Lakewood Instructors
New instructors Winter Jan 2013
Kendall Wells - stage combat
Kendall Wells is an actor and fight director based out of Portland and Los Angeles. He is one of only two people certified to teach De Longis Performance & Combat Arts, created by fight master Anthony De Longis, whom Kendall has been studying with for nine years. Kendall’s credits include Grimm, Leverage, Deadliest Warrior, DirecTV, LA Opera, and many more. In Portland, he was given a Drammy Award for fight choreography for NW Classical Theatre Co.’s Macbeth.
The De Longis Method allows for superior fight performance because works closer to the combative truth than any other approach to stage and film combat. It’s a far more comprehensive system, bringing knowledge from many branches of martial arts and going to their roots, finding the applicability of one system to another. This distillation of combative theory and body mechanics, while applying the appropriate weapon-specific adjustments, makes the system far more effective in quickly and efficiently helping students understand fight work in a more complete sense.
The system has so far only been available to those who train directly with master Anthony De Longis or myself, and only in private or short seminar format. Most of these people are actors training with him for a project (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, etc).
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Recurring instructors:
Liz Hayden - Creative Dramatics
Liz Hayden has been teaching Children’s Theatre for over ten years now. Beginning in Santa Monica managing an Arts Camp & teaching at the Piero Dusa Acting Conservatory. Seven years ago she moved to Portland and has had such an amazing time teaching drama independently through schools, Profile Theatre, Northwest Children’s Theatre, Shaking The Tree, and her theatre company Hand2Mouth.
Liz began acting when she was 6 and owes much of her inspiration to the drama teachers in her young life. That’s why she loves to work with youth. She graduated with a B.A. in theatre from Southern Oregon University and a MFA in theatre from Northern Illinois University.
Besides teaching she devises theatre and tours with her theatre company Hand2Mouth through out the year. Much like her theatre company, Liz's techniques are much the same. She loves to create a show from scratch or an adaptation based on all the spirit and personalities in the room with her.
Nancy McDonald - Acting for Non Actors, Story Telling, Public Speaking
With over 25 years of experience as an actor, director, producer, corporate trainer, arts educator and private coach, Nancy’s diverse background has given her a unique perspective and innovative style. Her approach is based on incorporating the right-brained improvisational thinking of the artist into the left-brained logic of business. Using the discipline of theatre as a foundation, her ability to see the big picture while still being able to focus on details has helped management, employees and staff of numerous organizations bridge gaps and build roadmaps to creative problem-solving. Nancy's work with individuals has brought a new level of excitement, both in 8-week class sessions and in private coaching. Her goal is to help everyone find the freedom to tell their story using their own talents that may have been dormant or undiscovered. That journey of discovery provides joy and reward for all involved. Perhaps you are ready for the journey?
Sandra Peabody - Acting, TV/Film
Sandra Peabody is an Emmy-award winning writer/producer/director and has worked in film and broadcast television. She is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City where she studied with master acting teacher Sanford Meisner for two years. She also studied drama at Carnegie-Mellon University, and later earned a B.A. in Arts and Letters. As a teacher and coach for the past twenty-five years, Sandra develops actors and also teaches speech. She splits her time between Los Angeles and the Northwest to help prepare talent for a professional career. She is proud of her students careers which range from becoming a lawyer, novelist, and teacher, to a television reporter, host, and actor. Students acting credits include; leads and series regulars on Breaking In (FOX), The Pretty Little Liars (FAMILY), The Loop (CW), Grounded for Life (WB), All about Us (NBC), The Reaper (CW) and reoccurring episodes on “V” (ABC), and Dexter (SHOWTIME).
Steve Christensen – Sleepy Hollow Children’s Theatre Summer Session
Steve Christensen is in his 38th year of teaching music and drama in Oregon. Steve started Sleepy Hollow Children's Theatre in 1995, with workshops in Sandy and Northern Idaho. In the past 17 years he has done 72 workshops with over 3,500 student involved. Steve has written 14 musicals for both young people and adults and is currently finishing his latest work, Who's the Fairest?
Michael Snider - Musical Theatre
Michael Snider touts over forty years of theatre experience on all levels; professional, community theatre, educational. A graduate of University of Portland, he began his career in Oregon as a teacher in Portland and Eugene. During that time he began developing shows for Lipman’s/Frederick & Nelson’s Department Stores and continued this process for over twenty-five years in Oregon, California, Illinois, New York, Hawaii for the likes of IBM, Citibank, Kodak, Robinson’s and Macy’s/Banberger’s under the banner of his children’s theatre company, Little People’s Productions. He apprenticed Hal Prince on Candide at New York City Opera and spent twenty years at Grey Advertising/New York in Creative, Casting, Production, and Account Management. He served as Managing Artistic Director for Maui OnStage for five years and helmed shows like Godspell, Evita, Rocky Horror Show, Sweeney Todd, A Chorus Line, and Peter Pan. His proudest accomplisment is daughter, Mary Leigh, a triple threat, if you please!
Amy Gretencort - Acting and Performance
Amy Gretencort graduated cum laude from Cal State with a bachelor’s degree in Visual and Performing Arts, and obtained her Masters of Education from Portland State University. She has worked in theaters from San Francisco to Seattle, both on stage and behind the scenes. Amy has been teaching drama for 12 years and directing the after-school drama program at Waluga Junior for 14. In addition to directing, she has written 16 original plays and adapted 2 others. Her original works include The Boxed Circus, Rescue Me!, Dandelion, The Ghosts of Montmartre, and Lost Souls.
Dana Libonati - Musical Theatre
One of the most outstanding music educators in Oregon, Dana is known for his vocal jazz arrangements and compositions. Dana is currently professor of jazz studies at Linfield College and choir director at McMinnville High School. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in music composition and theory from the University of Portland. His compositions and arrangements have been published and performed by professional and school groups throughout the United States and Canada, and his work is often used for all-state jazz choirs. Dana studied jazz arranging with Dave Barduhn and Darmon Meader, and has collaborated on projects with members of the New York Voices. He is a frequent clinician, adjudicator and performer.
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About Our Education Program
Lakewood Theatre Company, now in its 59th year of productions, offers a year round program in theatre and visual arts education for adults and children at the Lakewood Center for the Arts. Our class instructors and production directors are local artists who have demonstrated proficiency in their craft. Many have been with our program for several years.
Registration Information
To pre-register for any class listed please go to the Lakewood Theatre website http://www.lakewood-center.org/pages/lakewood-news-class-registration to print out the registration form. It can be mailed to P.O. Box 274, Lake Oswego, OR 97034. Registrations are also taken at our box office on weekdays from 9-5. A minimum enrollment of 8 students per class is needed. Programs will not be held if the minimum enrollment is not met. All classes are at Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S. State Street in Lake Oswego
For further information contact our office, 503-635-3901
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