EXPLORING CHARACTER: CREATING THE ONE-PERSON SHOW
Ages 16-29
Summer 2022, Johns Hopkins Homewood
This storytelling performance workshop will explore the live, one-person show. In the spirit of performances by Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Anna Devere Smith, and Eric Bogosian, student fellows will draw from real life characters, studying their mannerisms and unique vocal qualities, and bringing them to life on video. Through improv and acting exercises in collaboration with each other and with the instructor, fellows will work on acting technique, story structure, and character development. They'll perform their own stories and the stories of their families, neighborhoods, and city. The workshop will also include instruction on how to successfully film, light, and record audio of performances using smartphones and other readily available equipment. Fellows will experiment with a variety of settings, from a theater stage, to outdoor spaces, to available interiors at home. The instructor, a veteran actor and comedian, will fill the role of director, and will support each fellow in crafting their character study/performance. Final projects will be shared at a public exhibition and on the program website. Limited to 10 student fellows.
Marc Unger's career as an actor, writer, comedian, and filmmaker spans nearly 30 years. He's headlined many of the top comedy clubs in the country and guest starred on the Emmy winning TV shows Friends and Veep. His latest project is the award-winning series Thespian, available on Amazon and YouTube.
Murtaza Hathiyari is pursuing a graduate degree in robotics at Johns Hopkins. An experimentalist who believes in the power of expression, he is certain everything has an intriguing story behind it to dig into.
