Shreveport Little Theatre announces the premier of their theatre Academy (SLTA) to be held at Marjorie Lyons Playhouse on Centenary College Campus, from June 30 - July 27, 2008.  

SLTA will provide comprehensive theatre instruction, culminating with a live production of Disney’s High School Musical staged July 17 - 27.  Enrollment is limited to 50 students and is offered in two sections: interns, ages 12 - 17; and, apprentices, ages
18 - 22. Performance tracks and technical (non-performance) tracks are available.

SLTA summer hours will be Monday – Saturday, June 30 – July 12, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.  July 14 – 27 will be production specific and hours may vary.

All classes will be taught by trained faculty who are accomplished, professional theatre artists and educators. Staff members will include education director Mary Alfred Thoma, director and designer Jared Watson, choreographer Laura M. Beeman, music director William Parsons, SLT’s managing and artistic director Robert Darrow. In addition, guest artists, including director/acting instructor Mary Joris, and New York director/actor Stuart Landon, will specialty workshops during the Academy.

The Academy will promote the development and training of the young actor while also providing opportunities to integrate and showcase those skills into a final full production.  Academy workshops will provide comprehensive theater training through an integrated curriculum that meets the National Standard for Theatre Education.

The academy’s primary focus is on enhancing the performer’s creativity and skill which may include: Acting Theory and Practice, Developing and Building a Character, Physicalization, Audition and Casting Process, Rehearsal Process, Imagination/Improvisation, Characterization, Singing and Voice for the Stage, Articulation and Projection, Creative Movement/Dance and Technical Theater.

For tuition, scholarship, work-study, and further information call SLT’s box office at 424-4439 or email sltacademy@gmail.com.  Applications will be available February 25 and are DUE by March 7. Applicants will then be contacted about placement auditions and interviews to be held at Shreveport Little Theatre on March 15, with call-backs and a dance call to be held Sunday, March 16, 2008.

SLTA Staff Bios:

Mary Alfred Thoma has been teaching workshops in acting, empowerment, American Sign Language and “Reclaiming Your Creativity” to young people and adults for over 25 years. With credits in theater, film, television and radio, she is a versatile actress, director and instructor. An insatiable student herself, she continues to study while teaching and working in local theater, commercial television, radio, and feature and independent film.  In addition to her professional acting work, Thoma is the Drama Director of Southfield Middle School where she is in her sixth year of teaching drama and directing the Middle School Musicals.  She developed the school’s drama curriculum which meets the National Standards for Theater Education.  She is the founder of two theater companies: The Sign Company (co- founded with David Hylan) for hearing and hearing-impaired performers, and the This Is Who I Am © Summer Institute for marginalized youth.  In 2008, she founded MTW—Mary Thoma Workshops—her specialized acting workshops for young people, which provide acting instruction to young actors across the state of LA. Other programs she has developed include: The Girls’ Getaway Creativity Day Camps, S.P.E.A.K. for young women and Acting Fundamentals for Young People. For several years she served as a Roster Artist Instructor in Theatre for the LA Division of the Arts, training teachers across the state how to integrate theater arts into the curriculum and teaching drama residencies.  She is a graduate of The National Theater of the Deaf Professional Theater School and has trained with The Broadway Teaching Lab, and a variety of professional acting instructors and directors. She holds a theater degree from Centenary College.

Jared Watson is a 25-year-old free-lance director, currently living in New York City, where he was selected to become a member of the 2007 Director's Lab at the prestigious Lincoln Center Theater. Mr. Watson has had the honor of working with many esteemed Tony Award-winning professionals. Last year, he worked in the casting office of such Broadway musicals as Wicked, The Color Purple, Rent, and the forthcoming Alan Menken musical adaptation of Leap of Faith. Off-Broadway, he was the casting assistant for August Wilson's Seven Guitars. He also wrote, directed, and produced a musical review entitled Love, Me at NYC’s Chasama Theater in 2006. Mr. Watson has worked as an assistant director on Sweet Charity, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Nine. Locally, audiences may have seen his successful SLT productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Almost, Maine or the regional premiere of the stage adaptation of Disney's High School Musical for the Performing Arts Center. Other local projects include Seussical the Musical with PAC and Disney’s High School Musical for SLT. His biggest passion as a theater artist is to get young people excited about going to the theater. When he is not directing, Mr. Watson works in the marketing and sales department of Theater Direct International’s website www.broadway.com on Broadway and Off-Broadway Theater. Mr. Watson is a 2004 graduate of the Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theater at the University of Oklahoma.

Laura Beeman, a local choreographer, started her dance training in the Shreveport-Bossier area at the age of three. Laura continued to study dance well into her teenage years, studying under Frank Vega and Aaron Girlinghouse at Dance Arts Studio in Shreveport, where she was a member of DAS Danzers, the company dance troupe. Educationally, Ms. Beeman has taught Introduction to Dance for the Stage and Intermediate Dance for the Stage at BPCC for several years. She also served as a Dance Captain and Director for the Missoula Children’s Theatre Company, a touring company specializing in theatre for children. Currently, Ms. Beeman is a senior at Louisiana Tech University and is the assistant choreographer, working with Ms. Dianne Maroney on Louisiana Tech’s Spring Musical Production, Sweet Charity. She has also been the company choreographer for Canterbury Summer Theatre, near Chicago, as well as a choreographer at SLT, BPCC, and the Performing Arts Center.

William Parsons, voice training/musical director, is a native of Louisiana.  He holds a BM from Centenary College of Louisiana, a Master of Music from the University of Southern Mississippi, and an Artist Diploma from the esteemed Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Mr. Parsons has become an active conductor of musical theatre and operetta productions, including Merrily We Roll Along; Beauty and the Beast for Peter Pan Players; H.M.S. Pinafore and A Gilbert and Sullivan Christmas Carol for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Northwest Louisiana; Camelot and School House Rock Live! for the Performing Arts Center and Cinderella at Byrd High School and Caddo Magnet High School. He is also an accomplished actor in both musical theater and opera, having played a wide variety of roles in La Dame Blanche, Cavalli’s La Calisto, Handel’s Il Pastor Fido, The Barber of Seville by Rossini, Agripina by Handel, Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Arthur Sullivan’s Cox and Box, Sondheim’s Into the Woods and A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha, Kandor and Ebb’s Chicago, and Nicely, Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls. His oratorio repertoire includes:  Handel’s Messiah, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mendelsohn’s Elijah, Honeger’s Kind David, Schubert’s Nachtehelle, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Beethoven’s Mass in C. He is currently teaching music at St. Mark’s Cathedral School. He is a Tenor soloist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, and has a private studio of voice students here in Shreveport.

Robert Darrow, Shreveport Little Theatre's managing and artistic director, has twice been awarded Shreveport Regional Arts Council's Fellowship in Theatre. He began his career as a child actor, appearing in over 100 local productions and has directed over fifty productions at SLT. Darrow received his Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from LSU-S in 2002. He earned his BA from Centenary in Theatre/Speech and Education, 1981, receiving the Centenary Education Department Hall of Fame award. Darrow attended Circle in the Square, a Broadway Theatre and School in New York City. Certified to teach secondary education, he currently evaluates students for Caddo Parish's Talented Arts Program (TAP).
Mary Joris, guest acting instructor, has had an innovative and exciting background and career in theatre: from a student at Baylor University and Baylor’s graduate program at the Dallas Theatre Center, into the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. While there, spanning three decades, Mary worked at Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park, Venture Theatre, and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre. Her mentors are Paul Baker, Phillip Burton and Sanford Meisner. Mary is a founding member of The Company, located at East Bank Theatre. In 1994, she produced its first play Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. She teaches acting classes locally, in hopes of bringing new blood into community theatre, thus strengthening its existence in this area and inspiring young people to develop their individuality and creativity. Mary recently has directed Our Town, The Outsiders, and Everyday Heroes at East Bank Theatre.

Stuart Landon, guest SLTA theatre instructor, received a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Oklahoma at Max Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theatre in 2004. Since then, he has acquired numerous professional directing and acting credits. His favorites include Oklahoma!, The Full Monty, Lucky Stiff, Little Shop of Horrors, Forever Plaid, Stand By Your Man, Godspell, and Cabaret. Currently, he is performing in Lisa Kron's Well in Harrisburg, PA. Stuart recently started a production company, TriChameleon Productions, with Ben Allatt and Kim Harrison. TriCham is devoted to developing and producing new interactive theatre and events.