walk to the Playhouse.
WORKSHOP CLASSES
Acting Class: Character Study with Ben Zylman
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Using Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs as source material, students in this class will move well beyond the fundamentals of acting. With an emphasis on multi-faceted character creation we will focus on the impacts of environment, relationship and back story. Additionally, one class session will focus on the art of performing comedy. If you want to be a better actor, this is the class for you!
INSTRUCTOR BIO: Ben Zylman is a multi-award winning actor and director whose career spans 40 years and 130 productions. A veteran of stage, radio, television and film, he has worked with Jerry Seinfeld, Chita Rivera, Mayim Bialik, Renee Taylor, and Claire Bloom, as well as Grammy Award winning artists Meredith Arwady and Timothy Nordwind. His training includes work with Paul Sills, the co-founder of The Second City.
Directing Class: The Empathetic Design Process with Stephen John
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Stephen is a proud theatre generalist and enjoys working with emerging designers, actors, playwrights, and theatres alike. His lecture on the Empathetic Set Design discusses his view that Set Design is at the heart of the audience experience in the theatre. It is often the first and strongest image that sets the tone for a theatrical event, yet is often not considered with any empathetic currency. The design process that he teaches is one that starts with an empathetic reaction to the text, then leads to collaboration with your design team in a more open and effective way. It often leads to wonderful discoveries, daring ideas, and more cost-effective ways of operating.
INSTRUCTOR BIO: Stephen John holds an MFA in Directing for the Theatre from the University of Idaho and a BA in Theatre from California State University at Fullerton. Stephen is a member of the professional Stage Directors Union (SDC – Stage Directors and Choreographers), ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education), VASTA (Voice and Speach Trainers Association), and has been awarded over fifteen Special Recognition Citations for Design by the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival where he is also an active respondent to local university productions. He is currently the Director of Theatre Design and Production for Interlochen Arts Academy and resides in Interlochen Michigan where he and his wife are raising their three-year-old son Andrew.
Administrative Class: They Call It Show Business For a Reason with Betsy Willis
CLASS DESCRIPTION: The success of a community theatre certainly depends on production quality, entertaining staging, and audience pleasing productions, but for most theatres there is also a need for effective leadership from its Board of Directors/Trustees. The Board must understand the business side of running a theatre, be aware of the need to supplement earned income with unearned income (and know the difference), and act as the conduit for community relations. The degree to which each of these needs is important depends, to some degree, on the size of the theatre’s budget and its stage of development.
By the end of the workshop(s), participants will better understand the responsibilities of Board members, how to build an effective Board for now and for the future, and what your Board members need to know to be successful. Additionally, each of you will leave with a better, more effective water cooler/elevator speech to share with patrons or community members.
Workshop: Board Development – useful for current Board members, professional staff, and those interested in growing their theatre’s community presence and business acumen
Part One (morning) – Building the Best Board for Your Theatre
- Learn where you are on the Stages of Community Theatre Development
- What type of Board you should have for that stage?
- Are you ready to move to the next level?
- What does that mean in terms of Board Development?
- Strength and weaknesses of your current Board
- Why a community-based Board is valuable to you
- Balancing business with creative thinking
- What role should your Board play in governance
- What role does your Board play in fundraising?
Part Two (afternoon) – What Your Board Needs to Know About Your Theatre in Order to Serve You Well
- Board orientation
- Mission statement – required for class
- Yearly budget or expenses – required for class
- How to figure your local economic impact
- What words will sell your theatre to the uninformed
- Water cooler/elevator speech
It is strongly encouraged that participants take both sessions of this class, but those choosing to attend only one session will still receive beneficial information.
INSTRUCTOR BIO: With over 17 years of theatrical management to her credit, Betsy Willis is one of the most highly regarded community theatre Development Directors in the state. Her depth of experience encompasses board development, staff training, budgeting, and oversight of daily operations. Betsy’s passion for fund development in general and grant writing led her to create corporate sponsorship programs, plan fund raising events, and understand that community theatres need to have strength in business as well as creativity in order to thrive. Formerly the Development Director of Old Town Playhouse in Traverse City, Betsy is now the position Development Coordinator at Grass Roots Natural Area. Additionally, her consulting business, which specializes in development, grant writing and strategic planning continues to thrive She currently serves as a grant panel reviewer for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, and received her Certificate in Fund Raising Management from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI in 2014.
Technical Class: Creating Faux Food for the Stage with Michael Wilson
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Michael Wilson will share his extensive experience in creating faux/fake food to be used in stage productions. Some of the topics to be covered will be: Why do we use fake food items? How do you find the right materials to use and where do you find them? What is the best way to present fake food so that it appears real? Real vs fake how to decide which will work better? Tricks and shortcuts to making fake food look real. How to store and preserve the props once they are created. What to use when you must have liquid beverages on stage and what to use when you don’t need real liquid. He will also have several of his food props as examples in the classroom. Bring your questions along to class and we will discuss/problem solve any of those items.
INSTRUCTOR BIO: Michael is the Prop Master for Grand Rapids Civic Theatre and has been working with properties for over 20 years. Before taking the reins of the props department at GRCT he spent 14 years as the Props Master for Opera Grand Rapids. He has also propped many shows for Circle Theatre, Grand Valley State University and Saugatuck Center for the Arts.
