EDUCATION
Acting Through Song Workshop (17+)
Teaching Artists: Joseph C. Walsh and Elijah Bellis Dates: Saturdays, June 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd Time: 10:30AM-1:00PM Cost: $160 This unique four week course will focus on how music, lyrics, intention and performer combine to create focused and multi-dimensional Musical Theatre Moments. This is a group class/lab environment where each participant will be given time to perform their selected song with instruction afterwards.
Joseph is an award-winning theatre director and educator who has served as the Artistic Director of Ghost Light Theatricals, Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, Florida, Arlington Children’s Theatre in Massachusetts, and Wild Oats Productions in the UK. He was Interim Director of Education at the White Plains Performing Arts Center and spent three seasons as the Touring Director for White Horse Theatre, the world’s largest touring educational theatre company. Joseph is currently the Producing Artistic Director at Lakewood Playhouse. Elijah Bellis has been playing the piano and doing theatre for over seven years. Throughout that time he has done music, acting, light design, choreography, and more for locations such as Olympia Family Theater, SPSCC, North Thurston High School, and The Evergreen State College. He has served as an accompanist for classes at Olympia Family Theater, and for the choir at North Thurston High School. |
Director's Lab (Adults)
Teaching Artist: Joseph C. Walsh Dates: Sundays, June 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd Time: 10:00AM-1:00PM Cost: $200 This four week program will explore the basics of the directing process while teaching participants to center their own voices and experiences in their theatrical practice. Both previous and new participants are welcome to register!
Joseph is an award-winning theatre director and educator who has served as the Artistic Director of Ghost Light Theatricals, Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, Florida, Arlington Children’s Theatre in Massachusetts, and Wild Oats Productions in the UK. He was Interim Director of Education at the White Plains Performing Arts Center and spent three seasons as the Touring Director for White Horse Theatre, the world’s largest touring educational theatre company. Joseph is currently the Producing Artistic Director at Lakewood Playhouse. |
Littles Summer Camp: Imagination Theatre (Ages 3-7)
Teaching Artist: LaNita Hudson Walters Teaching Assistant: Maggie Savage Dates: June 24th-28th Time: 9:00AM-1:00PM Cost: $250 An experience based on imagination, creativity, and storytelling! Learn the basics of acting and the theatrical process through games and exciting lessons in a fun and supportive environment culminating in an original presentation.
LaNita Hudson Walters is an Actor, Director, Choreographer, Vocalist and Teaching Artist in the Pacific Northwest. She has been a performer from the age of 3 and a Teaching Artist for the last 25+ years. She attended Berklee College of Music and then took time off to raise her children. LaNita is and has been a Master Teaching Artist at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Tacoma Little Theatre, Tacoma Arts Live, Lakewood Playhouse and Seattle Rep. Maggie Savage has been active in local theaters ever since she was 3, when she started out in this same program, Rising Stars. She has worked under Ms. LaNita many times since then as a student and is so excited to be working alongside her for the first time. She is no stranger to the Lakewood stage, most recently seen in Six: Teen Edition (Katherine Howard), The Giver (Rosemary/Fiona US), and Much Ado About Nothing (Boy). |
Skills Workshops (Teens/Adults)
Dates: June 24th-28th Time: 2:00-4:00PM (Teens) 6:30-9:00PM (Adults) Cost: $200 for the week or $45 for each workshop Monday 6/24: Acting Through Song with Joseph C. Walsh and Elijah Bellis Tuesday 6/25: Speaking Shakespeare with Noel Koran Wednesday 6/26: Stage Combat with Luke Amundson Thursday 6/27: Preparing Your Monologue with Maria-Tania Bandes B. Weingarden Friday 6/28: Nail The Dance Call with Katie Hodge Come build your skills with this week of fun, exciting and informative workshops!
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Shakespeare's Verse - Skills Workshop (16+)
Teaching Artist: Noel Koran Dates: July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Time: 6:00-8:00PM Cost: $200 William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright and poet in the English language. His plays are still regularly performed 600 years after his death because they are as timely today as they were when they were written.
Because his plays were written in 16th Century Elizabethan English and as poetry, it’s important for actors to learn how to understand, analyze and speak his words so that modern audiences can understand and enjoy the rich beauty of his plays. This four day workshop is an introductory course for actors to learn the basics of speaking Shakespeare’s verse for the stage. In the workshop, we’ll learn about how to deal with the scansion, rhythm, pitch and poetry of Shakespeare’s timeless plays. |
Shakespeare's Songs - Acting Through Song Workshop (16+)
Teaching Artist: Joseph C. Walsh Dates: July 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th Time: 8:00-10:00PM Cost: $200 (Participant), $100 (Observer) This four day course, taught by our new Producing Artistic Director Joseph C. Walsh will focus on how music, lyrics, intention and performer combine to create focused and multi-dimensional Musical Theatre Moments. This unique version of the course will explore musicals inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. Work in a communicative, collaborative and supportive environment to develop your performance of your favorite Musical Theatre song from a musical inspired by William Shakespeare. This is a group class/lab environment where each participant will be given time to perform their selected song with instruction afterwards. Observers are welcome at a reduced cost.
Each singer/participant will be required to prepare one musical theatre song inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. If you need assistance a list of suitable material can be provided. Song title and show must be submitted prior to class. Participants must bring, and provide via email, their sheet music in the correct key. Joseph is an award-winning theatre director and educator who has served as the Artistic Director of Ghost Light Theatricals, Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, Florida, Arlington Children’s Theatre in Massachusetts, and Wild Oats Productions in the UK. He was Interim Director of Education at the White Plains Performing Arts Center and spent three seasons as the Touring Director for White Horse Theatre, the world’s largest touring educational theatre company. Joseph is currently the Producing Artistic Director at Lakewood Playhouse. |
Annie Jr. (Rising 6th-12th Graders)
Teaching Artists: Thane Gallow, Safin Karim and Indeah Harris Dates: July 22nd-August 9th Time: 9:00AM-4:00PM Showcases: August 9th 7:00PM/August 10th 2:00PM Cost: $650 Based on the popular comic strip and adapted from the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, with a beloved book and score by Tony Award winners, Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. Annie is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. Annie eventually foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations, finding a new home and family in billionaire Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
This three week camp will focus on each stage of the production process from audition through to performance, culminating in a showcase of Annie Jr. Using this fun family musical as the focus, participants will build and sharpen their singing, dancing and acting skills, and develop the tools and techniques to enhance their work in the journey from page to stage. Thane Gallow - Bio and photograph coming soon... Safin is thrilled to be making art with the wonderful team at Lakewood Playhouse. It’s his first time in Washington, so he’s excited to explore! Please visit him after the show with recommendations for places to see. As a music educator, Safin has instructed Acting Through Song classes with Ghostlight Theatricals, taught masterclasses in Audition Preparation and Pianist Collaboration, and music directed youth theatre productions and summer camps throughout Florida and New York City, where he splits his time as a student at NYU, studying Vocal Performance and Musical Theatre. Most recently, Safin served as one of the music directors for the Joffrey Ballet School’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive. Indeah Harris has been participating for over 20 years in the performing arts. She has 17+ years of classical ballet training as well as other dance experience, including hip hop, tap, jazz, contemporary, worldly, ballroom, and others. Indeah has performed as an actress at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle and Village Theatre in Issaquah/Everett debuting in her first professional show, Cinderella at the 5th, in 2011 and ending her on stage career with Cabaret at Village Theatre in 2016. Since 2005, Mrs. Harris has been recognized for her choreography and has received honorable mentions, nominations, and been a recipient of numerous awards. Indeah Harris is excited to be back working with Lakewood Playhouse and working with the future artists and current students of Lakewood. |
Into The Woods Jr. (Rising 3rd-8th Graders)
Teaching Artists: Heather Matthews, Elijah Bellis and Ashley Roy Dates: August 12th-23rd Time: 9:00AM-4:00PM Showcases: August 23rd at 7:00PM/August 24th at 2:00PM Cost: $450 Be careful what you wish for, as Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s cockeyed fairytale comes to life in this adaptation of their groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical. Into The Woods Jr. features all of your favorite characters - Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (and his beanstalk) and the Witch - in this lyrically rich retelling of classic Brothers Grimm fables where we learn that no one is alone. In this two week experience, you will use this musical masterpiece to develop your skills in singing, acting and dancing.
Heather Matthews - bio coming soon... Elijah Bellis has been playing the piano and doing theatre for over seven years. Throughout that time he has done music, acting, light design, choreography, and more for locations such as Olympia Family Theater, SPSCC, North Thurston High School, and The Evergreen State College. He has served as an accompanist for classes at Olympia Family Theater, and for the choir at North Thurston High School. Ashley is a local choreographer, director, and teaching artist and is grateful to be returning to Lakewood Playhouse for Into The Woods! Having trained with the Radio City Rockettes and internationally decorated ballroom professors, she loves to help students build confidence through expressive movement and storytelling. She regularly choreographs mainstage productions throughout the South Sound, at local high schools, and coaches high school seniors for their college auditions. Most recent choreography credits include Rock Of Ages, Evil Dead The Musical, The Producers, The Pajama Game, and Forbidden Broadway's Greatest Hits. |
Willy Wonka Kids (Rising 1st-6th Graders)
Teaching Artists: LaNita Hudson Walters and Thomas Morisada Dates: August 26th-30th Time 9:00AM-4:00PM Showcase: August 30th at 7:00PM Cost: $275 Roald Dahl's timeless story of the world-famous candy man and his quest to find an heir is a golden ticket to adventure. This fun week-long experience will utilize Dahl’s classic adventure to give your actors a taste of the theatrical process. From audition to performance in just one-week this will give the young actor a chance to develop their skills while learning through collaboration and experiencing every aspect of the production process.
LaNita Hudson Walters is an Actor, Director, Choreographer, Vocalist and Teaching Artist in the Pacific Northwest. She has been a performer from the age of 3 and a Teaching Artist for the last 25+ years. She attended Berklee College of Music and then took time off to raise her children. LaNita is and has been a Master Teaching Artist at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Tacoma Little Theatre, Tacoma Arts Live, Lakewood Playhouse and Seattle Rep. Thomas Morisada is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University with a BAA in Music. He is from Honolulu, HI and has been seen music directing in the Tacoma area since 2022, as well as running a private voice studio. His most recent music directing productions include The Sound Of Music at Harrison Preparatory School, Anastasia at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, and Sweeney Todd at the Lakewood Institute of Theater. |