Katharsis Acting Studio

Katharsis Acting Studio is the educational wing of My Turn Performing Arts Collective LLC. The passion of member Kat Johns, it is based on the belief that catharsis is an emotional need of every human, therefore the performing arts is a public service for the emotional health of all participants, performers and audience alike.

The mission of Katharsis Acting Studio is to provide a safe space to cultivate a healthy and sustainable work ethic in the theatre arts, by offering skills and experience in the Craft of Acting.

Upcoming events:

(POSTPONED) Acting 101 – Introduction to the Craft - $40*/per student - 4 session class.

Class session dates: To be determined

What makes Acting a Craft? Practical exercises play a supporting role to theoretical and philosophical discussion in this introduction, meant to instill a deeper understanding of the history and Purpose of theatre arts, specifically the Craft of Acting. This course is meant to prime the mind for theatre work, and introduce the body to physical exercises for the stage. Monologues will be presented by each participant at the end of the class (no memorization required). Enrollment of up to 12; minimum 4. Recommended ages 13+ (13-18 with guardian consent). No prerequisites.

This 4 session class will be held at the Highland Blush Cafe in Downtown Alma, MI.

*Scholarships available. Inquire with blushtheatercompany@gmail.com

Session One: Definitions and Abstractions
“An actor is someone who remembers.

On the simplest level, someone who remembers her lines, her cues, her moves, her notes, to do up her buttons, to tie her shoelaces, to carry her props, to enter, to exit. Simple things, complex things. An actor is someone who remembers.

On another level, an actor is someone who remembers what it felt like to be spurned, to be proud, to be angry, to be tender—all the manifestations of emotion he experienced as a child, as an adolescent, in early manhood and maturity. An actor remembers the “feel” of all the feelings he ever felt or ever sensed in others. He remembers what happened to other people through all periods of recorded time—through what he has read and been taught. In tracing the lineaments of his own sensibility, he has the key to understanding everyone else.

On a deeper level, an actor is someone who remembers the primitive primordial impulses that inhabited her body before she was “civilized” and “educated.” She remembers what it feels like to experience intense hunger and profound thirst, irrational loathing, and sublime contentment. She recalls the earliest sensations of light and heat, the invasion of infernal forces and the coming of celestial light. She remembers the anguish of disapproval and the comforting security of guardians.

He remembers vividly (not necessarily articulately) what it feels like to be isolated, to be partnered, to be set adrift, to be reclaimed. He remembers that miasmic stretch of time before becoming aware of the details of his own identity. He remembers the world before it became his world and himself before he became his self.

To be without memory and to be an actor is inconceivable. An actor is someone who remembers.”

- Charles Marowitz