ASU screen-acting workshop offers students chance to learn from LA-based industry professionals


January 30, 2019

The School of Film, Dance and Theatre in Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts is launching a new workshop this summer for screen actors. The Screen Acting Summer Intensive workshop will be held over two weekends in July at ASU Film Spark in Santa Monica at the ASU California Center and also will be available as an online workshop.

Students will participate in small workshops and learn about auditions, tools of the trade, monologues, improvised scenes, teleprompter techniques and voice-over. Photo of Gene Ganssle Gene Ganssle, a lecturer in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre, will work with Los Angeles-based coaches to teach the Screen Acting Summer Intensive workshop. Download Full Image

Gene Ganssle, a lecturer in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre, will work with Los Angeles-based coaches to bring students a dynamic live and online experience on the business of screen acting. Ganssle has been acting professionally on stage and screen for 30 years in the Phoenix area, with more than 500 films, radio and television commercials and industrial projects and dozens of stage roles to his credit. He has directed plays and feature films, runs his own video production company and has taught classes to thousands of students, including almost 10 years teaching acting and video production at ASU.

The continuing education workshop, which also features practical advice on the Los Angeles and Phoenix markets, is for actors of all skill levels, including community college, college and ASU alumni in the LA area. For students unable to attend in person, online enrollment is available at a dramatically reduced rate for online viewing of recorded workshops, submittal of questions and professional evaluation of self-recorded exercises.

The workshops are limited to 20 slots for the in-person workshop to ensure individual attention.

Register online.  

Dates and times: 

• Weekend 1: Friday, July 12–Sunday, July 14. Cold reads and improvised scene work, on-camera auditioning workshop with LA coach and ASU faculty, scene/monologue work with LA coach and ASU faculty, voiceover workshops with ASU faculty, shooting and review.

• Weekend 2: Friday, July 19–Sunday, July 21. Scene/monologue work and self-taping with ASU faculty, rehearsal and casting workshop with LA casting directors, prompter workshop with ASU faculty, scene shooting, final assessment.

• Classes run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with a break for lunch.

Cost for in-person workshops in Santa Monica:

• $400 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $450 — Regular registration (March 15–April 30).

• $475 — Late registration (May 1–May 15).

• $250 — Single weekend.

Cost for online workshops:

• $200 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $225 — Regular registration (March 15–April 30).

• $250 — Late registration (May 1–May 15).

• $125 — Single weekend.

Sarah A. McCarty

Marketing and communications coordinator, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

480-727-4433

ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre launches digital fabrication summer workshop


January 30, 2019

The School of Film, Dance and Theatre in Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts is launching a new summer workshop for costume makers, and registration is now open.

Digital fabrication is revolutionizing the approach to making costumes for theater, musical theater, opera, film, dance and even cosplay. But what is digital fabrication? When should it be used and how can it be integrated into producing costumes? Photo of Sarah Lankenau Moench Sarah Lankenau Moench, clinical assistant professor of costume technology in the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre, will lead the Introduction to Digital Fabrication for Costumes series of workshops. Download Full Image

Sarah Lankenau Moench, clinical assistant professor of costume technology, will lead the Introduction to Digital Fabrication for Costumes series of workshops, which will focus on the basics of the software required, how to access and operate the hardware and what types of projects are good candidates for digital fabrication. Workshops will cover how to make simple digital files for fabric printing, laser cutting and 3D printing. Instructors will lead participants through tutorials in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and Autodesk TinkerCad and Fusion 360.

Lankenau Moench’s interest in digital fabrication began during her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, which led her to create a manual identifying the essential tools in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for use in pattern drafting and scaling and costume crafts. These same tools are now being used to develop coursework and implement the use of digital fabrication in the costume shop at ASU. Drawing on both her academic and professional work experiences, she seeks to find harmony between the analog and digital technologies available today to create exceptional costumes. She has served as staff draper at the University of Michigan, draper for Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin and costume shop manager for the Sarofim School of Fine Arts at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Additional professional credits include a 12-year working relationship with the Santa Fe Opera, the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas, as well as contract work in commercials, television and film.

Register online

Dates and times:

• 1–5 p.m. June 6: Introduction to digital fabrication and fabric printing.

• 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 7: Laser Cutting.

• 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 8: 3D Printing.

Full workshop cost:

• $375 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $425 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $450 — Late registration (April 13–May 12).

• $25 – Materials fee 

Single day — Thursday:

• $85 — Early registration (by March 15).

• $95 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $115 — Late registration (April 13– May 12).

• $10 — Materials fee.

Single day — Friday and Saturday:

• $175  — Early registration (by March 15).

• $195 — Regular registration (March 15–April 12).

• $215 — Late registration (April 13–May 12).

• $15 — Materials fee.

Sarah A. McCarty

Marketing and communications coordinator, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

480-727-4433