Posted: September 11, 2024.
Act One and its instructors hope that everyone is having a safe and enjoyable return to school for the upcoming 2024/25 year. In the same light, with Act One’s classes scheduled to begin this coming week, we also want to keep all those who may be interested in the school's programs, updated on current registration status, important additions and changes to certain classes, as well as the status of past class and summer camp performance videos.
The topics below include both new announcements and some of the most common subject areas that we have been asked about over the past few weeks:
On-line registration for Act One’s 2024/25 Fall Term classes is now available. Classes begin Sunday, Sept 15/24. We can accept late registrations up until Thanksgiving week, as long as there is still space in the desired class.
For those considering classes for 2024/25, here are the start dates and current registration status (as of Sept 10/24) for each of our Fall classes (in order of when they begin):
A quick reminder that all previous students and/or Summer and March Break campers receive a 5% discount off class fees if continuing on this year.
You can find more detailed information on all classes on the school website. The on-line registration form can be accessed from here.
To help prospective students with advance planning, key registration, term and performance dates for the 2024/25 school year can be found here. Please note that these dates reflect our best planning given current circumstances. They are all subject to change, depending on future events.
Act One is excited to offer a new Musical Theatre-oriented class for students aged 12-18. This class is offered for those who wish to gain confidence and comfort with the movement aspects of Musical Theatre. Please note this is NOT a "dance" class. It is geared primarily for those students who have little to no formal dance training but wish to enhance their Musical Theatre performance range or those who do not wish to pursue a formal dance class format. Its objective is to help students pursue greater success in the Musical Theatre genre, rather than turn them into dancers.
More information can be found on the school website on the Classes page.
After a successful trial run last year, Steve Hobbs, Act One’s Improvisation instructor is excited to expand the availability of the younger Thursday Improvisation class by one year. We are now able to accept students aged 11-13 into the program. In order to be eligible for the class, a student will now need to be 11 years old, as of Sept 1/24.
More information can be found on the school website on the Classes page.
Due to changes in the Durham Region rural transit schedules for the coming year, for 2024/25, the Theatre for Ages 14-18 class will only run for 1.5 hours per week, from 8:00-9:30pm, instead of its normal 8:00-10:00pm. This time change is necessary to allow the instructor time to catch the last transit in the area where she lives.
The program has been adjusted to still cover all the previous subject areas and allow the same performance opportunities, while still fitting within the new 1.5hr class format for this year. Class fees have also been adjusted accordingly.
More information can be found on the school website on the Classes page.
Based on the success of last year’s Adult Improvisation class and feedback received from those participating in the Adult Improvisation drop-in sessions, Steve Hobbs, the school’s Improvisation instructor has re-formatted the adult program into two classes for the coming year. These are Adult Improvisation 1 and Adult Improvisation 2. Both classes will run for 32 weeks, starting Oct 20th. They will offer both a formal classroom educational format and three performance options throughout the year
Offered on Sundays from 6:00-7:30pm, this class is geared towards those who are looking for a less formal, more social and fun improvisational experience or those who are looking for an introduction to the world of Improvisation, with the long-term goal of progressing to more advanced and challenging concepts.
Offered on Sundays from 7:30-9:30pm, this class is geared towards those who are interested in exploring Improvisation from an in-depth professional perspective, either for personal growth or to enhance an actor's performance range and opportunities. Participation in this class requires at least one of previous performance experience, Adult Improvisation 1 or instructor approval.
More information can be found on the school website on the Classes page.
Almost all the 2023-24 year end show performance videos for the stage theatre, musical theatre and improvisation classes have been completed and posted to a private section of the school website. Emails providing the link to stream them were sent to the families of all students in the relevant classes. If you do not recall seeing an e-mail, please check your junk mail folder and if not there, feel free to contact the school and we would be happy to resend it. For anyone wishing to download a performance video for their own personal use, please contact the school so that we can send you the applicable access link.
The only exceptions are the Sunday, June 16th Musical Theatre for Ages 11-13 and 14-18 and Wednesdays Theatre for Ages 14-18 year end performances. These would normally have been completed by now, but a number of unexpected issues arose over the final week of August and early September. With those now dealt with, I expect to have these available within the next two weeks.
We hope all the campers who were able to attend one of Act One's 2024 Theatre Summer Camp’s four sessions enjoyed the experience and discovered some new things about themselves as performers. The performance videos from Sessions I, II and III have been posted to the school website in the Theatre Summer Camp section of the Student Gallery. Session IV is almost completed. I anticipate it being uploaded next week.
The camper short films from Sessions I and III are posted to the school website, in the Summer Camp Short Film Gallery but as mentioned in the year end video section above, various issues over the past few weeks have prevented me from working on any video editing for the Sessions II and IV films. I anticipate posting these two within the next two weeks. Once they are available, I will be sending an update e-mail to all relevant camper families.
I hope the above information helps answer many of the common questions I have had over the past couple of weeks and keeps everyone updated with respect to Act One's upcoming activities, as this Fall Term begins.
If anyone has any questions regarding this update or any other topic, please feel free to contact the school.
Sincerely,
Mark Nathanielsz
Owner/Artistic Director