B Street Theatre

The B Street Theatre Conservatory

Spring Quarter Classes
Technique & Audition
Start April 21st!
Call 443-5300 xt 301 to register or e-mail
conservatory@bstreettheatre.org

The Conservatory's mission is to provide each actor with the skills, tools, and confidence to reveal his or her unique acting talent. Classes meet for 8 weeks, and are limited in size, to provide a focused creative environment to develop the skills and abilities of each student.  The teaching is Stanislavski based, and emphasizes the use of self and the imagination.

Conservatory Students Gro Bondevik & Caroline Sharp in a scene from Uncle Vanya.

Classes Offered:

Technique teaches the basic skills and vocabulary for the actor including text analysis, scene analysis, status, personalization, archetypes, and a wide variety of exercises & scene rehearsal techniques.  This course culminates in two weeks of scene presentations.
Prerequisite: by Interview
Ages: 18 and above.

Conservatory Students (l to r) Martin Ide, Shirley Sayers, Aaron Olsen, Susan Ward & Greg Collet
in the River Stage production of Born Yesterday, directed by Michael Stevenson.

Scene Study builds on Technique, and explores the strengths, habits and problems of the individual actor through intensive scene work.  Actors and their partners will be expected to meet outside of class to rehearse scenes.  Diagnostic scenes may be assigned to help the actor address specific challenges.
Prerequisite: Technique
Ages: 18 and above

Fall Quarter Technique Class 2004

Audition focuses on audition techniques; selecting and preparing monologues, resumes & headshots, and the practical mechanics of staging and personal presentation.  The class concludes with an actual audition presentation for local theatre professionals.

Individualized Instruction
Co-Director Jamie Jones with Conservatory student Erin Saberi

The Faculty consists exclusively of acting professionals with over 30 years of combined acting experience.

Jamie Jones earned her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.  She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University at Sacramento, and she studied improv at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles.  In New York, she has performed at the Neighborhood Playhouse, the Connelly Theatre, the St. Clement's Theatre, and with the Lincoln Center Director's Lab at HERE Space and the 92nd Street Y, as well as appearing on Law & Order.  Her regional credits include A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Delta King Theatre, Marin Theater Company, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, and the Encore Theater Company.  She has been a regular performer at the B Street, where she also directed the play Laurence & Holliman, and served as a co-director & acting coach of the intern production of The Laramie Project.

Michael Stevenson earned his Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.  He is a graduate of the Actor's Studio of the University of Illinois at Champagne / Urbana, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.  He has studied acting with Sande Shurin in New York City and Kyle Donnelly in Chicago. In San Francisco he studied singing with Edward Sayegh, and improvisation with Brian Lohmann.  In New York City, he has performed at the Sanford Meisner Theater, the Ground Floor Theater Lab, and Alice¹s Fourth Floor.  He worked extensively in commercials and corporate video.  Regionally, he has appeared at A.C.T., The Cowell Theater,  The Delta King Theatre, Sacramento Theater Company, the Apple Tree Theater, Bailiwick Repertory Theater, the Foothill Theatre Company and the Utah Shakespearean Festival.  As a playwright, his works have been staged in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.  As a director, he has worked at the B Street Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, Delta King Theatre, River Stage, and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.  He is a member of the B Street Theatre Acting Company.