EDUCATION
Winter/Spring 2025
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Improvisational Theatre Class (Ages 13-17)
Teaching Artist: Sharon Lacey Dates: Saturdays, January 18th-February 8th Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $200 A new improvisational theatre class, led by Sharon Lacey. This class is for anyone who wants to use their imagination and increase their creativity. We'll explore short, unscripted scenes, focusing on listening, curiosity, discovery, trust, and playfulness. Join us for two hours of FUN each Saturday!
Sharon Lacey is an internationally touring comedian, keynote speaker, and improvisational theatre instructor. She’s been on two comedy tours to entertain our troops in Iraq and Kuwait, and has done four comedy tours of Africa where she performed for Ugandan audiences in two of their tribal languages. Before jumping onto the comedy stage, Sharon was a national award-winning middle school teacher. She loves introducing teens and adults to the joy, fun, creativity and wild abandon of improvisational theatre. You’ve seen her on the Disney Channel, ABC, Lifetime, and A&E. Sharon’s an alumnus of the San Francisco and Seattle Comedy Competitions, the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, NW Women’s Comedy Festival, finalist in Seattle’s Got Funny Competition, runner up in Portland’s Rose City Talent Contest, and a finalist in the A.M. Northwest Comedy Competition and the Shades of Laughs Urban Comedy Competition. |
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Improvisational Theatre Class (18+)
Teaching Artist: Sharon Lacey Dates: Saturdays, January 18th-February 8th Time: 12:30-2:30PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $200 A new improvisational theatre class, led by Sharon Lacey. This class is for anyone who wants to use their imagination and increase their creativity. We'll explore short, unscripted scenes, focusing on listening, curiosity, discovery, trust, and playfulness. Join us for two hours of FUN each Saturday!
Sharon Lacey is an internationally touring comedian, keynote speaker, and improvisational theatre instructor. She’s been on two comedy tours to entertain our troops in Iraq and Kuwait, and has done four comedy tours of Africa where she performed for Ugandan audiences in two of their tribal languages. Before jumping onto the comedy stage, Sharon was a national award-winning middle school teacher. She loves introducing teens and adults to the joy, fun, creativity and wild abandon of improvisational theatre. You’ve seen her on the Disney Channel, ABC, Lifetime, and A&E. Sharon’s an alumnus of the San Francisco and Seattle Comedy Competitions, the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, NW Women’s Comedy Festival, finalist in Seattle’s Got Funny Competition, runner up in Portland’s Rose City Talent Contest, and a finalist in the A.M. Northwest Comedy Competition and the Shades of Laughs Urban Comedy Competition. |
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Musical Monday's: Musical Theatre Dance Workshop (16+)
Teaching Artist: Ashley Roy-Simpson Dates: Mondays, January 20th-February 17th Time: 6:00-9:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $200 for all five classes or $50 per class January 20th - Sweet Charity
January 27th - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella February 3rd - Newsies February 10th - A Chorus Line February 17th - Footloose If you love musicals, this class will have you dancing with a joyful heart. Each week choreography from and inspired by some of the genre's best loved musicals will be taught in a supportive and fun atmosphere. Sign up for your favorite or take all five classes! Ashley has been choreographing and teaching dance for most of her life and loves to help students build confidence through movement. Having trained with the Radio City Rockettes and internationally decorated ballroom professors, she has extensive training in jazz, tap, ballet, ballroom, and movement for the musical theatre performer. Ashley has coached students into prestigious musical theatre college programs, in high school productions, and local summer camps. Recent choreography credits include Rock Of Ages, Seussical Jr., Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Evil Dead The Musical, The Producers, Forbidden Broadway, and The Pajama Game. |
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Working (Ages 14-22)
Teaching Artist: Suzy Willhoft First Rehearsal: January 28th Rehearsals: Tuesdays, Thurdays, Fridays (4-6PM) Dress Rehearsal: Friday, April 4th (4-10PM) Performances: Saturday, April 5th at 2PM & 7PM, Sunday, April 6th at 2PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $650 Featuring the songs of Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), as well as Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Micki Grant, and more. This vibrant celebration of the American worker is based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews a variety of workers, Working paints a vivid portrait of the workers that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, and the housewife, just to name a few.
Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age. This unique version of Working gives the opportunity to add local worker interviews from our own community to the show! Behind every job, there is a person with a story to tell. Come be a part of not only performing in this classic musical revue, but also be a part of building it! Suzy Willhoft is a local director whose extensive work covers 30 years of educational, community, and independent theatre in Tacoma. In her 15 years at Stadium HS, she taught Theatre classes, advised Drama Club, coordinated student-directed one-acts, and directed over 30 plays and musicals. Some of her favorite musicals there were Once On This Island, The Fantasticks, and Working. At Lakewood Playhouse, she has directed To Kill A Mockingbird, The Comedy Of Errors, Little Women, and The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare [Abridged] (Revised). Other community theatre credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs, Much Ado About Nothing, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Rabbit Hole. Her independent company, Found Space Productions, has produced many on-site shows, such as Waiting For Godot, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and Nina Variations. Suzy is currently directing The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at Tacoma Little Theatre. |
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Home School with LaNita (Grades 1-8)
Teaching Artist: LaNita Hudson Walters Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, February 18th-March 27th Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Enrollment Fee: $200 Utilizing the classic story of The Wizard Of Oz as its source material, this class helps children develop creative expression through activities like speech, dramatic movement, improvisation, and scene starters. The class ends with a showcase performance of a new devised version of The Wizard Of Oz for parents and friends.
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. |
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Acting Through Song Workshop (16+)
Teaching Artist: Joseph C. Walsh Date: Saturdays, February 22nd-March 15th Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $250 This unique workshop will focus on how music, lyrics, intention and performer combine to create focused and multi-dimensional Musical Theatre Moments. Work in a communicative, collaborative and supportive environment to develop your performance of your favorite Musical Theatre song. Participants will have the opportunity to work on a song of their choice and gain valuable insight on presentation, character and communication.
This is a group class/lab environment where each participant will be given time to perform their selected song with instruction afterwards. Each singer/participant will be required to prepare one musical theatre song of their choosing. 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. |
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Spring Break Camp - Wicked Witches Of Oz (Grades 3-8)
Teaching Artist: TBD Date: March 31st-April 4th Time: 10:00AM-1:00PM Showcase: April 4th at 1:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $300 Using the characters of the Witches of Oz as the focus, participants will build and sharpen their singing, dancing and acting skills. The young people will develop and devise a short musical revue using songs and scenes from shows like The Wizard Of Oz, Wicked and The Wiz among others. This is sure to be a wicked good time for all involved!
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Actors Tool Box (18+)
Teaching Artist: Joseph C. Walsh Date: Saturdays, April 19th-May 10th Time: 10:00AM-12:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $200 Come build your skills and learn the basics of acting! This course will offer an opportunity to build a toolbox of skills for adult actors of all levels to utilize when they are preparing to take the stage or even take on the audition room. We will focus on tools of warming up, memorization, preparing a monologue, voice and diction, and some scene work. This course is focused on building confidence and offering guidance in a supportive and welcoming environment!
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. |
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Stage Combat (Ages 13-18)
Teaching Artist: Luke Amundson and Brookelyne Peterson Date: Saturdays, April 19th-May 10th Time: 12:30-2:30PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $250 This 4-week program will cover the basics of hand to hand combat, rapier fencing, and falling on stage. Students will explore the use of sound in helping build compelling fights, the differences between staging combat on a proscenium stage compared to staging in the round, using the set and stage to full effect, as well as safety and communication with your scene partners - both in the moment and over the run of a show.
Luke Amundson has been active in stage combat as a performer and trainer in the PNW for over 20 years with a focus on rapier and hand to hand combat. Favorite projects he has blocked fights for include Romeo And Juliet, Oleanna, Les Miserables, Twelfth Night, Man Of La Mancha, Guys And Dolls, and most recently The Seafarer. As a performer, dying repeatedly in Three Musketeers will always have a special place in his heart. Brookelyne Peterson is a local actor, choreographer, and educator. She has a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from Utah Tech University, where she graduated with honors and several awards for her work, including Theatre for Young Audiences, where she learned how to lead a classroom of students. She's participated in the Tacoma/Lakewood theatre scene for the last year, performing in several productions at Tacoma Little Theatre and was most recently an Understudy for Godspell at Lakewood Playhouse. She has taught Stage Combat for South Kitsap High School and Lakewood Playhouse, and enjoys working with young students. More of her work can be seen at www.brookelynepeterson.com |
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Directing The Scene (18+)
Teaching Artist: Joseph C. Walsh Date: Sundays, May 25th-June 15th Time: 10:00AM-1:00PM Location: Lakewood Playhouse Participant Fee: $250 This four-week program will explore the basics of the directing process. The focus will be on finding the action of scene work and communication/collaboration between directors and actors. The lab approach and collaborative style of the class also hopes to explore participants' own voices and experiences in their theatrical practice.
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. |
At Lakewood Playhouse we believe finances should not be a barrier to participation. Please contact us for scholarship and assistance options.
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