Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA)
Encyclopedia
The Primary Stages
Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) is an interdisciplinary institution in New York City that offers courses in Acting, Writing and Directing.
http://www.primarystages.org/ESPA
to a more formalized multidisciplinary institution with departments in acting
, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, the School has housed over one-thousand students. The School, formally known as the Primary Stages
School of Theater was renamed in 2010 in honor of two Primary Stages
founding members, Marvin and Anne Einhorn.
All courses are taught by industry professionals that include Primary Stages
staff members Casey Childs
(Founder and Executive Producer of Primary Stages
), Andrew Leynse
(Artistic Director), Michelle Bossy (Associate Artistic Director).
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/couple-honored-for-years-of-loyalty-to-theater/
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Primary_Stages_Names_Theater_School_After_Marvin_Anne_Einhorn_20100419
courses have included: On-Camera Acting, Advanced Scene Study, Musical Theater Auditioning, Improvisation
, Shakespeare, Auditioning for Television and Film, Solo Performance and The Voiceover
.
Writing courses have included: The First Draft, The Rewrite, Comedy Writing, Adaptation, Experimental Theater, Lyric Writing, The Libretto
and Television Writing.
Directing Courses have included: Site-Specific Directing, Directing for Actors, Introduction to Independent Film-Making, and Directing Edward Albee
.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Primary_Stages_Names_Theater_School_After_Marvin_Anne_Einhorn_20100419
http://www.primarystages.org/faculty
, Craig Lucas
and Neil LaBute
.
Each Summer, the ESPA*Drills new play development program affords four ESPA playwrights the opportunity to workshop their plays at Primary Stages
and present full readings at 59E59 Theaters. The playwrights work with ESPA Actors and Directors as well as other New York artists.
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
Marvin and Anne Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) is an interdisciplinary institution in New York City that offers courses in Acting, Writing and Directing.
http://www.primarystages.org/ESPA
History
ESPA developed from a collection of in-house playwriting classes at Primary StagesPrimary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
to a more formalized multidisciplinary institution with departments in acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, the School has housed over one-thousand students. The School, formally known as the Primary Stages
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
School of Theater was renamed in 2010 in honor of two Primary Stages
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
founding members, Marvin and Anne Einhorn.
All courses are taught by industry professionals that include Primary Stages
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
staff members Casey Childs
Casey Childs
Casey Childs is the Founder and Executive Producer of Primary Stages Company, a New York State non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City...
(Founder and Executive Producer of Primary Stages
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
), Andrew Leynse
Andrew Leynse
Andrew Leynse is the Artistic Director of the Off-Broadway theater company Primary Stages Theater in New York City.Andrew teaches Playwrighting and Acting for Primary Stages School of Theatre, Theatre Theory for Carnegie Mellon University, and is an artistic advisor for the Drama League, and an...
(Artistic Director), Michelle Bossy (Associate Artistic Director).
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/couple-honored-for-years-of-loyalty-to-theater/
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Primary_Stages_Names_Theater_School_After_Marvin_Anne_Einhorn_20100419
Courses
ActingActing
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
courses have included: On-Camera Acting, Advanced Scene Study, Musical Theater Auditioning, Improvisation
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, Shakespeare, Auditioning for Television and Film, Solo Performance and The Voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
.
Writing courses have included: The First Draft, The Rewrite, Comedy Writing, Adaptation, Experimental Theater, Lyric Writing, The Libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
and Television Writing.
Directing Courses have included: Site-Specific Directing, Directing for Actors, Introduction to Independent Film-Making, and Directing Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Coverage_Primary_Stages_Names_Theater_School_After_Marvin_Anne_Einhorn_20100419
Instructors
ESPA faculty members:- David AdjmiDavid AdjmiDavid Adjmi is an American playwright. He is the recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2010 Whiting Writers' Award, the inaugural Steinberg Playwright Award, a Bush Artists Fellowship, and the Kesselring Fellowship for Drama.-Life:...
- Betsy Aidem
- Tanya BarfieldTanya BarfieldTanya Barfield is an African-American playwright and actress whose works have been presented both nationally and internationally with such festivals and companies as the Arena Stage, The Royal Court Theatre, the New York Theatre Workshop, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Hartford Stage.Her plays...
- B.H. BarryB.H. BarryB.H. Barry is an English fight director and choreographer in theater, film, television, opera and ballet. He has been awarded both a Drama Desk and an Obie Award for Sustained and Consistent Excellence in Stage Combat...
- Brooke BermanBrooke BermanBrooke Berman is an American playwright and author. Her play Hunting and Gathering, which premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York magazine...
- Mark BlumMark BlumMark Blum is an American actor in movies, on television and stage.-Career:Blum started acting on stage in the 1970s. Beginning in the 1980s as an actor in movies like Lovesick, Desperately Seeking Susan and Crocodile Dundee, he later appeared in television series as guest, with the failed show...
- Jim Boerlin
- Michelle Bossy
- Karen Braga
- Christopher Burney
- David Caudle
- Casey ChildsCasey ChildsCasey Childs is the Founder and Executive Producer of Primary Stages Company, a New York State non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City...
- Constance Congdon
- Kara Lee Corthron
- Cusi Cram
- Denny DillonDenny DillonDenise "Denny" Dillon is an American comedian and former cast member of Saturday Night Live. At 4'11" , Dillon is the shortest cast member in the show's history...
- Gary Donatelli
- Sarah Elliott
- Carl Forsman
- Elliot Fox
- Jackson Gay
- Joanna GleasonJoanna GleasonJoanna Gleason is a Canadian actress and singer. She is a Tony Award-winning musical theatre actress and has also had a number of notable film and TV roles.-Early life:...
- Randy GraffRandy GraffRandy Graff is an American actress. Graff has been in feature films such as Keys to Tulsa and Rent as well as being in television shows such as NBC's Law & Order a number of times. In addition to film and television, Graff has been in several Broadway shows...
- David GrimmDavid GrimmDavid Ivanovich Grimm was a Russian architect, educator and historian of art of Byzantine Empire, Georgia and Armenia. Grimm belonged to the second generation of Russian neo-Byzantine architects and was the author of orthodox cathedrals in Tbilisi, Chersonesos and smaller churches in Russia and...
- Adam Gwon
- Jessica HechtJessica HechtJessica Hecht is an American actress, known for numerous Broadway appearances and TV roles.-Background:Hecht was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of Lenore, a psychotherapist, and Richard Hecht, a physicist. Jessica moved with her parents and her sister to Bloomfield, CT, at the age of...
- Harriet Harris
- Michael HollingerMichael HollingerMichael Hollinger is an American playwright who is currently an assistant professor of Theatre at Villanova University and a resident playwright at . He received a Bachelor of Music in viola performance from Oberlin Conservatory in 1984 and a Master of Arts in theatre from Villanova in 1989...
- Judith IveyJudith IveyJudith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...
- Morgan JennessMorgan JennessMorgan Jenness is a freelance dramaturg based in New York City.For over 10 years, Jenness worked at the Public Theater, under both George C.Wolfe and Joseph Papp in roles ranging from literary manager to Director of Play Development to Associate Producer of the NY Shakespeare Festival...
- Julia JordanJulia Jordan (writer)Julia Jordan is an award-winning American playwright, television and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College, class of 1989, and received a masters degree from Trinity, Dublin.-Personal life:...
- Kait KerriganKait KerriganKait Kerrigan is an American playwright and musical theater lyricist and book writer.-Biography:Kait Kerrigan is a playwright and a lyricist and composer of musicals. Originally from Kingston, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Wyoming Valley West Senior High School in Plymouth, Pennsylvania in...
- Stephanie Klapper
- Lisa KronLisa KronElizabeth S. "Lisa" Kron is an American actress and playwright.-Biography:Kron was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She jokes in one of her plays that her life began on her parents’ trip to Europe: “I was conceived in Venice, you know...
- Neil LaButeNeil LaButeNeil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
- Michael LaibsonMichael LaibsonMichael D. Laibson is an American television producer and theatre director who is notable for producing soap operas such as As the World Turns , Another World , All My Children and Guiding Light .He earned a B.A...
- Tessa LaNeve
- Linda and David Laundra
- Andrew LeynseAndrew LeynseAndrew Leynse is the Artistic Director of the Off-Broadway theater company Primary Stages Theater in New York City.Andrew teaches Playwrighting and Acting for Primary Stages School of Theatre, Theatre Theory for Carnegie Mellon University, and is an artistic advisor for the Drama League, and an...
- Judith LightJudith LightJudith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...
- Brian LowdermilkBrian LowdermilkBrian Lowdermilk is an American musical theater composer and lyricist.-Biography:Brian Lowdermilk is a composer and lyricist of musicals. He is also a music director, arranger, vocal coach, and pianist....
- Craig LucasCraig LucasCraig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
- Cynthia Mace
- Rogelio Martinez
- Itamar MosesItamar MosesItamar Moses is an American playwright, author, and television writer.Moses grew up in Berkeley, California, earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in dramatic writing from New York University...
- Dael OrlandersmithDael OrlandersmithDael Orlandersmith is an actress, poet and playwright who is best known for her Obie Award winning Beauty's Daughter and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama, Yellowman....
- Adam Reist
- Lisa Rothe
- Sarah RuhlSarah RuhlSarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...
- Edwin Sanchez
- Julian Sheppard
- Leigh Silverman
- Blair Singer
- Saviana StanescuSaviana StanescuSaviana Stănescu is an award-winning Romanian-American poet, playwright and journalist. She is currently the NYSCA playwright-in-residence for Women's Project, writer-in-residence of East Coast Artists, and Director of New Drama Program for the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York...
- Daniel Talbott
- Lucy ThurberLucy Thurber-Career:As of 2007, she is the author of eight plays: Where We’re Born, Ashville, Innocence is a Sin, Killers & Other Family, Stay, Bottom of the World, Monstrosity, and Scarcity. She was the recipient of the 2000/2001 Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellowship...
- Richard Topol
- Francine Volpe
- Kim WeildKim WeildKim Weild is a Drama Desk Award nominated theatre director, choreographer, actor, writer and educator, living and working in New York.-Background:As an actor and dancer, Kim Weild has performed extensively in both Europe and the United States...
- Sheri Wilner
- Mary Louise WilsonMary Louise WilsonMary Louise Wilson is an American stage, film and television actress.-Stage:Broadway* Hot Spot — 1963 as Sue Ann* Flora, The Red Menace — 1965 as Comrade Ada* Lovers and Other Strangers — 1968 as Bernice...
- Walton Wilson
http://www.primarystages.org/faculty
Special Programs
The ESPA Master Class Series, is offered in the Spring and Fall semesters. It is part lecture, master class, workshop, and Q&A. Previous guests have included Judith LightJudith Light
Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...
, Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
and Neil LaBute
Neil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...
.
Each Summer, the ESPA*Drills new play development program affords four ESPA playwrights the opportunity to workshop their plays at Primary Stages
Primary Stages Theater
Primary Stages was founded in 1984 by Casey Childs as a New York State non-profit theater company with the mission of producing new plays and fostering the artistic development of emerging and established playwrights....
and present full readings at 59E59 Theaters. The playwrights work with ESPA Actors and Directors as well as other New York artists.