Tag: theatre arts
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Merry Christmas – Ready to Plan for Next Year?
In time for Christmas 2025, I just published Tales of Wonder: A Play of Christmas. This is the full show I just directed and produced for the Scharmann Theater of SUNY JCC in December 2024. This play includes 12 different vingnettes and one mini-musical which will light any stage with a nostalgic, hilarious, and emotional…
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Ponderings on My First Show in 2 Years
Live theatre gets into the blood. When the curtain opens, and the nerves take over, and the hair stands on its end, and the bumps on your skin realize that it’s time, finally, after such a long hiatus, one begins to understand just how much the cult of theatre has seeped into the blood stream.…
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Theatre Arts: The Open Art Form
In my estimation, there’s nothing like live theatre. It’s the most intimate art form. The most personal art form. The most human art form. The most ephemeral art form. Unlike a painting or a sculpture, the theatre arts is an open art form. When was the last time the Mona Lisa changed her smile? When…
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Using Verbs to Color Your Acting
One of the techniques I use in my Intro to Theatre Arts class is one that I’ve drawn from several different sources. It’s the idea of using an action verb to help describe what a person is supposed to do in a scene. First, I will tell the actors to think of an action verb…
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Maybe It’s the Podium That Makes People Say Stupid Things
For the past nine months, we’ve seen plenty of politicians say stupid things. Trump is probably leading the pack in the jaw-dropping odd, weird, or just plain stupid department. But he’s not alone. I’ve also found myself shaking my head at Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ben Carson, and others (used in an all-inclusive sense.) But…
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First Read Through
Today was so fun! One of the great rewards for writing and producing your own dramatic works is the milestones along the way that I get to enjoy. Today is certainly one of them: the first cast read-through. After months of writing and publishing, I have to work through the grueling auditions to finally get…
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How to respond when an actor asks, “What should I do?”
I get to teach and work with young actors. Some have experience. Others do not. It’s incredibly fun seeing someone take the stage for the first time and try to find their way, try to understand their character, try to understand the relationships between the other characters, and try to, ultimately, figure out what they…
Author Mark W Sasse 