Kids Acting Class Winter Spring 2025

Mondays 4-5

Taught by Denise Page & Ryan Van Buskirk

The Villain & The Victim – Becoming Good at Being Bad

This kids acting class is going to focus on the dynamics of portraying the Villain. There’s

almost always one in every story and most of us love to hate the villain! But, what makes a good

villain? It’s not just WHAT they do, but HOW they do it. Two of APA’s favorite villains, Denise

and Ryan (not them personally but them on stage: Miss Andrew, Miss Hannigan & Stanley

Kowalski, Bill Sikes… to name a few) are back to help mold the young actors who want to

explore the various things that go into creating a unique “bad guy” or “bad gal.” We will also go

over how important it is to understand the other side, the villain’s victim. What does the villain

want? That key often lies with their victim (who sometimes becomes the hero but not always),

and in the dynamic of the two positions lies the key to really mastering the dark side needed to

portray a great Villain. Specifically we will cover diction and projection; creating a large and big

presence, even when you sometimes aren’t big; the loud and obvious villain versus the quiet

and more subdued baddie, how comedy plays into some villain character work; being confident

on AND OFF stage, and we’ll have at least two classes with audition prep as well as throwing in

some improv work. Phew! Lots to do and we can’t wait to get started!

Winter Spring Adult Acting Course Description

Mondays 5-6

Taught by Denise Page & Ryan Van Buskirk

SkitProv: Scripted Improv Acting Course, All Levels -Adult

Do you like acting? Do you like laughing? Do you like improv? Do you like to have fun?

If you answered yes to any of these, or even if you didn’t, this class may be for you! Ryan and

Denise are back with a next level Adult Acting course, that’s also suitable for the new actor.

What the heck is SkitProv? We plan on working with one script for most of the 8 week course.

Initially we’ll audition for it (with a lesson on audition prep), learn the words, and block it taking

care to tweak positioning, projection, interpretation, BUT THEN we’ll add in some fresh razzle

dazzle, and flip the structure… After you learn the script/skit (which will be chosen depending

on class size and participants, and depending on how frisky we are, we may just write one

uniquely for the class!) we’ll then play with it and begin to add in the concept of improv! Maybe

we set it in the South, and work on accents with a drawl; maybe we set it in London in the

1800’s and work on a cockney accent? Maybe we decide the upbeat and fun script we make, is

now set at the RMV with the air conditioning broken on a record hot day in August? We are

taking one of our favorite monologue lessons and re-working this into the entirety of the class.

Complete with prop and costume twists to help the student actor understand different

characters; understand how to think on their feet; understand how to pay attention to their stage

partners; understand and work through different acting emotions required for various character

types. We anticipate this to be a very fun way to cover a lot of different acting and stage topics.

For the showcase presentation event, we will work the same script BUT allow the audience to

help decide that day and in the moment, exactly what that script will look like for us, and we’ll be

ready for whatever that may be. Fun, right?!? Bring a sense of play and imagination for this

one and leave your stress at the door.