CORNISH. THEATER
Back Cover Image: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Intiman Playhouse (2012). Photo: Chris Bennion
Cover Image: The Mail Order Bride by Charles L. Mee Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis
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EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Cornish College of the Arts does not discriminate in education or employ足ment on the basis of: gender, race, national origin, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. This policy is consistent with relevant federal regulations and statutes, including those pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Questions regarding the application of this policy and information on services for disabled persons may be referred to the Dean of Student Affairs or the Director of Human Resources.
Cornish College of the Arts is one of only three private arts colleges in the United States that offers degrees in the performing and visual arts. As a student at Cornish, you will be exposed to and inspired by a myriad of other artists—instructors, working professionals and students alike—representing a full spectrum of artistic endeavors in dance, music, theater, design and art. And every day you’ll be working to develop yourself as a creative individual and a dynamic contributing member of your ensemble within the Cornish mission, growing as an “artist, citizen and innovator.”
When you select Cornish, you select its illustrious history, intimate size, excellent reputation and long tradition of educating emerging artists. At Cornish, you will earn a college education – a Bachelor of Fine Arts, or BFA – recognized as the best preparation for a career in the arts. Located in a dynamic, evolving urban environment, in walking distance from all Seattle’s major theatres and cultural institutions, Cornish is truly at “the heart of the arts” in the Pacific Northwest.
Women of Trachis by Katherine E. Ryan Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis
Why choose Cornish?
Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage Photo: Chris Bennion
Theater at Cornish
Our mission is to help you develop your own creative voice within the broad and embracing art form that is theater, and to actively connect your work with the world around you. You will gain a solid grounding in essential techniques of theater performance while developing your expressive abilities and your capability to work effectively in a group. These foundational skills remain with you, applying themselves in countless ways, for the rest of your professional life. With a clear understanding of your own artistic goals and a creative toolbox full of new and useful skills, you can proudly share your inspiration with your community.
The department provides a safe learning environment where you can grow and challenge yourself, both as a human being and as a theater artist. You, your peers and your instructors focus on supporting each other as individuals and as an ensemble. Our students “live in the hyphen”—actor-directorwriter, actor-singer-dancer, and combinations we are only beginning to imagine.
“I learned who I was as an artist at Cornish. So much of one’s education is based on their fellow students and I was constantly impressed and inspired by my classmates. By their ambition, sheer talent, and willingness to fail. We share a common vocabulary that has only strengthened over time.” — Margot Bordelon, TH ‘02
At Cornish you will connect to a community of students committed to becoming practicing artists in the theater and a faculty committed to facilitating your artistic development. The Cornish Theater Department offers you a comprehensive curriculum through which you build the physical, vocal, intellectual and imaginative skills to make a life for yourself as a theater artist. You put those skills to the test in a wide variety of performance opportunities including productions of classical and contemporary plays, ensemblegenerated productions, and a large number of new plays written by student authors.
THEATER Curriculum
El Paso Blue. Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis
FOUNDATIONS Theater students take a two-year sequence of foundational classes in the fundamentals of performance technique which also ground you in an understanding of the historical roots of the art form and its literature. At the same time, you investigate methods for generating both ensemble and solo original performance. As the program progresses and you develop a greater sense of your own mission as an artist, you will take more specialized courses in your areas of interest.
THEATER CONCENTRATIONS
Summertime by Charles L. Mee Photo: Chris Bennion
ACTING In the third year, Acting students engage in intensive study of classical theater styles, from the Greeks to Shakespeare and other Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights. You learn the technical skills necessary to bring heightened and poetic language to life on stage, while imbuing your character portrayals with a sense of dramatic authenticity. In the spring semester you advance your study of heightened text, physical / verbal specificity, and historical circumstances with work on Restoration playwrights, and plays by Chekhov and Ibsen to explore creating a greater sense of internal truth. Acting majors also do on-camera projects each semester. In the senior year, acting students delve deeper into subtext, ambiguity, and mystery through the work of Beckett, Pinter, and a range of contemporary playwrights. You will also explore how to launch your career, while developing useful skills such as stage combat, audition techniques for stage and camera, dialects, voiceover, and developing your business plan.
“Cornish breeds fearless students.” — Richard Gray, director
MUSIC THEATER This is designed for artists whose goals include performing in musical theater, to facilitate your development as a performer with range. You supplement your core acting skills courses with classes in singing, dance, and musical theater. You also study music theory, including the basics of ear training, sight reading and singing, rhythm and harmony. This culminates in a musical capstone as part of the sophomore ensemble project. Juniors and seniors participate in classes in musical theater performance and audition techniques, dance styles, and perform in productions of both original and established musical theater works, including a cabaret. You also continue with private voice lessons.
ORIGINAL WORKS Original Works is designed for artists whose goals might include directing, playwriting, solo performance, ensemble devising or working on the artistic staff of a theater. After successful completion of an audition at the start of the junior year, you explore a wide variety of generative methods, including playwriting, directing, personal clown, solo performance, burlesque and other physical/ improvisational approaches, as well as self-producing and dramaturgy. OW students produce an annual ten-minute play festival and participate in the Winter New Works Festival, as well writing and directing their senior thesis projects.
The audience at our outdoor production of As You Like It Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis
THEATER FACULTY
Both in the classroom and onstage, you will work with and learn from a faculty of accomplished artists, including: MARYA SEA KAMINSKI (Acting/Improvisation) A performer, director, and writer, Marya’s recent credits include the title roles in My Name is Rachel Corrie and Electra. She received the 2010 Theater Genius Award from Seattle’s weekly The Stranger. TIMOTHY MCCUEN PIGGEE (Text Analysis/Music Theater) has performed major roles at all Seattle Equity theatres as well as the Denver Center, Milwaukee Rep, and Arizona Theatre Company. In 2011 he appeared in the Broadway production of Catch Me If You Can.
ROBIN LYNN SMITH (Junior Acting) has worked for more than 20 years as an actor, director and teacher in Chicago, Boston, New York and Seattle. She co-founded Freehold Theatre and directs the Engaged Theatre Project, which tours to prisons and other underserved populations. ROBERT MACDOUGALL (Movement, Stage Combat) A certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors as well as a Feldenkrais practitioner, Bob has taught and directed stage combat nationally as well as in Germany, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia.
THEATER VISITING ARTISTs
Master teacher of clown and commedia CHRISTOPHER BAYES
TV and solo performer LAUREN WEEDMAN Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner writer BRIAN YORKEY Playwright OCTAVIO SOLIS
Emmy Award-winning performer and recording artist LIZ CALLAWAY Tony Award-winning performer CHUCK COOPER (pictured) Tony Award-winning performer FAITH PRINCE
Broadway performer LOUIS HOBSON
Masterclass with Chuck Cooper Photo: Winifred Westergard
Your classes are enhanced by lectures and workshops with exciting visiting artists such as:
Launching your career Cornish connects you not just to the art form but with the practice of it in one of the country’s most vibrant artistic communities.
INTERNSHIPS
Senior Stage Combat Photo: Winifred Westergard
In your senior year, following intensive preparation, you audition for local and national theater internships. Internships allow you to experience all facets of the theater, not just performance. Recent Cornish seniors and graduates have earned internships at ACT Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz.
GRADUATE SCHOOLS Some Cornish alumni choose to continue their studies in graduate programs, such as Yale, Harvard/American Repertory Theatre, and Northwestern University.
“Cornish taught me how to be myself, onstage and in life, but more importantly, how to present myself — how I want to see myself and be seen by others — and before every audition, every rehearsal, every performance” — Connor Toms, TH ‘01
EMPLOYERS Cornish provides you with a strong and transferrable skill set based in the ability to express yourself and work with people to achieve extraordinary goals. You become part of an exciting network of practicing artists through the professionally active faculty and the guest artists brought in to teach and direct.
theater in Seattle, as well as creating their own productions, and touring and performing as far as Brazil, Australia and Germany. Cornish alumni also work in the theater in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, as well as on film and television, both in front of and behind the camera.
Casting directors for theater and film/TV know they will be working with accomplished performers with an amazing work ethic when they hire Cornish graduates. In the past year, Cornish alumni have appeared at every major
A Cornish Theater education has also proved to be a valuable jumping-off point for alumni with fulfilling careers as lawyers, urban planners, counselors, therapists and teachers, among many other fields.
PEOPLE | RAMIZ MONSEF
Ramiz Monsef is a Grammy-nominated actor in the acting company at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Unfortunates, a blues musical, written and performed by Ramiz and his hip-hop group, 3BlindMice, will be produced in OSF’s 2013 season. In addition to his five seasons with OSF, he has performed at Second Stage Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and the Culture Project in New York and regionally at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Humana Festival of New American Plays, Steppenwolf Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Studio Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre.
“Cornish has some of the best teachers I have ever or will ever have in my life. I continue to learn from them, and I feel so lucky that I got to learn from them, and only wish I could do it all again so I can soak up more. Cornish makes fearless, individual artists. That’s no small feat in this world. I didn’t come out of there feeling like I fit some kind of mold. I came out feeling like I knew myself, and what I was meant to become. I came out there knowing I was good at what I did, and I was ready to take on the professional world. And I did.” — Ramiz Monsef, TH ‘02
Humanities & Sciences Liberal Studies Learning and the BFA Degree
An essential component of your BFA degree includes the courses you will take outside of your major in the Humanities and Sciences Department. As the general education division of the College, we provide a liberal studies curriculum that engages Cornish students in an exploration of the social, environmental and cultural contexts in which artistic production takes place, while developing critical thinking, problem-solving and communication skills. The curriculum helps you consider multiple perspectives when looking at complex problems and issues, drawing on a variety of ways to understand the world and our human experience. Our curriculum is constantly changing and inquiry based. It is intended to engage you in active analysis and problem-solving in relation to thematic issues that may have a long-
standing history, but that continue to challenge contemporary societies and individuals, both locally and globally. Classes are limited in size and conducted “seminar style.� Students at Cornish are not passive learners; they contribute to and help shape the experience in their classes. Many classes go into the community, exploring the urban and natural environment, doing field observations and visiting local organizations and the people involved in them. Both in and out of the classroom, instructors in Humanities and Sciences help you acquire the kind of confidence and competence that will serve you well both during and after college, in your personal and professional lives. In the end, our aim in Humanities and Sciences is to inspire the curiosity and habits necessary for life-long learning and development.