Students in our Hamptons Theater Workshop, July 14-18 and July 21-25 from 3-5 pm, located in Bridgehampton will be working on a variety of acting techniques, improvisation, short plays, and a wide range of scenes this summer.

One thing that we will also make a bedrock of our curriculum will be that every student should come in on day one with a monologue that he or she will develop throughout the week. It can be from a play, movie, book, or even something original.

When I was in school many moons ago at Albany Academy in upstate NY, every year we had a declamation contest. It was a tradition that every student ion the school had to deliver a monologue in his English class, and then a representative was chosen for each class. Later there would be an all school assembly in which you would see orators from every class speak (middle and upper school). It was a fascinating event and you learn amazingly well how to connect and communicate with your audience. Most of Theater Workshop will involve collaborating with fellow actors, however we will be carving out a space for this type of monologue development with each actor.

We just finished our faculty meeting for Theater Workshop in Bridgehampton, summer camp 2024, minutes from Southampton and Sag Harbor, and I am very excited for our theater students this July!

We talked through how some students may be coming to us because they have more of an interest in dramatic theater, while other students may have more of an interest in musical theater. Where should the focus be? Our curriculum will be nimble, in that before Theater Workshop begins in July, we will have a conversation with each of our actors to understand their interests. Are your interests more geared towards drama, comedy, musical theater, Shakespeare, or are you open to many different types of theater?

Based upon the interests and experience of our students, we will choose which short plays, acting exercises, and improvisation techniques to choose from. Everything flows from the concept, teach the student, not the subject. Once you understand the student, the subject and your approach to it, comes effortlessly.

It’s also our job to introduce new ideas and materials that our new students may have not encountered. This is where the art of theater and the art of teaching meet.

See you this summer in Theater Workshop, Monday-Friday, 3-5 pm)!

The Art of the Monologue, Bridgehampton Theater Workshop this July

Theater Workshop, Faculty Meeting, Bridgehampton Summer Camp 2024