Stand-Up Comedy
Improvisation Intensive
Teen Acting Intensive
Shakespeare Intensive
Playwriting
Audition Skills
Scene and Song Study

Instructors

Stand-Up Comedy – Participants will learn the art of stand-up comedy including stage presence, microphone technique, and humor writing. Students will also learn how to perform comedic improvisation through use of games and acting techniques. At the end of the camp, participants perform a free showcase. Two sessions available.

"Creating a 'Second City Style' Improv Review"
Students taking this class will use basic improv games, exercises, and scene work to learn how to write, create, and perform an original comedy show. In the camp students will learn how to think on their feet, be in the moment, listen to each other, and build on their ideas. This two-week class culminates in a free Second City or Saturday Night Live type of review, performed by the group on June 24.

In this camp, recent Walden Theatre alumni currently attending post-secondary theatre programs share their knowledge in acting, voice and movement with teens who are interested in the serious study of theatre. The camp will focus on using imagery in monologue and scenes, training in vocal honesty, channeling vocal power, and basic movement for actors.

You may sign up for any one week, any two weeks, or all three weeks.

Instructors: TBD
Ages: 13 - 18 (some experience required.)
Dates: Week 1: TBD
Week 2: TBD
Week 3: TBD
Duration: 3 one-week sessions (can be taken consecutively or in segments)
Class Times: 10 am - 1pm

Cost: $125 per week for any one or two weeks, or $325 for all three weeks


Students will deepen their understanding of Shakespeare by developing vocal & physical acting skills and complementing technique training with the study of First Folio texts, Shakespeare performance history, and the context of the Elizabethan era. Instructors will challenge students to approach Shakespeare fearlessly and make brave artistic choices. A showcase will highlight the actor’s ability to create believable, entertaining characters by relying on the text, the partner, and the self. Classes meet from 10:00am - 4:00pm Mon. - Fri. For teens 14-18.

Instructors: Julane Havens & Brian Hinds (with J. Barrett Cooper and other guests)
Ages: 14 - 18
Dates: TBD
Duration: 3 Weeks
Class Times: 10 am - 4 pm

Cost: $495.00


In this two-week class, students will engage with the craft of writing for the theatre with new work or by improving existing material. Though exercises, compositions, and the creation of a longer work, each student develops his/her own theatrical voice. Participants will learn theatre terminology, the basics of dramatic structure, and how to create believable characters.

This class is for anyone who has thought about auditioning for a play or musical OR for anyone who has an upcoming audition and wants to be PREPARED! Students will learn or improve the process of selecting, studying, and performing a monologue, learn how to approach “cold readings” from a script, and even navigate their way through a 16-bar musical piece and a dance break. Time will be given to help create an audition package of two song cuttings (one up-tempo, one ballad) and a monologue. All levels of experience welcome (limit 20 students).

Instructor: Sharon Kinnison
Ages: 9 - 17 (All levels of experience welcome.)
Dates: TBD
Duration: 1 Week
Class Times: Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Cost: $175

This class explores the triple discipline of musical theatre: acting, singing, and dancing. Students will train in all three areas as they work together on scenes and songs from musical theatre. Students will break down text, gain skills in vocal production, movement, dance, physical attack, and character development. This class is a blast and all levels of experience are welcome (limit 25 students).

Instructor: Sharon Kinnison
Ages: 9 - 17
Dates: TBD
Duration: 1 Week
Class Times: Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 12:30

Cost: $175.00

Recent Instructors

• Chris Anger
(Improvisation)
Chris Anger has been performing and writing comedy since high school. He is Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Louisville Improvisors, and has been a professional actor working in improvisation for over 25 years. As Artistic Director of Louisville Improvisors Chris teaches improv in schools and universities throughout Kentucky and Indiana. Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Chris has performed with numerous troupes before moving to Louisville over 12 years ago. He studied improv with the late Dr. Martin de Maat, former head of the world-famous Chicago Second City Training Center and Keith Johnstone, Founder/Creator of Theatresports and author of Impro. He has also been a stand up comic and singer/songwriter performing all original material.


• Brian Hinds & Julane Havens (Shakespeare Intensive)
  
  Brian has been an actor and theatre educator for over 20 years. He was a teacher and director at The Children’s Theatre of Maine for 10 years where he codirected The Shakespeare Project, and he spent four years as director of a high school drama program in Bath, Maine. Most recently he was an actor and teaching artist with Kentucky Shakespeare, appearing in Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Richard III.
  
  Julane is a Walden Theatre instructor and recently directed Camino Real and It’s All Greek... along with many other showcases. She holds an MFA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Professional Actor Training Program. She has performed with Taproot Theatre, The Coterie, Kansas City Rep, Stage One, Savage Rose, and Kentucky Shakespeare. She was recently assistant director of All’s Well That Ends Well with Savage Rose.
  
  
• Sharon Kinnison
(Audition/Scene and Song Study)
Sharon holds an MFA in acting from the University of Louisville and a BS in Theatre and Voice from the University of Kentucky. Acting credits include Red Hot and Cole, Suds:The Rocking Sixties Musical Soap Opera (Center REP, SF-Bay Area), Our Affair with Astaire (Miry Productions, SF-Bay area), Singin' (SF-Bay Area Cabaret circuit), Annie (MTL, Louisville KY), Floyd Collins (ATL, Louisville). Directing credits include Candide, Phaedra, She Loves Me, Hello Dolly, Grease, Annie Get Your Gun (All SF-Bay area), The Winter's Tale, A Piece of My Heart, Major Barbara, The Lion In Winter, The Fantastiks (Louisville area). In 1999 Sharon became the Education Director for Music Theatre Louisville and went on to serve as the Executive Director for MTL. She is the Chair of the Fine Arts Department at Louisville Collegiate School where she teaches Middle and Upper School drama. Sharon is also a full-time faculty member of the Governor's School for the Arts.


• Keith McGill (Stand-Up Comedy)
  
  Keith has taught with Walden Theatre for seven years, leading various workshops on acting, improvisational comedy, and theatre history. He has appeared in productions with various theatre organizations, including Actors Theatre, The Necessary Theatre, Pleaides Theatre, Louisville Repertory Theatre, and the Royal Palm Players in Boca Grande, Florida. He also teaches many programs with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. Keith is a professional stand-up comedian, and performs in clubs from Wisconsin to Florida, as well as at Louisville’s own Comedy Caravan.
  
  
• Hank Willenbrink
(Playwriting)
Hank is an internationally produced playwright. He has a BA from the University of Tulsa, and an MA & PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His play 18 won the John Cauble Award for Best Short Play from KCACTF and MIRANDA BRANSON BRANSON MIRANDA was produced by Necessary Theatre in May 2009. It Came from Indiana! was commissioned and produced by Walden Theatre in 2009. A Singular Event (co-created with Judy Bauerlein & Marc Shaw) was showcased at Performance Highways in Santa Monica in 2010. Hank has taught the playwriting summer camp at Walden for the past several years. When not in Louisville, he is assistant professor of theater at the University of Scranton.

Alumni Instructors