Summer workshops!

We're delighted to be hosting several workshops this summer, ranging from crafting audition song cuts and monologues to perfecting your dance skills for auditions!

Open to all ages. Scholarships are available for OSHP members 18 years of age or younger; go here for more information.


CRAFTING YOUR AUDITION CUT – MUSICAL THEATRE

At the end of the session, you should be able to take any audition cut and turn it into an audition “performance."

Cost $150
Sunday, July 18 and Sunday, July 25, 2021 1 pm – 4 pm (two 3-hour sessions)
OHS PAC
Taught by Jace Nichols and Kelsey Odorizzi
14 participants maximum - open to all ages

Materials required: two photocopies of your audition cut, double-sided (one in a binder for accompanist, the other for Jace). Your audition cut should be 32 bars or 1 minute of a PREPARED, MEMORIZED musical theatre cut. (This should be something that you feel you can’t live without in your audition book.)

Week 1
Perform
Intensive 1-1 feedback and direction
Incorporate feedback and direction
Perform

*work on your own between sessions

Week 2
Perform
Additional feedback and direction
Incorporate feedback and direction
Perform

Sign up!


CRAFTING YOUR AUDITION MONOLOGUE

This will be intensive work on a 1-minute monologue to learn the skills to approach any monologue in order to create a full performance that is compacted into an audition cut. At the end of the session, you should be able to take any monologue and turn it into an audition “performance."

Cost $100; $50 for one session only
Sunday, August 1 and Sunday, August 8, 2021 1 pm – 3 pm (two 2-hour sessions)
OHS PAC
Taught by Jace Nichols
15 participants maximum - open to all ages

Materials required: two photocopies of a MEMORIZED age-appropriate monologue. Do not use a monologue from a musical.

Week 1
Perform
Intensive 1-1 feedback and direction from Jace
Perform
Discussion with everyone

*work on your own between sessions

Week 2
Perform
Additional feedback and direction
Incorporate feedback and direction
Perform

Sign up!


BASIC CHOREOGRAPHY

This course will teach basic choreography moves and terminology that you may encounter in a musical theatre dance call. Participants will primarily focus on ballet and jazz. Participants will spend some time focusing on the fundamental movement and then learn a combination. At the end of the session, the course will end with a mock dance call.

Cost $100
Sunday, August 15, 2021 1 pm – 4 pm (one 3-hour session)
OHS PAC
Taught by Sami Elmer
16 participants maximum - open to all ages

Proper attire required: loose-fitting clothing. Dance clothes and shoes preferred but not required.

Sign up!


MENTOR BIOS

Jace Nichols

Jace Nichols is excited to return to his hometown of Oregon, where he began his theatre journey in OSHP’s Oliver! (1984). He earned his BFA in Musical Theatre from UW-Stevens Point and worked all over the country as an actor. Jace starred in the Off-Broadway hit, Pinkalicious the Musical, and developed and hosted Nickelodeon's live game show, U Pick Nick! He has directed and designed in the Madison area for companies including Four Seasons Theatre, University Theatre, Madison College, Armory Dinner Theatre, Madison Theatre Guild, Strollers Theatre, OSHP, and East High School. Nichols teaches private voice and acting from his home studio (nicholsstudios.com). As a teaching artist, he has led workshops for OSHP, Madison College, Wagon Wheel Theatre, and Leesburg Schools (IN). Additionally, he has taught acting and musical theatre at UW's Summer Music Clinic, and been an adjudicator/clinician for the Overture Center's Jerry Awards, the Wisconsin High School Theatre Festival, the Educational Theatre Association, and International Thespian Society. In 2015, he joined UW-Madison’s Department of Theatre and Drama, where he teaches Musical Performance for the Actor, and serves as a mentor to many aspiring young directors, cabaret creators, and musical theatre performers.


Kelsey Odorizzi

Kelsey Odorizzi is ecstatic to be working alongside Jace (and you!) for this Musical Theatre workshop! Kelsey is the Music Director for the Sun Prairie High School theatre department as well as for the teen shows at Verona Area Community Theater, and is proud to be a five time Jerry Award Recipient for "Outstanding Musical" (SPHS: Urinetown, Seussical the Musical, The Pajama Game; VACT: Hairspray and Newsies). Kelsey's love for musical theatre blossomed when she toured as a principal singer/dancer with the KIDS From Wisconsin, a title she held proudly for five summers. Not only did she grow exponentially as a performer from that experience, she was also chosen to intern with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops for a week and performed with five Broadway stars, including Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Donna McKechnie (Original Cassie in A Chorus Line). For the stage, Kelsey's favorite roles include: Luisa in The Fantasticks, Lucy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Belle in Beauty and the Beast (Best Actress for the 2019 BroadwayWorld Madison Awards), and the title role in Mary Poppins. Besides performing and music directing, Kelsey has been teaching voice lessons for the past six years where she continues to love and appreciate the music she makes with her students.


Sami Elmer

Sami Elmer is excited to be working with all of you for this workshop! Sami grew up in Oregon and performed in her first musical with OSHP in the 2002 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She has over 20 years of dance experience in styles including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Modern, and Contemporary/Lyrical. Sami received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. She has performed, directed, choreographed, and music directed for Madison area theatre companies including Four Seasons Theatre, Music Theatre of Madison, Capital City Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Madison, St. Bernard Players, Oregon High School, and OSHP. Sami has worked as a teaching artist at Oregon High School and Children’s Theatre of Madison. She also teaches private voice from her home studio.