DIRECTING INTENSIVE: a hands-on workshop for directors
Instructor: Peter Jensen
This 3-day workshop for film and stage directors as well as actors who wish to learn more from the directors perspective will introduce participants to the principles that shape success – from preparation and auditions to exercises, improv techniques, rehearsal practices, and final performance. You will gain hands-on experience working with actors and also learning to work as actors (through acting exercises and structured improvs), because the best way to understand how actors work is through doing the work yourself. You will learn the communication skills and techniques you need to get the best performances out of your actors by making your instructions and intent clear. As part of this intensive, you will direct professional actors in an assigned scene to be presented during the final class.
Before Class 1:
- Prepare directing plans for the short audition sides provided
Class 1:
- Introduction and Q&A
- Classroom Acting Exercises – learning by doing
- Actor Communication Techniques
- Actor Submission Tapes & Casting Considerations
Class 2:
- Effective and Truthful Blocking
- Conceiving Circumstances for Effective Improvisations
- Presentation of Exercises and Improvs with Instructor Feedback
Class 3:
- Unearthing Character and Relationship Dynamics
- Presentation of Rehearsed Scenes followed by Instructor Feedback
- Class Discussion (what happened in rehearsals and lessons learned)
After Class 3:
- Feedback & Observations
Dates TBA
Instructor: Peter Jensen
Prior to joining T. Schreiber as Artistic Director, Peter Jensen was a member of the Core Faculty of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and served as the 3rd year Academy Company Director. Recently Peter directed Danni, official selection in 24 film festivals around the world, garnering two wins for best film, one best actress award, and two best actress nominations for Diane Reilly (TSS alum). Peter is currently in pre-production for the film The Passion. For the stage, he directed Junshin Soga (TSS alum) in One Fine Day, nominated for the 2017 New York Innovative Theatre award for best original play, and In Dreams. Other New York directing credits include the premieres of John Patrick Shanley’s Poison and Jack Karp’s Incendiary Agents at Nylon Fusion, and The Glass Menagerie at the Sanford Meisner Theatre. Regionally, he directed Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, earning an excellent review in the New Orleans Times Picayune (with TSS alums Jamie Neumann and Josh Sienkiewicz), and Biloxi Blues in Charleston, SC. Directing credits at T. Schreiber include Balm in Gilead, winner of the 2011 NYIT Award for Outstanding Production; Hot L Baltimore, nominated for NYIT Outstanding Production; The Motherfucker with The Hat, The Pillowman, Lobby Hero, Joking Apart, Hurlyburly, A Taste of Honey, Marvin’s Room, You Can’t Take It With You, The Real Inspector Hound, The Actor’s Nightmare, Fifth of July, and Doubt.
Peter has most recently acted in the following: About a Donkey, The Ring Thing, and the soon to be released Extra Innings and Lie to Me. Other films include A Memory (PBS Reel 13 award winner for Short Film), Unexpected Company, Metamorphosis, The Bite, The Father, as well as The Trailer Park Prophet and Razor.
Peter is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Max Fisher award recipient). He studied with Uta Hagen, Terry Schreiber, Chuck Olsen (Actors Studio), Janis Powell (Meisner), as well as Mark and Dana Zeller at the 78th Street Theatre Lab.
Read more about Peter