(Above) A Midsummer Night's D&D premiering at Cal Shakes on October 7th 2023. Get your tickets now!
Movie Makers: The Tragedy of Macbeth A Year-long Performing Arts Film Intensive Online & In Personkids aged 10-18 2023-2024
September 1st - May 31st* (potluck & film screening TBD Fall 2024) Fridays 10am-1pm Online or 10am-4pm In Person** *no class 10/13, 10/20, 11/24, 12/22, 12/29, 1/5, 3/29, 5/3 **online 10-1pm, in person rehearsals 10-2pm, shoot days 10-4pm (see schedule)
Calling all movie makers! Have you ever wanted to make and/or be in a movie?
Come and join us for our 12th Season creating and filming in this exciting year-long Movie Makers Intensive! We will bring to life an original adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth!
Students will take on many roles throughout the year-long process from researching and reporting on the Bard, adapting Shakespeare’s original script into a new screenplay made specifically for live action, animation, and original art. Students will become true thespians while they practice writing, building a character, learning about voice acting, costume and makeup design, prop building, film production, film editing and collaborating on a one-of-a-kind original film like no other! This is the "reel" deal!
Our one of a kind film will be a collaboration between stop motion animation, artwork, digital animation, and live action film making. If you’ve ever wondered about animating through Procreate, Final Cut Pro, Adobe, or good ol’ fashioned single frame animation, join us on our creative film making quest to add adventure and excitement to this original film! An iPhone and imagination are required. Extra plus is access to the app Procreate on an iPad, but not required. Once the film is edited there will be a special Outdoor Potluck & Film Screening where everyone can reunite for a one-of-a-kind movie night and potluck (slated around Halloween 2024)! Digital copies of the film will be made for at-home viewing and included in the cost of class so that each student can have a keepsake memory of this special time!
Unique to this year of Movie Makers is the opportunity for both in person and online production which will create new opportunities for creativity and connection. Artistic Leaders in Training (ALIT) will also have special opportunities to invest further into this project through leadership opportunities.
Production & Registration Details
The Tragedy of Macbeth
*FALL & WINTER 2023
Why MostlyOnline?
During the Fall and Winter seasons when it rains or fires make it too challenging to meet comfortably outside, we end up meeting online more than in person. There will be a schedule that will be updated by the month so folks can plan. If I am sick, or the weather is too challenging and we were slated for an in person day, the schedule will flex to be online.
It is ideal for us to meet and focus online when learning about: Shakespeare, researching, doing reports, read-throughs, writing and script adaptation opportunities, animation, stop motion techniques, special effects, storybook tableaux art making through Procreate/Adobe, art, team production planning.
*class will agree to a set of in-person class times with the ability to alter for sickness/weather.
**SPRING 2024 Why Mostly In-Person?
Ensemble building, drama games, improvisation, live action acting/film making, set/costume/prop/art building, opportunities for performers, technicians, stage management and directing, filming “on location” in beautiful Bay Area wild spaces. We may also make a field trip to see a local Shakespeare performance together, last year was at Cal Shakes.
Why In -Person AND Online with Program Flexibility?
Meeting online offers:
Intense focused learning with some social connection, research, reporting, character work, voice over acting, and unique and creative film making using storybook tableaux art, stop motion animation, and animating.
Meeting in-person allows for:
Healthy socializing, community, improvising, movement, spontaneity, and live action film making with sets, costume, and makeup.
**class will mostly be in-person but may change to online with sickness/weather issues. When?
September 1st - May 31st
Fridays 10am-1pm when Online and 10am-2pm when In Person rehearsals (Shoot schedule will alter to 10am-4pm).
no class 10/13, 10/20, 11/24, 12/22, 12/29, 1/5, 3/29, 5/3 (Tracy reserves the right to cancel class due to sickness and will reschedule where possible)
Potluck & Film Premiere TBD Fall 2024 (hold 10/26 and 11/2 weekend availability)
Where?
Various outdoor nature locations in the Bay Area which will allow us a perfect backdrop for a variety of scenes. Locations TBA (most likely a combination of Briones, Concord, Benicia, Mare Island)
Cost $2,750 for the year-long program which includes:
All class materials: script, drama binder, research materials
Fall Family & Friends Potluck & Film Screening
Digital keepsake film copy
Cast t-shirt, tote bag, journal
Access to Saturday online co-working (student gathering)
YOUNG AUTHORS INTENSIVE 2023-2024 A Year-long Writing Adventure
Geared for ages 12-18 Online Classes & In-Person Book Signings September 11th 2023- May 27th 2024 Mondays 4-6pm on Zoom
Have you ever wanted to be an author? Join teaching artist Tracy Randolph and Author Geneva Clawson for a year-long writing intensive where students will also participate alongside the International NaNoWriMo Novel writing challenge and work towards completing a novel to submit for publication with Young Authors Press!
Join Young Authors Intensive for our 4 part year long intensive September 2023-May 2024:
Part I: Dream Up & Prepare
Part II: Create & Write
Part III: Edit & Submit
Part IV: Marketing Your Book
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an international writing event in November which draws people of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels to put themselves to the test of conceiving and completing a novel or project in the span of one month. Through the power and practice of imperfect action students become better writers by doing. We break the process into steps that are doable.
Our process is fun, challenging, satisfying, and rewarding. We build self confidence and community.
Young Authors Intensive 2023-2024 Breakdown Part I: Dream Up & Prepare September-October 2022 (no class 10/9, 10/16, 10/23) Mondays 4-6pm Come dream with us. What are your favorite things to read about? What do you love? Any ideas that come to mind when you think about writing? A book of poetry? A short story collection? A novel that you’d like to read or perhaps the sequel to a book you’ve already written? September (Preptember) and October (Preptober) we will be helping students set themselves up for success by preparing for November’s NaNoWriMo International Challenge with exploratory writing sprints, choosing an idea that speaks to them, learning tools and creating opportunities to produce a plot outline, in depth character analysis, and challenges geared to their specific projects that empower them to take off during the two-day per week November challenge. PART II: Create & Write November 2023 Mondays 4-6pm (extra & optional "writing sprint" times will be added) Students will be encouraged to set their own goal that will be challenging, rewarding, and unique to them as well as take on NaNoWriMo’s word-count challenge. As a group we will use writing exercises and brainstorming techniques, and participate in designated writing sessions to help kids progress and get words on paper! Discussion groups will help shape stories through constructive feedback from other students and guidance from instructors, where we can problem solve and support our plot lines together. With a focus on accountability and completion, students will come out of November with a project they can be proud of and a wealth of new skills to help them keep creating. PART III: Edit & Submit December 2023-March 2024 (no class 12/18, 12/25, 1/1, 1/29) Mondays 4-6pm In part four of our intensive, students will edit their book and submit for publication. Editing often proves to be the most challenging and rewarding process of the whole intensive. Writers are often ready to move on to the next project when faced with reworking scenes, making fixes, and investing the time and energy needed to navigate doing what it takes to edit a book and prepare it for publication. Personal feedback and discussion groups will help shape stories through constructive feedback from other students and guidance from instructors, where we can problem solve and support our plot lines together. New this year will be a checklist of items authors must complete with support from family and friends before their book can be submitted. Note: Not all students want to publish their solo novels. Some prefer to publish an excerpt or smaller projects as part of our group Anthology which acts as a publication and as a tool to market and promote the authors publishing solo projects. PART IV: Marketing Your Book March-May 2024 (no class 4/29) Mondays 4-6pm Our published students will be encouraged to set their own marketing goals that will be challenging, rewarding, and unique to them as we navigate doing what it takes to market and sell our books. Personal feedback and discussion groups will work to support students in an author community with guidance from instructors, where we can problem solve and support goals together. With a focus on accountability and selling our books, students will come out of Spring with a project they can be proud of and a wealth of new skills to help them keep creating. Note: Students choose what they want to publish (solo book project or project/excerpt in our anthology).
*There will be special meet up times for book signing & promoting!
Sundays 1x a month from 1-4pm: Fiber Arts Gathering & Knitting Circle
Tracy & Guest Teacher Sarah Hershon guide and support our community through fiber arts and knitting projects. Come as you are with a project waiting for you, or bring your current project to work on and build community.
To Enroll: Class size is limited. Please fill out our contact page for more information and to schedule an interview to see if this program is a good fit.