Develop vocal technique, dance and movement skills, and song interpretation abilities as part of the musical theater specialty. Participants will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of material, including musical selections from the standard comedy, drama, and musical theater repertoire as well as non-dramatic sources. Musical theater artists will express their creativity by developing original pieces as individuals and by choreographing and rehearsing professional musical numbers as part of an ensemble. These pieces will then be showcased for the other specialty groups and their peers in the JCC Maccabi Games.
2013 Artist in Residence
Born in New York, Naomi Ackerman moved to Israel with her family in 1973, where she lived until they relocated to Los Angeles in 2006. She received a B.A. from Hebrew University and graduated from the prestigious Nissan Nativ Israeli Acting Studio. Naomi is an experienced actress whose credits include musicals, drama/comedy, film and television. She has performed her acclaimed one-woman show, Flowers Aren’t Enough (which she researched and wrote) around the world over one thousand times. She is founder and director of The Advot (Ripples) Project, a registered 501(c) 3 that uses theater to facilitate change. Her curriculum Relationships 101 is implemented in schools and juvenile detention camps. Naomi works as a consultant, using drama techniques to deal with social, gender and educational issues, as well as exploring identity and promoting tolerance. She is a founding member of “View Points”, an Arab Jewish theater group sponsored and produced by the Peres Center for Peace and the creator of the Jerusalem Municipality children’s clown school, which was one of the first groups of clowns in Israel to engage in medical clowning, integrating professional medical clowning into Israeli hospitals.
Audtion Requirements – Musical Theater 2013
What are we looking for?
- A strong desire and passion to focus on growth and improvement of acting and singing skills
- Passion for theater, and musical theater in particular
- The ability to follow simple choreography, some proficiency in singing
- A willingness to take positive risks onstage and be comfortable in front of an audience
- An ability to be a trusted member of a company or a team
- Participation in school/community/professional theater programs is desirable
In addition to answering the questions below, you must also submit a video sample of your work. Please record a 2-3 minute video of yourself performing a dramatic monologue and a song.
Once you have recorded the video, please upload it to a site such as YouTube or Vimeo and copy and paste the link into your audition form.
Please answer the following questions in the text boxes provided on the application.
- Tell us briefly your experiences in musical theater at school, home, and in workshops/classes.
- How do you wish to further your work/skills in music while at ArtsFest?
- Why do you want to participate in JCC Maccabi ArtsFest?
- Tell us about the piece you chose and why you chose it.
- Anything else you would like us to know about you and your musical theater skills?
- Please provide the link to your video audition.
* For basic instructions to upload a video to YouTube, please click here
Sample Schedule
Sunday
Arrival and opening ceremonies
Monday
Morning: Warm-up, Preliminary vocal and physical exercises, Discuss music and movement styles
Afternoon: Intensive theater classes, Develop short monologues
Tuesday
Morning: Discuss productive feedback and audience connections, Continue monologue development, Begin group musical number
Afternoon: JCC Cares, Discussion of business, “Mock” auditions
Wednesday
Morning: Intensive theater classes, Rehearsal of material for grand finale performance
Afternoon: First run through on stage
Thursday
Morning: Run through with other specialties, Closing discussion
Afternoon: ArtsFest finale
Evening: Closing party
Friday
Delegation departures
Sample Schedules are from past ArtsFests.
