About The Class: Learn about Shakespeare’s language and famous plays on your feet! This workshop for all ages leads students through games, battles, and other group activities that engage the voice, body, and brain in a fun and challenging session. Let Shakespeare’s text and stories set you free! 

About The Teacher: Eliza Pagelle is a New York City-based teaching artist, actor, and musician. Hailing from Greenville, South Carolina, her mission as a teaching artist is to bring Shakespeare and heightened theatre & music to young people in underrepresented communities, specifically in the Deep South. She has worked as an actor and teacher at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Tennessee Shakespeare Company, The Warehouse Theatre, Camp Weequahic, and more. Education: SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Classical Acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance & Music from Fordham University.

About The Class: Time to brawl! In this unarmed class, we'll start with some of the classics: a punch, a slap, and a fall. We'll go through where on the body we can do contact strikes and where we can't, what kinds of moves are "victim-controlled," and the vocal aspects of a fight. Who needs weapons when you've got yourself?

About The Teacher: Mackenzie Grace is an actor and fight choreographer originally from Sarasota, Florida. She's a member of the Society of American Fight Directors and holds four weapons certifications with them: unarmed, broadsword, single sword, and rapier & dagger. She also holds certifications in sword & buckler and rapier & cloak from two different British organizations. Her recent fight choreography credits include Les Femmes Mousquetaires (New York Theater Festival), R + Jules (Studio Groth), and Cringe (59e59's East to Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fringe Festival). She loves to make people look and feel badass while being safe and sound!

About The Class: Using TTRPGs (Tabletop Role-Playing Games) such as Dungeons and Dragons, Fiasco, and other systems, the students will learn to create their own characters and collaboratively tell an improvised story, using the game mechanics to help support their improvisational skills. By the end of the workshop, students will walk away with a better understanding of game-story structure, and ideally a build up of confidence in their story-telling and ensemble skills. 

About The Teacher: Kit Dionne has a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a thorough knowledge of dramatic storytelling across multiple media, specializing in theater. They helped to found the theater program at Success Academy Ozone Park Middle School school, and currently work at Brooklyn Game Lab, an afterschool/daycamp program that helps elementary and middle school students in the Park Slope area learn to play various board games, including role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Kit is an associate series director and creative consultant for RPG and game shows such as Trouble Feature and Scandalton: LIVE!

About The Class: Students will choose a known fable or fairy tale from which to choose a character. They will craft felt hand puppets to create their chosen character. Then, using our improv tools, students will perform the fairytale in their own way using their puppets. Students will learn about basic puppet construction as well as how to use puppetry, movement, and voice to tell a story through improv and a puppet-based devising process. 

About The Teacher: Harry Wasser has been an educator with the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for just under two years. In that capacity he has developed and taught after-school class curriculums ranging from Puppetry and Filmmaking to Engineering. He values hands on experiences for his students, and encourages a process of testing and revision throughout his classes.

About The Class: Students can bring in their audition material - a monologue, a song, or both - to work on in class. Bring something you’ve been using for years or something new you’ve been wanting to try! Learn how to make your best first impression in an audition environment and work to perfect your materials. Students will also practice cold reads to be prepared for any audition scenario they may face. Perfect for students approaching high school or college auditions, or those looking to grow and hone their material arsenal for any auditions in their futures. 

About the Teacher: Zoe Senese-Grossberg is a director, playwright and teaching artist who has been directing with Firebird since 2017, and serves as our Associate Artistic Director. She is a National Jewish Playwrights finalist, a National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist, and she’s worked at renowned theater companies such as Rattlestick and the Workshop Theater. Zoe has a great passion for encouraging students to find their voice through text exploration and collaborative storytelling. Zoe has been a teaching artist and associate director of seven Firebird youth productions, and leads the playwriting branch of our education programs. About Zoe’s playwriting/directing work: zoesenesegrossberg.org

About The Class: Explore character building through monologue and scene work. Students will work to build character from the ground up  in their monologue and scenework through textual analysis and creativity using physicality, voicework, and more. Bring a monologue if you wish, though we have many to provide you with otherwise! If bringing your own material, bring something that is new to you! 

About The Teacher: Sophie Falvey is an actor, writer, and teaching artist, and a resident artist of the Firebird acting ensemble (FRANKENSTEIN, Much Ado, Boy My Greatness, The Seagull, Rossum’s Universal Robots). They specialize in teaching theater devising and have a background in both classical and experimental acting, as well as clown & improv. Sophie’s playful, confident approach encourages students to come out of their shell and find their own storytelling style.