CLASSES
Hudson Theatre Works offers an array of children and adult classes for professionals and novices alike. Taught by our company members, classes include acting, scene study, children's theatre, and playwriting.
The goal of all classes is to encourage students to take risks and to let go of their fear and apprehension. Experience the joy of theatre in a safe an supportive environment.
*Please note that some of our classes are offered in Spanish.
MYTH MAKERS
with Lenny Hort
Saturdays, 12:00 to 2:00PM starting October 7 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 8 to 12
All hail Zeus! Explore the Greek myths that form the foundation of Western literature—Pandora and her box, Theseus and the Minotaur, and more. Then turn these immortal tales of gods, monsters, heroines, and heroes into original plays with parts for everyone to perform.
Lenny Hort taught English and ran the Drama Club at Bergenfield High School before his recent retirement and also taught at the Gifted Child Society. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a veteran of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where his musical Pirates in the Gazebo! won a BMI Foundation Award for outstanding creative achievement. His plays have been performed on Zoom and in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State, including Grave Offense and The Sphinx Speaks at Hudson Theatre Works. A Little Something About My Powers was voted Best Play at the Equity Library Theater of New York Summer 2022 Virtual Play Festival. Lenny has written 12 published children’s books and makes frequent author visits including schools in Cliffside Park, Dumont, Fairview, Guttenberg, North Bergen, Oakland, Paramus, and Ridgewood, New Jersey, as well as Maryland and Virginia.
SATURDAY MORNING LIVE!
with Lenny Hort
Saturdays, 9:50 to 11:50AM starting October 7 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 10 to 13
So you think you’re funny? Join the club and have a blast creating and performing improv and sketch comedy.
Lenny Hort taught English and ran the Drama Club at Bergenfield High School before his recent retirement and also taught at the Gifted Child Society. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and a veteran of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where his musical Pirates in the Gazebo! won a BMI Foundation Award for outstanding creative achievement. His plays have been performed on Zoom and in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Washington State, including Grave Offense and The Sphinx Speaks at Hudson Theatre Works. A Little Something About My Powers was voted Best Play at the Equity Library Theater of New York Summer 2022 Virtual Play Festival. Lenny has written 12 published children’s books and makes frequent author visits including schools in Cliffside Park, Dumont, Fairview, Guttenberg, North Bergen, Oakland, Paramus, and Ridgewood, New Jersey, as well as Maryland and Virginia.
FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE
with Beatriz Esteban-Messina
*This class is bilingual, taught in both in Spanish & English
Saturdays, 12:00 to 2:00PM starting October 7 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 12 and up
A simple play is selected by the members of the class from a list presented by teacher. It will be studied for characters, plot line, settings, costumes and other needs. The class will culminate with an actual performance (or 2) for family & friends.
Beatriz Esteban-Messina was an arts educator and high school principal for 40 years. Since retiring in 2011, she has worked on over 50 shows both on and off stage. In 2018, she received an NJACT Perry Award for direction of an original play, Pets & Their Humans. Additionally, she has been nominated for “best featured actress” in Moon Over Buffalo & To Kill a Mockingbird, and for directing Night Mother. Beatriz is president of Teaneck New Theatre, a board member with Nutley Little Theatre and Hudson Theatre Works where she also runs the Children's Stage Project.
PLAYWRITING
with Joanne Hoersch
Wednesdays, 6:30PM starting October 11 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 18 and up
Geared towards early career playwrights (i.e. playwrights who have not had a full production done and/or published a play), and also new playwrights who are just getting started. This class will cover the intangibles in a play; mood, tone, POV, protagonist, antagonist, beats, arc, distillation of theme, "glancing" dialogue that is not all on one plane; furthering the plot, character development, conflict and resolution, how to begin a play and how to know when the play is finished, subtext, breaking the fourth wall, symmetry and asymmetry in character, what is each character's "want", "coloring" a scene with visuals, how a play changes from its beginning to its end. Students will critique each other's work, using what they've been taught in class as a guideline.
Joanne Hoersch is a founding member of Hudson Theatre Works, which has produced three of her plays; Jackson is Gone, Bunnies, and Shelley. She is the recipient of two grants from the NJ State Council on the Arts, as well as a Woolrich fellowship from Columbia University. Bunnies, based on her own experiences as a Playboy Bunny, was chosen in March of 2019 for a reading at JCTC, done under the auspices of the NJ Theatre Alliance, to celebrate women's month, and in 2022 was published by Next Stage Press. Both Jackson is Gone and Shelley were given round table readings at the Lark Theatre. Shelley was a 2022 semi-finalist in the Austin Film and Theatre Festival. Under her pseudonym Charlotte Glass, Joanne wrote the romance novels The Dream Room and Glorious. She loves theatre; its ephemeral spirit, its camaraderie, and its profound conversation with the world around us.
INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOP: ACTING FOR NON-ACTORS
with Frank Licato
Mondays, 6:30PM starting October 9 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 18 and up
Build your confidence, improve communication skills, expand your creativity - all while having a ton of fun, in a safe and supportive environment.
You may not know this, but there is an actor inside of you. He or she shows up multiple times every day. You play roles. You assume different personas. You will yourself into different states of being in order to accomplish your goals.
Acting is simply the ability to call on different aspects of your personality, different levels of energy, different emotional states at a specific time and place for a specific purpose.
Frank Licato, was given a 2018 Tanne Foundation award for continued artistic excellence and
he was recently named 1 of the 50 most influential people in Hudson County, NJ, where he is
Artistic Director of Hudson Theatre Works.
He has taught acting at Montclair State University, Clark University, the Philadelphia Acting
Studio, Weist Barron Studios, ACTeen and he has taught privately, both monologue classes and
scene study.
He received an Obie Nomination for Deathwatch by Jean Genet and was named Best
Performance by the Boston Critics Association, 3 years in a row. He was also named best
director, by the Off-Off Broadway Review for Seduced by Sam Shepard, and he won a Perry
Award for Best Director for his production of Grapes of Wrath.
His professional memberships include Actors Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA and the Actors
Studio Playwright and Director’s Unit.
SCENE STUDY
with Adrian Wattenmaker
Mondays, 6:30PM starting October 9 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 18 and up (high school students may be admitted by an interview)
Scene study offers actors ongoing practice of their craft. This class focuses on the analysis of the text and on how the actor's technique is used to build the scene. Actors work on scenes from plays and films learning how to explore and become the character, understanding how to construct a scene physically. What questions does one ask when reading a play? How do you discover and develop a character? What are the objectives? What are the relationships? The goal is to have the actor asking as many questions as possible so that they can experience scenes fully.
The class allows the actor to work on challenging parts in a safe environment.
Adrian Wattenmaker was Associate Director for the 2022 - 2023 TONY nominated Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize winning play Between Riverside and Crazy. Recently, he produced LAByrinth Theater Company's 30th Season for which he directed several productions. As Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Works, Adrian's credits include Eugene O'Neill's Hughie the world premiere of Neil LaBute’s A Good Thing, and the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s A Wake. Among his many theatre and film credits, Adrian has worked in association with Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage Theater, HB Playwrights Foundation, Theatre Row, 59E59 Theaters, Baltimore's Center Stage, Studio USA/Universal, and NBC (Law & Order and SNL).
Adrian began his career as an educator with the New York Film Academy, where in addition to teaching, he developed the acting program that was launched as the Academy's acting school in 2003. Since then he has developed and taught courses at School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA), Brooklyn College, University of Nevada - Reno, Kean University, Lafayette College, New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA).
Adrian is a member of The Actors Studio Playwrights / Directors Unit, AEA, SAG - AFTRA, and an associate member of SDC. He served on the Drama Desk Awards Nominating Committee and is a recipient of the Joel Zwick Scholarship in Directing, Friars Foundation Scholarship in Performing Arts, and Steve Yeager Theatre Fund Scholarship in Acting. Adrian earned his BA in Theatre Arts from Towson University and his MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College.
ENSEMBLE & ENVIRONMENT
with Adrian Wattenmaker
Tuesdays, 6:30PM starting October 10 (6 weeks) $295
Ages 18 and up (high school students may be admitted by an interview)
Become more in tune with yourself, the people around you, and your surroundings. You will build awareness and connection so you can fully experience the truth in the moment.
The class allows the actor to work on their technique in a safe environment.
Adrian Wattenmaker was Associate Director for the 2022 - 2023 TONY nominated Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Pulitzer Prize winning play Between Riverside and Crazy. Recently, he produced LAByrinth Theater Company's 30th Season for which he directed several productions. As Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Works, Adrian's credits include Eugene O'Neill's Hughie the world premiere of Neil LaBute’s A Good Thing, and the world premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s A Wake. Among his many theatre and film credits, Adrian has worked in association with Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage Theater, HB Playwrights Foundation, Theatre Row, 59E59 Theaters, Baltimore's Center Stage, Studio USA/Universal, and NBC (Law & Order and SNL).
Adrian began his career as an educator with the New York Film Academy, where in addition to teaching, he developed the acting program that was launched as the Academy's acting school in 2003. Since then he has developed and taught courses at School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA), Brooklyn College, University of Nevada - Reno, Kean University, Lafayette College, New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA).
Adrian is a member of The Actors Studio Playwrights / Directors Unit, AEA, SAG - AFTRA, and an associate member of SDC. He served on the Drama Desk Awards Nominating Committee and is a recipient of the Joel Zwick Scholarship in Directing, Friars Foundation Scholarship in Performing Arts, and Steve Yeager Theatre Fund Scholarship in Acting. Adrian earned his BA in Theatre Arts from Towson University and his MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College.