First Day of School
Posted by David New on 6/05/2006
Today we welcomed 24 students from around the country (and England!) to our ten week acting intensive. The School at Steppenwolf is a training residency for professional actors to immerse themselves in ensemble traditions, values and methods. A series of three-week trimesters of course work will culminate in a week of performances in late summer.
The original idea of the School at Steppenwolf occurred to co-founder Jeff Perry nine years ago as a way of offering a unique training program, one that embodies the actor driven ensemble work that the company was founded upon. The faculty this year includes the school’s co-founders, Sheldon Patinkin and Jeff Perry, Steppenwolf ensemble members, Bob Breuler, Fran Guinan, Mariann Mayberry, Rick Snyder, and Yasen Peyankov, in addition to Alexandra Billings, Jeff Ginsberg, Luda Lopatina, Bob Mason, Monica Payne, Suzanne Thompson, and Monica Payne. The curriculum for the school includes work in the varied techniques of Viewpoints, Feldenkrais movement work, Meisner technique, text analysis, and two-person and larger group scene work.
Many former students of the school are now working in Chicago – some have started their own companies. Others have returned to work at Steppenwolf in subscription series shows and in First Look Repertory. The students bring an extra charge of energy to the theatre during the course of the summer and invigorate and fortify Steppenwolf’s commitment to the ensemble principle.
June 14th, 2006 at 10:41 am
It was quite a treat auditioning for the summer program in April. Because I was born in the Fifties, I wondered if age was a great factor in choosing students. I can’t help but think it might. I’ll try again next year. Good luck to everyone and congratulations on your acceptance to the Steppenwolf Program.
June 14th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Dear Anna,
Thanks so much for your good wishes on our ‘first day of school’. I have been the Consultant to the School at Steppenwolf for five years now. Each year, we see approximately 200 people from all over the world to fill the 24 slots. I can honestly say that the only ‘age perimeter’ is that applicants must either be 18 or a high school graduate.
While most applicants tend to be in their 20’s and 30’s, we have had several applicants over the age of 40 since I have been here. Of those ‘over 40’ applicants, approximately 10 have been accepted and/or have attended the summer program.
Creating an ensemble of 24 people who will be together for 10 weeks is extremely challenging and is handled with great care. And the program has become highly competitive. I invite you to watch the students’ final performances over the week of August 9th (we’ll post the performance rotation for folks).
Many of our students in this year’s class (and in previous classes) did apply previous years before being admitted to the program. I hope you’ll be back to audition in March or April of 2007. Alyson Roux, our School Coordinator, is always available to answer questions and make the application process a painless one.
All the best-
Erica Daniels
Consultant to the School at Steppenwolf and Casting Director