School Visits and Workshops

MONOLOGUES 101

There are few moments onstage more powerful than a good monologue.   Done right it’s an act of virtuosity, a brief moment of stillness where everything else falls away, save one startling single voice.  The key to writing a great monologue is to find that voice. 

This is a practical course based on class discussion, improvisation and written exercises, designed to help you find your character, get to know them better and hear what they have to say. 

A recommended course for students beginning their Original Solo Performance assessment.

bardcraft and general wordsmithery

Every day we take in hundreds of stories.  Each new morning we wake hungry for more.   For thousands of years we’ve gathered around the campfire, around the table, around the television to share stories.   Story has ever been our way of sharing knowledge, of understanding, it helps us come to grips with the world.    

We're all storytellers but some of us will pursue it doggedly, always looking to improve our craft, striving for clarity, simplicity and poetry in all our work. 

Working closely with students, Caleb will discuss the basic elements of Story: Plot, Character and Theme.  We’ll also look at  Motivation, Conflict, Voice, Dialogue, Subtext, Exposition, Setting, Truth and Perspective, the importance of Research and the need for Suspense.  Lastly we’ll consider Style, Genre and Medium and how these different choices impact your story.  

This is a practical workshop designed to give students confidence in their own voice.  It provides a solid grounding in the fundamentals of classical narrative while also delving into new strategies for storytelling. 

* This is an open-ended syllabus and can be adjusted to meet your school's needs.  Classes may take up an afternoon or several weeks.

COMEDY GOLD

Ever laughed so hard your eyes started to water, your stomach hurt and you almost couldn’t breathe?       

Who is your favourite comedian?  A stand-up comic, an actor or maybe someone at school?  Ever wondered where they get their jokes from or how they make that stuff up?  Ever thought you’d like to try it but been terrified?  Making people laugh is easy, based on a few simple ideas.

Working with professional playwright (and former comic), Caleb Lewis, students will discuss the history of comedy from Slapstick and Comedia through to Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman, while attempting to answer the question, "What makes something funny?" 

Finally, combining written exercises and improvisation, students will learn the basics of stand-up and sketch comedy, to create their own short routines, mining their own experience and perspective for comedy gold.

Background

An artist committed to young people and social change, Lewis has worked across Australia, especially the regions, as well as leading workshops with recent migrants and refugees in Adelaide and Western Sydney (Curious Works) most recently those from the Sudan.  He has facilitated workshops and mentored, alongside emerging indigenous writers through AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience) and as a visiting artist with the Aboriginal community of Palm Island.  A strenuous advocate for raising awareness of mental health, Caleb is a long-time partner of the Hunter Institute of Mental Health’s Mindplay Initiative, aimed at educating and empowering young people.  Most recently he worked with ex-offenders in regional South Australia to create a new work for the stage. 

Caleb has a history of collaboration with students and teachers at numerous schools, universities and other teaching institutions across the country, either as a visiting tutor, artist in residence, or helping to develop new works for the stage.   His plays for Poetry in Action, The Elements of Rhyme, The Citizenship Test and The Australians have been seen by over 100,000 students across Australia.   Clinchfield, developed for students at the Flinders University Drama Centre, and later performed at WAAPA and Charles Sturt University, was recently named the inaugural winner of the Richard Burton Award for New Plays.  His writing is dynamic and contemporary, dealing with themes of class, prejudice and the human capacity for transformation and redemption. 

To book Caleb for a workshop or visit at your school or university follow the link