| August 2011: |
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In addition to preparing for another school year, the end of August saw Act One's best summer yet for its theatre summer camps. Over 150 summer campers particiapted in one of our camp sessions and helped create and perform 21 original theatrical works! We were also excited to be able to further enhance the campers' theatrical experience this summer by introducing elements of puppetry, poetic theatre and short film projects to our previous camp format. All this and we were still able to keep the traditional session water balloon fights! Due to scheduling issues we unfortunately had to postpone the introduction of our summer Theatre Intensive for Ages 14-18 session until next year. We thank everyone for their tremendous initial interest in the program and are excited to see it in action "under the lights" next year. You can check out the various videos and photos from the summer camp sessions in our Photo Gallery section. |
| June 2011: |
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Once again June was a crazy month here at the school as our performance stage was home to 14 year end student productions. Act One wishes to extend its thanks and congratulations to the over 140 students who, through their dedication, enthusiasm and creativity, made it a month of incredible "drama"....the good kind! We also extend our deepest appreciation to the almost 1,000 audience members who came out to help support and encourage the students in all their performances. We hope everyone found it a memorable and educational experience. You can check out the video trailer from the shows here. |
| Mar 2011: |
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March saw Act One have the priviledge of running its largest March Break Theatre Camp yet. The week's activities and camper creativity culmulated in the Friday afternoon camp show. You can view photos of the week and the show itself here. We were also excited to present our largest Weekend of Monologues production to-date Over 90 students participated in this year's showcase of their solo performance skills. Over the three days, Act One was host to fear, anger, love, jealousy, ghosts, aliens and much more as the students explored a range of themes and human emotions. You can view the show video trailer and photo gallery here.
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| Feb 2011: |
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February saw the 2011 edition on the Winter Cabaret wrap up on the Feb 5-6th weekend. Immediately following this Act One was happy to have seven of its students enter three performance pieces into the 2011 Voice Impact Project Drama Competition, that was held in Newmarket this year. As the month went on, most of the classes moved into focusing on the next stage in school year, solo performance and monologues. This year Act One was happy to be able to add an additional 60 new monologue pieces to the school collection that the students can draw from as they improve their skills in this area. All this effort will culminate in the students' Weekend of Monologues show at the end of March. |
| Jan 2011: |
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January was primarily devoted to final preparations for the students' first performance event of the year. This year's Winter Cabaret 2011saw 36 performance pieces presented by over 100 students over the course of the first 3 evenings (Jan 28-30th). There are two more shows on the Feb 5th and 6th weekend as well. On behalf of the school and its instructors we can not compliment the student's enough for their hard work and growth over these past weeks leading up to the show. We would also like to express our gratitude and appreciation to all the parents and guardians for their support and flexibility during the hectic rehersal period. Without it, none of this would be possible. Lastly, but by no means least, we also thank the audiences who attended for helping provide a supportive and enthusiastic environment in which these young performers were able to take risks and challenge themselves both personally and creatively. |
| Dec 2010: |
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December once again has seen the school and its students begin the transformation into "performance mode" as all the classes begin their preparations for Act One's mid-year Winter Cabaret at the end of January. For the third year in a row, our show has had to expand to accommodate all the students and anticipated audience. This year over 130 students will be presenting over 40 performance pieces over five evenings during the Jan 28-30th and Feb 5-6th weekends. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement and in anticipation of the expanded Winter Cabaret, Act One will also be installing full theatrical curtains on the stage in its performance studio. This will help provide a much more theatrical experience for all the participants both in January and for all future shows. |
| Nov 2010 |
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November was an exciting month for Act One as we once again were able to expand and upgrade the school's capability to deliver an even greater drama experience for both our students and their families. To better support the On Camera film classes we have acquired a Panasonic AG HVX200P film camera, along with a full field microphone kit. The HVX200P has long been a favorite of independent filmmakers and is one of the most popular and common cameras in use today. To support presentation of the film classes film projects and to expand our theatre summer camp experiences we have also installed a HD Film Projector and 135" projection screen to enable our studio to provide fuller cinematic film experience. |
| September 2010 |
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September marks the fourth consecutive year that Act One's student enrollment has increased. The school and its staff continue to be honoured and humbled by the faith and support that both returning and new students alike put in our dedication to provide fun and effective quality drama training to Durham Region. As part of our commitment to improvement Act One has acquired new drama collections in order to expand the scene and monologue libraries available to our students by 30%. We have also invested in new backstage communications equipment to allow for more challenging and better coordinated student productions. We look forward to a fun and theatrically-challenging 2010-11 school year. |
| June 2010: |
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June is always a crazy time around Act On. This year was no exception. The month saw Act One, its staff and students present 13 shows and 2 short films in 19 days! Congratulations are due all the staff and students for their accomplishments this year and a special thanks to the parents, families and friends who made up the incredible audiences. You can check out the video trailer and photos from all the shows here. We hope it was both entertaining and educational for all. All in all a great celebration of the past ten months and a promising hint of what we hope to accomplish next year. In between now and then, Act One is gearing up for another fun summer of theatre camps. In closing, Act One is also pleased to announce that its students have been accepted as the entry in the short film category of the September 2010 Uxbridge Festival of the Arts 25-hour Masterpiece Competition. More on this in the coming months. |
| May 2010: |
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The month of May saw all the school's classes transition their full attention to preparing for their year end productions. This year will see students explore the comedic styles of farce, vaudeville and slapstick, as well as gain experience in interactive and multi-directional play structure, among other dramatic themes. The On camera classes finished adapting suspense and flashback plays into film screenplays and have commenced filming, while the Musical Theatre classes are hard at work integrating the singing and dancing components into the stories of their respective musicals. On a slightly different note, Act One was pleased to be able to offer the school's performance studio for the final tech rehearsals for "Back to You: A Dear John (Mayer) Letter", one of the theatrical entries in this year's Toronto and Los Angeles Fringe Theatre Festivals. |
| April 2010: |
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The first two weeks of April saw over 80 students from the school participate in our Weekend of Monologues shows. Held as an opportunity for the school's students to gain valuable experience in preparing and presenting solo performance work, the trio of shows saw a wide range of comedic and dramatic monologues ranging from a dog's take on the world to dealing with drug abuse and gun violence, from the lovesick to the pitfalls of looking for a prince among toads. |
| March 2010: |
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March saw the school host a number of different activities. In addition to our annual March Break Theatre Camp, the school also had the opportunity to host a local charity event and provide a performance venue for the workshopping of an new film screenplay that is currently under development. On a slightly different note, the studio is now being used by a local group to present Pilates classes on Mondays. |
| February 2010: |
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The start of our 2010 Winter Term saw 12 students have the opportunity to participate in the Voice Impact Project Drama Competition in Richmond Hill. The students had a successful and enjoyable experience presenting a number of short 2 and 3-person scenes as well as monologues. |
| January 2010: |
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January is always a busy month and this one was no exception. Due to the number of students enrolled at Act One we were required to expand our Winter Cabaret to four shows from three in order to accommodate all the students' performances and the audiences who wished to watch them. This year saw 120 students present 40 theatrical, film, musical and improvisational performance pieces over the course of the January 22-25th weekend. A photographic sample of some of the highlights can be viewed in the schools Photo Gallery section. At the same time the school is also preparing to welcome upwards of 20 new students who will be joining us for the Winter Term and we are putting in place the final details for another fun March Break Theatre Camp from March 15th to 19th. |
| December 2009: |
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December saw the school's focus turn towards helping the students study and interpret their performance pieces for the Winter Cabaret. Further improvements to our reception area were completed to help improve audience enjoyment while waiting in our front foyer. The month also saw Act One play host to Community Living's annual Christmas show and a charity variety show for impovrished children. |
| November 2009: |
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November saw us continue our current facility renovation and upgrade efforts. Work was undertaken to correct some long-lingering cosmetic issues. We have upgraded the studio audio-visual cabling and can now support a wide range of audio-visual equipment and needs both on-stage and in front of it. Students and their families will also enjoy the benefits of a fully microphoned stage so that hearing their children (even the shy, quiet ones) when they perform should not be a problem going forward. We are also enabling the Winter Term Voice Over class to be able to conduct live recording and mixing direct from our stage. To improve the backstage experience of our students during their performances we have also installed a backstage stage monitor. December promises to be busy with a number of studio event rentals and as the students prepare for their January Winter Cabaret performances. |
| October 2009: |
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October was an eventful time at the school. We were both honoured and humbled to be voted Best Drama School in Durham in the 2009 Durham Parent Reader's Choice Awards.We view this recognition not so much as acknowledgement of past actions but as our students' faith in our commitment to being even better in the future. As part of this we are pleased to announce some exciting enhancements to the Act One school capabilities The school recently acquired the AVID Professional Film Editing software platform. Our film students will now be learning on the same system that almost every major motion picture is created with! We are also upgrading our film camera equipment. Our students' in-school performances will also now be supported by the industry-leading computerized stage sound platform Show Cue System. In preparation for our January 2010 Winter Cabaret we have also doubled our library of scene and short-plays for Ages 5-18 resource materials. |
| September 2009: |
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September drew back the curtains on a new school year. Staff welcomed back both returning "veterans" and new students alike. For the fourth year in a row, Act One has seen enrolment increase across almost all programs. We thank all our students and their families for the trust and support they put into the school. It is something we strive to continually live up to. Along with the positive news of a growing student population comes the unfortunate situation of many classes now being full due to our commitment to low student to staff teaching ratios. To hopefuly minimize the disappointment of those who were unable to join a Fall class, we are putting the finishing touches on additional course offerings for Feb 2010. We are also excited to announce our Stage Combat for Ages 14-18 workshop, scheduled for Nov 29th. As part of our commitment to bring advanced acting techniques to Durham-area drama students, this workshop will introduce students to the techniques and skills necessary to present physical confrontation both realistically and safely on stage. It will be taught by Steve Wilsher, one of Canada's leading professional stunt co-ordinators and Stage Combat experts. Registration information will be available in early November. |
| August 2009: |
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August enjoyed the successful presentation of two more Theatre Summer Camp sessions. Every year we continue to be surprised and impressed by the creative talents the campers display in conceiving, writing and performing their own plays. This year was no exception. In September we will be posting a video and photo album gallery of selected highlights from all four sessions. We are also excited to have John Palmieri join our teaching staff this Fall. John brings over a decade of film, radio and theatre experience to the school all wrapped up in a "big kid at heart" personality that we think the students will really enjoy. Welcome John! |
| July 2009: |
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July saw Act One present two 2-week Theatre Summer Camp sessions at its own location at Greenwood Community Centre. Act One and its camp staff also had the priviledge of taking over responsibility for presenting the City of Pickering's Summer Theatre Camp program, consisting of one July and one August session. The three July sessions all concluded successfully with the campers' performing the plays they had written on their Friday Performance days. Act One is also excited to have partnered with the Light of DAE studio to now be able to offer live studio recording experience to any students taking the Voiceover/Radio Theatre class or taking Vocal Lessons with Michelle Morrow, Act One's vocal instructor. |
| June 2009: |
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June saw the school's students present 13 class performances and 2 short films!The school extends its thanks to all the parents, family, friends and general audience members who came out to support and enjoy what the students accomplished. If you would like to see photographic samples from the various shows, please visit our Photo Gallery section. The end of June also sees the school ramping up for another season of Theatre Summer Camp fun with four 2-week camp sessions starting July 6th and running every two weeks until end of August. |
| May 2009: |
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Act One was pleased to play host as one of the locations for the filming of an episode of the hit reality show "Til Debt Do Us Part" in May. Airing next season, the episode features a live stage performance. A number of Act One students were invited to be part of the audience "cast" for the filming of this show. May also saw the Improvisation and Sketch Comedy classes perform at the City of Pickering's annual Artfest public event in late May. |
| April 2009: |
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Act One students are now turning their focus to the class year-end plays. We are also happy to announce that Act One's 2009 Theatre Summer Camp information is now available on the website and we are accepting registrations to our four 2-week sessions. |
| March 2009: |
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Act One's March Break Theatre Camp has concluded with another fun week and creative session show. Click here to see some of the photos. Act is also thrilled with the participation and audiences for its students' Weekend of Monologues show performances that took place at the end of March. Click here to see the monologues that were performed and some of the show photos! |
January 2009: |
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Act One is happy to report that the Winter Cabaret 2009 show was a huge success with only three students unable to participate and audience capacity at over 95% full! We thank all the families and friends for providing an incredibly supportive audience and especially all the students for their commitment and dedication over the past weeks. It is the combination of all this that makes this event so much fun. Select photographs from the three evenings of performances can now be viewed in the school's Photo Gallery section of the website. We welcome back current students for the Winter Term and extend our greetings to the new students who are joining us for the second half! |
December 2008: |
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Act One wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and New Year and hopes everyone enjoys this festive time of year. We are also pleased that the new year will usher in additional renovations and upgrades to our reception area and main performance studio. We are excited that our students this year will be presenting over 33 short performance pieces for our Winter Theatre Cabaret weekend show at the end of January. |
| November 2008: |
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Act One classes are now closed for the Fall Term in order for the students to prepare for their upcoming January 2009 performances. The school is now taking registrations for new students who wish to join an existing class or one of our new ones for the Winter Term which begins the week of January 26, 2009 |
| October 2008: |
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Act One is pleased to announce that commencing in February 2009 it will be able to make its performance stage and studio available for local Pickering and Ajax groups and organizations seeking an inexpensive, professionally equipped theatrical performance space to present their own local events.
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| September 2008: |
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Act One is pleased to announce the addition of a new performance opportunity for its students. In addition to our January and June shows, the school will be presenting a "Weekend of Monologues" in March 2009. This entertaining event will allow students to gain valuable experience and self- confidence in creating and presenting their own personal individual performance pieces. |
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