Session 1

Acting for the Stage

Crafting Characters, Owning the Theatre Spotlight

Acting for the Stage introduces students to live performance. They explore core acting tools—voice, body, and imagination—to bring characters and stories to life. Students learn to create believable roles, connect emotionally in a scene, and collaborate onstage. Through movement and voice work, improvisation and short performances, they discover how focus, intention and bold choices engage an audience.

Acting is more than memorizing lines—it is understanding people and telling the truth onstage. This course pushes students to step beyond their comfort zones, take creative risks, and trust their instincts. Whether they plan to perform in plays and musicals or simply want more confidence speaking in public, students develop skills that carry far beyond the theater.

Curriculum

By the end of the course, students demonstrate a strong foundation in stage acting—voice projection, expressive movement, and character development. They perform with greater confidence, analyze scripts for objectives and subtext, and use rehearsal strategies that support ensemble work. They also build active listening, emotional awareness, and appreciation for the art and craft of live theater.

Throughout the course, students stay on their feet: warm-ups, improv games, monologues, scene work, and character creation through movement and voice. They rehearse and perform short scenes, give and receive constructive feedback, and finish with a showcase for an invited audience.

Acting class
Planned Topics

This course covers the core building blocks of stage performance, starting with body language, voice control, and stage presence. Students use movement and gesture to show emotion, project clearly and confidently, and stay present in a scene. They also explore key acting approaches—like Stanislavski and improvisation—to connect truthfully with characters and scene partners.

Students study script analysis, character motivation, and theater as a collaborative art. They break down scenes, identify objectives and obstacles, and bring scripts to life in rehearsal. Topics include ensemble work, blocking, memorization, and performance etiquette. The course ends with a final performance, where students showcase everything they’ve learned for a live audience.

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Leopold Grierson
Faculty Lead
Leopold Grierson

Assistant Professor of Acting, Directing, and Producing Across Media, MPRO, AMPD

MFA in Theatre, University of Maryland, 2025
BFA in Acting, Southern Oregon University, 2019

Leo Grierson is a Theatre Artist from Southern Oregon with a research focus on digital integration into live performance, with a special interest in digital theatre. Professor Grierson has performed, directed, and written plays across the United States and beyond, with work presented in London, Auckland, New York City, Washington DC, and more. 

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