We know that finding sector-specific education around teaching acting is difficult. Which is why it is part of AACE’s mandate to find or create these opportunities for learning. Hoping to provide as little barriers to learning as possible, we will always try to keep workshops costs as accessible. AACE takes not money for programming workshops.
Resilience and Boundaries in the Actors Process
A triad of experiential somatic workshops that will provide practical tools for acting coaches and educators to create respectful and brave spaces when working with actors.
Registration NOW OPEN! CLICK HERE
Somatics and Intimacy: Feeling, Sensing, Relating with Alix Sideris
Emotional Resilience in the Acting Process with Tom Stroud & Ines Buchli
Resilience & Boundaries in Character Development with Alan Powell
Join us for this exciting discussion with industry experts in helping actors find agency with their process and take risks without risking themselves.
Meredith McGeachie, Alix Sidaris, Megan Schroeder, Alan Powell, & Matt Denney.
Jennifer Wigmore moderates a live panel discussion with experts who will discuss the strategies they use in their consent based teaching practices.
Upcoming Fall Workshops
Ally Awareness
December 2nd : 2 – 4pm EST
VIA ZOOM
The language and landscape surrounding sex / sexuality / gender / gender identity and expression / seems ever changing. And it is! The alphabet and the importance of pronouns can seem daunting. And it can be!
Allies want to help and be supportive. You may want to ask questions — but not know where to turn — or how to ask without offending or upsetting. It can feel like a minefield. This is the workshop for you! Join, actor / singer / educator & Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), Bruce Dow, for an introduction to the basics – because you care and want to understand and support your students better.
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO, OAMHP, CASC, AACE, ACTRA, AEA, CAEA, SAG-AFTRA. Award-winning Actor, Singer, Director, Theatre Educator.
Bruce Dow best known for their 5 featured roles on Broadway; 12 Seasons in leading roles at the Stratford Festival; and their award-winning work in Toronto and Washington, DC — went back to school during the pandemic to study Inter-cultural Psychotherapy and Multi-Faith Psychospiritual Care. It is Bruce’s new research to explore not what we do, but how we engage with our selves while we do. cp.ca/bruce
REGISTER HERE VIA EVENTBRITE – Limited participants
Managing our Power as Teachers
October 24 : 2 – 4pm EST
VIA ZOOM
As acting teachers and coaches, our power holds both creative and destructive potential. How do we begin to confidently and sensitively manage our power? In this workshop we explore tools to recognize, balance and share power. We generate ideas to keep our spaces respectful and safe, discussing how to empower our students so that they can take creative risks. In the process, we increase our own ease and confidence as educators. It’s time to talk about power!
REGISTER HERE VIA EVENTBRITE – Limited participants
Niki is a professional conflict resolver, actor, producer, and teacher. She teaches acting for Seneca’s ACV program. As founder of C-Space Group, Niki mediates workplace and individual conflicts, leads listening circles, and offers training and coaching on a wide variety of subjects, including compassionate listening, de-escalation, handling difficult comments, and building psychologically-safe spaces.
c-spacegroup.com
Alan has been supporting actors’ resilience and vulnerability in performance since 2021 when he piloted A.C.E.S. (Actualizing Characters by Expanding Self-awareness), a trauma-informed, research-based model for actors developing complex characters. It supports authentic expression by prioritizing resilience and increasing capacity for embodying distressing emotions while in character. His practical research paper Cornerstones of ACES led to speaking engagements internationally. Prior to training as a psychotherapist, Alan directed hundreds of actors over 15+ years in educational trauma-based drama vignettes under contract with Western University/Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children. He is currently researching Actor Care strategies for foundation year students at Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in England. actor-care.com
REGISTER HERE VIA EVENTBRITE – Limited participants
Increasing Resilience for Yourself & the Actors You Teach
November 8th : 11:30 – 1:30pm EST
VIA ZOOM
The personal connection actors have to scripted material can often be linked to their own trauma.
This can make it challenging to access parts of themselves that are required for a robust character portrayal. It can also make it challenging for the coach/instructor. If not managed well, a well- intentioned tactic can cause the actors’ defences to go up effectively shutting down the instructor.
Alternatively, the actor may become overwhelmed and neither instructor nor actor have a healthy coping strategy to offer. This experiential/interactive workshop invites you to experience for yourself trauma-informed strategies that can support your resilience and wellbeing in your role as coach/educator with a view to how it translates to working with actors while keeping the focus on character development & performance.