Acting/Directing Workshop a hoot

Marie Welch and Carolyn Bodensteiner conducted an acting/directing workshop on Saturday at the Ouachita room in the Ponce de Leon Center.
About 30 interested students attended the workshop. It was informative and fun for all the participants.
Both women majored in theater in college and bring a wealth of stage experience to the Village. Welch has been in the Village for only five months, Bodensteiner for almost three years.
Welch conducted the morning session on acting and started her program by reading the lyrics to Irving Berlin’s There’s No Business Like Show Business. She told the story of her awful stutter as a child and how working with a theater teacher had helped her overcome the stutter.
Welch taught the workshop attendees the four basic steps to better acting, to know yourself, to erase yourself, to create a new self, the character and finally, to project the character.
She gave instructive methods to go from step one through step four. The most important element is being prepared all along the way.
Bodensteiner conducted the afternoon directing section of the workshop. She is directing the upcoming production of Annie Get Your Gun and recently directed Moon Over Buffalo. Be organized was the ongoing theme of Bodensteiner’s message. She had several handouts she went over with her students.
She gave students some general information on directing and them got specific about picking a play, analyzing it, auditions, blocking and rehearsing.
Bodensteiner was able to use examples of the plays she had directed here in the Village and elsewhere. Both women were well prepared and brought a wealth of information to the workshop. Their styles were different and complimentary. It was a fun and painless way to learn about acting and directing.