Acting in Musicals

This workshop is led by CRY HAVOC Company actors, directors, and writers who have brought this approach to character development to musicals on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at theaters around the country.

Leaders: Kitt Lavoie (Artistic Director); Timothy Davis (Associate Artistic Director); Matt Cowart (Resident Director); Kerry Flanagan (Resident Actor)

When trying to balance the rigors of singing, dancing, and avoiding flying scenery, it can become easy to lose sight of your character work in the process of rehearsing a musical.

In this team-taught workshop, members of The CRY HAVOC Company will demonstrate and invite students to engage in an approach to developing a character and a role aimed at creating a personal, textured, and deeply accessible performance. Further, they will discuss how to bring this approach into the challenging, multi-faceted setting of a musical theater rehearsal process – and how this approach can lend complexity and nuance to book scenes, song interpretation, and the seamless transition between the two.

This workshop is aimed at empowering the actor in the musical process – both by protecting the rigors of the work they might do in a straight play and by being prepared to take the best advantage of the special opportunities for character expression afforded by a musical.