Youth Classes & Workshops
Online and all-out awesome
Our virtual classes and workshops for youth in grades 6–12 are designed to empower theater-loving kids and teens to be artists and lifelong learners while exposing them to the professional practices and community of the Guthrie. Classes are introductory and have no prerequisite unless indicated.
For the health and safety of our students, staff and teaching artists during the COVID-19 crisis, we have transitioned our classes to a virtual format.
Scholarships are available for all educational programming, and you can apply here.
Questions? View our youth classes FAQs or email classes@guthrietheater.org.
We will add more virtual classes throughout the season, so check back often! Those 18+ can also explore our offerings for adults.
Grades 6–8
MIDDLE SCHOOL ACTING: CHARACTERS, SCENES AND MONOLOGUES
Characters are at the center of every story and have the power to captivate and inspire an audience. By delving into the creation of scripted text and characters through scenes and monologues, you will explore a variety of approaches for character development and be empowered to find your personal, unique approach to building strong and engaging characters. This class culminates in a showing with friends and family on the final day.
- Dates: Sundays, March 7 – April 4 | Noon – 2 p.m.
- Class Fee: $185
- Instructor: Aimee K. Bryant
Aimee K. Bryant (she/her) is an actor, vocalist and teaching artist. Her artistic practice is rooted in improvisation, collaboration and soul.
WORKSHOP: STAGE COMBAT
Have you ever wondered how onstage fighting looks so real? Join us for a fun and physical workshop of staged punching, slapping and falling taught by a professional teaching artist in the Twin Cities. You’ll explore the elements that must come together to keep a fight scene safe for everyone onstage while learning the tricks needed to create the illusion.
- Date: Saturday, April 24 | Noon – 2 p.m.
- Workshop Fee: $60
- Instructor: Annie Enneking
WORKSHOP: STAGE MAKEUP
Ever wondered how to do character makeup? Join us for an exciting one-day workshop taught by one of the industry’s top makeup artists. You will learn how to make yourself look older and create a scar along with other essential tips to help your makeup shine under the stage lights. Supplies may be purchased as a kit or individually (see link below). If you have questions, email classes@guthrietheater.org
- Dates: Saturday, March 27 | Noon – 2 p.m.
- Workshop Fee: $60
- Instructor: Jessica Rau
Youth Workshop Supplies
- Mehron StarBlend All-Pro Makeup Kit ($79.95)
Choose the skin tone you feel matches you best. Each kit comes with a variety of shades in your skin tone family. There will be a matching lesson at the beginning of class to help you select the right shade.
If you are unable to purchase the recommended Mehron kit, you will need the following (prices vary):
- Rubie’s Super Value Family Makeup Kit
- Three powders (one that matches your skin tone, one that is one to two shades lighter and one that is one to two shades darker)
- e.l.f. Loose Powder in Translucent/Sheer
- Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Powder
- NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette
- e.l.f. Powder Blush Palette (choose Light for light to medium skin tones and Dark for medium to dark skin tones)
- wet n wild Color Icon Kohl Liner Pencils in Baby’s Got Black and Simma Brown Now! (you will need both colors)
- Stationary mirror
- Hair elastic or pins (to hold hair back)
- Elmer's glue
- Mascara wands
- Makeup wedges
- Paintbrushes
- Powder puffs
- Cotton balls
- Kleenex/tissues
- Washcloth
- Warm water
Jessica Rau (she/her) has been making wigs, coiffing hair, painting faces and thinking about the performance of cultural esthetics since 1997. She has trained with renowned wig makers, cosmetologists and makeup artists throughout the U.S. and worked for many theaters and operas, including the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater and Metropolitan Opera. As owner of Jess Rau Wigs, her purpose is to use her creative eye for detail, curiosity and physical dexterity to uplift and inspire others, express history and social conversation through the vehicle of hair and makeup design, and give artists a catalyst to fulfill their genius and uniqueness. Rau holds an M.S. degree in Anthropology, focusing on memory culture and the performing arts, and she is a recipient of the Joy M. Query Prize for Excellence in Social Sciences. She has held several director and manager roles for organizations including The Cedar Cultural Center and the Minnesota Orchestra. She is also a co-founder of Valkyrie Music Collective, a group that advocates for women of all gender, racial and sexual identities in an effort to increase women’s power in the music industry. Rau believes that no story can be told onstage or in the streets without the use of visual imagery of the self.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ACTING: IMPROV
Learn how to create scenes and characters at the drop of hat by playing fun games in an environment of trust. You will learn comedic timing, how to get comfortable onstage and how to come up with a story in a matter of seconds. All you have to do is say, “Yes, and!”
Check back for upcoming dates.
Marci Lucht (she/her, they/them) is an actor, director and teaching artist who currently resides in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Her teaching artist residencies include Yellow Tree Theatre, The Matchbox Theater and Windom Bilingual Learning Center. She also works as a Youth Coordinator for Penumbra Theatre’s Summer Institute. Local theater credits include Actors Theater of Minnesota, Classical Actors Ensemble, Full Circle Theater and Old Log Theatre. She recently got a puppy named Arlo — a Catahoula Leopard mix who is the most adorable dog you’ve ever seen.
Grades 9–12
WORKSHOP: STAGE COMBAT
Have you ever wondered how onstage fighting looks so real? Join us for a fun and physical workshop of staged punching, slapping and falling taught by a professional teaching artist in the Twin Cities. You’ll explore the elements that must come together to keep a fight scene safe for everyone onstage while learning the tricks needed to create the illusion.
- Date: Saturday, April 24 | Noon – 2 p.m.
- Workshop Fee: $60
- Instructor: Annie Enneking
WORKSHOP: STAGE MAKEUP
Ever wondered how to do character makeup? Join us for an exciting one-day workshop taught by one of the industry’s top makeup artists. You will learn how to make yourself look older and create a scar along with other essential tips to help your makeup shine under the stage lights. Supplies may be purchased as a kit or individually (see link below). If you have questions, email classes@guthrietheater.org
- Dates: Saturday, March 27 | Noon – 2 p.m.
- Workshop Fee: $60
- Instructor: Jessica Rau
Youth Workshop Supplies
- Mehron StarBlend All-Pro Makeup Kit ($79.95)
Choose the skin tone you feel matches you best. Each kit comes with a variety of shades in your skin tone family. There will be a matching lesson at the beginning of class to help you select the right shade.
If you are unable to purchase the recommended Mehron kit, you will need the following (prices vary):
- Rubie’s Super Value Family Makeup Kit
- Three powders (one that matches your skin tone, one that is one to two shades lighter and one that is one to two shades darker)
- e.l.f. Loose Powder in Translucent/Sheer
- Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Powder
- NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette
- e.l.f. Powder Blush Palette (choose Light for light to medium skin tones and Dark for medium to dark skin tones)
- wet n wild Color Icon Kohl Liner Pencils in Baby’s Got Black and Simma Brown Now! (you will need both colors)
- Stationary mirror
- Hair elastic or pins (to hold hair back)
- Elmer's glue
- Mascara wands
- Makeup wedges
- Paintbrushes
- Powder puffs
- Cotton balls
- Kleenex/tissues
- Washcloth
- Warm water
Jessica Rau (she/her) has been making wigs, coiffing hair, painting faces and thinking about the performance of cultural esthetics since 1997. She has trained with renowned wig makers, cosmetologists and makeup artists throughout the U.S. and worked for many theaters and operas, including the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater and Metropolitan Opera. As owner of Jess Rau Wigs, her purpose is to use her creative eye for detail, curiosity and physical dexterity to uplift and inspire others, express history and social conversation through the vehicle of hair and makeup design, and give artists a catalyst to fulfill their genius and uniqueness. Rau holds an M.S. degree in Anthropology, focusing on memory culture and the performing arts, and she is a recipient of the Joy M. Query Prize for Excellence in Social Sciences. She has held several director and manager roles for organizations including The Cedar Cultural Center and the Minnesota Orchestra. She is also a co-founder of Valkyrie Music Collective, a group that advocates for women of all gender, racial and sexual identities in an effort to increase women’s power in the music industry. Rau believes that no story can be told onstage or in the streets without the use of visual imagery of the self.
HIGH SCHOOL ACTING I: TRIPLE THREAT TOOLKIT
Build your skill set by learning the three key basics of acting, singing and dancing. Led by talented theater artists who have worked on stages across the Twin Cities and beyond, this fun, engaging class will teach you what it takes to be a real triple threat!
Check back for upcoming dates.
Gabrielle Dominique (she/her) is a South Minneapolis native and graduate of St. Olaf College where she earned bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Dance. She works as a performing and teaching artist in the Twin Cities and has recently performed at the Guthrie Theater (South Pacific, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls), the Ordway (West Side Story, Cabaret Series: Gotta Dance!), Minnesota Opera (Flight), Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (Mamma Mia!), Jungle Theater (Ride the Cyclone), Children’s Theatre Company (I Come From Arizona), Theater Latté Da’s 2017 NEXT Festival, Artistry Theater and Visual Arts (Oklahoma!, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (Terra Incognita, Twin Cities premiere) and Flying Foot Forum (Cookaphony). She has been a company member with St. Paul’s Wonderlust Productions since spring 2018 and was featured in its recent production of Our House: The Capitol Play Project and the “Overachievers” web series. When Dominique isn’t onstage, she works as a freelance teaching artist and choreographer. She especially loves working with theater students at Spring Lake Park School District 16, Anoka Middle School for the Arts and SOAR Regional Arts of St. Michael. She can’t wait to meet you and start dancing with you. Her motto (for life, as well as dance) is “When in doubt, right is right.”
Max Wojtanowicz (he/him) is a performer, playwright and educator based in the Twin Cities. He has taught acting, musical theater and audition prep at St. Olaf College, Yellow Tree Theatre, Guthrie Theater, St. Cloud Civic Center, Plymouth Playshop and Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute. He currently serves as an educator and evaluator for Spotlight Education with Hennepin Theatre Trust and enjoys sharing his love of musical theater. Learn more at www.maxwojtanowicz.com.
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