Completely Ridiculous Classes and Workshops

Completely Ridiculous
Classes and Workshops!

Ongoing Classes

Wellness Practice with Annie Piper

Wednesdays from 10-11am EST, starting September 15th on Zoom.
Ongoing. $18/Class. $60/Month.
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An ongoing, weekly qigong and yoga based movement practice that helps each individual to unpack habituated patterns of tension. Cathartic, compassionate and immediate, this practice will put you into a flow state, down-regulate your nervous system, quiet your mind and open your heart.

"I will be a regular here. I still do the exercises on my own, but nothing replaces the connection I felt, that Annie provides when she guides people as a group. We are united through the earth and ether, I learn every time that so many things are not necessary. I feel love every time I leave the class and much lighter."

Annie Piper (she/her/hers) teaches at Kula Yoga in Tribeca, The Shala and Prema Yoga in Brooklyn. She is on the movement faculty at NYU's Tisch School of Graduate Acting and The Yale School of Drama. She is the co- teacher of 'The Open Voice' with Jessie Austrian at NYU's Gallatin School. She is certified to teach trauma-sensitive yoga by both the Trauma Center in Boston and with the national organization Warriors at Ease, and continues to bring yoga to veterans throughout NYC. She has served on the faculty at the Brown University / Trinity Rep Consortium as well as undergraduate Theater Studies at NYU. Formerly an actor and director, She received an MFA in Acting from The University of Minnesota and a BA in Theater from Oberlin College. She certified to teach in 1997 at OM yoga, and studies Qi Gong with Thomas Droge.

Actors AT Practice Group with Tracy Einstein

Tuesdays from 11-12pm EST, starting October 5th on Zoom.
Ongoing. $18/Class. $60/Month.
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How can you feel safe inside the inherent exposure of performance? How can you deepen your presence, sensitivity, and responsiveness while maintaining a felt sense of support? How can you stay soft and invite big energy and big play? In this weekly drop-in class we will start by settling and organizing the body. Then, in pursuit of our inherent support through alignment, we will look to let go of unnecessary tension, thus opening ourselves to greater flexibility, empathic vulnerability, spontaneity and PLAY.

"Do you want your body and mind to feel WHOLE AGAIN? Then do AT with Tracy." "I finally get and love my spine! My relationship to my body, finally make sense." "The class reawakened a curiosity about my use of my body, that was more detached from judgment and a desire to get it right than in previous AT training." "Tracy helped me to discover a long lost connection that I didn't know I had with myself." "...she helped me to find comfort and belonging in my body."

Tracy (she/her/hers) is an Alexander Technique Teacher and movement educator for people who seek sustainable movement for creative action. Her style as an educator dances at the intersection of embodiment, mindful practice, play, and community. She currently practices at the Balance Arts Center, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the Completely Ridiculous Conservatory where she facilitates AT and movement classes. She’s done pedagogical training with Christopher Bayes (Theatrical Clown), Lincoln Center Education (Teaching Artistry) and the Balance Arts Center (Alexander Technique), where she completed the 1600 hr AmSAT certified Teacher Training Course under the mentorship of Ann Rodiger. She’s currently furthering her training with Somatic Experiencing, and learning from her amazing 3 month-old daughter. Learn more at www.tracyeinstein.com

Fall Classes

Russian Études with Annelise Lawson

Thursday nights from 6-9pm EST, starting September 16th on Zoom.
6 weeks. $445. Open to 12 students.
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Études are a rehearsal tool developed from Stanislavski’s final experiments. This course seeks to foster a dynamic interaction between actor and text. Through a series of exploratory improvisations called études, actors unpack and personalize the given circumstances — following their own impulses to achieve profound and thrillingly original interpretations. The course focuses on how to activate “bookwork” through imagination, awareness, and sense of spontaneous play. The method gives students practical tools to pull even the most intimidating texts off their pedestals and make them their own. Students will gain confidence in the legitimacy of their own impulses, having followed their interpretations of text and character to the furthest possible point.

"The most human space I've ever stepped into. Annelise prioritized humanity and what it revealed for the work was unprecedented. It was a new way of freeing ourselves from the fetters of I suppose lifelong conditioning. Empowering study of ourselves as flesh and air reinforcing our resilience as humans first and then bringing it to the game. Inspiring that to achieve such a thing requires us to simply look at ourselves as we are. Grateful for the experience."

Annelise Lawson (she/her/hers) is a bicoastal actress and theatre-maker. Recent credits include Anna in Babes in the Woods (world premier, Signature Theater), Edmund in King Lear (Here Arts Center), Helena in MIDSUMMER (The Araca Project), and Masha in Dmitry Krymov’s √3 Sisters (International Festival of Arts & Ideas). Other theatre credits include Arcadia (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Last Act (world premier, Israeli Stage); I Should Have a Party for the Thoughts I Didn’t Say (Source Material Collective); The Oresteia, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Troublesome Reign of King John, The Tempest, In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Yale School of Drama); Middletown (Yale Summer Cabaret); The Secretaries, (Yale Cabaret); The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe (First Folio). Film: Close-Up (NY Indie Theater Film Festival Winner). Annelise holds certificates in acting from the Moscow Art Theatre School & the British American Drama Academy, and is a graduate of the iO training program in Chicago. As a teacher, Annelise’s work focuses on developing technique and style through students’ personal sense of fun. Her areas of expertise include Clown, Commedia dell’arte, and the Russian Étude method – an improvisatorial rehearsal tool designed to unleash an actor’s imagination into the world of the text. She teaches Chekhov at the Yale School of Drama, The New School for Drama, and the Stella Adler Studio. She has also taught at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, The Shakespeare Academy at Stratford, and is a founding member of The Pandemonium Studio.

Sourcing Self with Chalia La Tour

Saturday afternoons from 1-4pm EST, starting October 2nd on Zoom.
6 weeks. $445. Open to 12 students.
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A 6 week intensive on honoring the wealth that is the actor’s unique lived experience as a foundation for empathetic exchange and a basis for infinite imagination. Through monologue and scene work exploration participants will gain tools in personalization, explore the concept of experiential text analysis, and strengthen their ability to use their own humanity to give life to text. The goal is to empower the actor to embrace the fullness of their lived experience paired with their imagination as their greatest asset.

"One of the best classes I have ever had in my life." "Chalia is such a brilliant teacher, performer and mentor! ... I found my TRUTH and identity which helped me to expand and push my boundaries as an actor in a safe and supportive space." "Her class really helped me find a place to start the work. By connecting the material to my senses, memories and POV, I see my work carry a signature that is 100% authentically me." "No amount of time with her would have been too much."

Chalia La Tour (she/her/hers) is a 2020 Tony nominee for her work in the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Slave Play and a recipient of the inaugural Antonyo award for Best Featured Actor in a Broadway Play. Originally from Stockton, California, La Tour is a multi disciplinary artist in theatre, television, film and visual art. She is committed to work that promotes social justice and the intersections of humanity. Film: The Future is Bright , Love Repeat and Three Pregnant Men. The Future is Bright had the honor of screening at the inaugural Smithsonian African American Film Festival. TV: The Good Fight , The Code and Elementary on CBS. Off-Broadway: Slave Play (New York Theatre Workshop), The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition (Women's Theatre Project), The Danger: An Homage to Strange Fruit (JACK). Regional: Cadillac Crew (Yale Repertory Theatre), Cymbeline (Yale Repertory Theatre) La Tour is an alumna of the Yale School of Drama MFA Acting program and The British American Dramatic Academy. For more information on her work follow @chalialatour on Instagram.

Character and Energetics with Ato Blankson-Wood

Wednesday nights from 6-9pm EST, starting October 13th on Zoom.
6 weeks. $445. Open to 8 students.
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In this class we will focus in on the physical and energetic body of each actor as a means of exploring and building character. Through the practice of mindful meditation and use of the physical forms of the Grotowski technique, students will be given the means to make unexpected and innovative choices when building character and working in collaborative spaces.

"[This class] Transformed me. Physicality is where I found my truest expression. This practice informed the rest of my studies. It allowed me to live in the questions my body presented me. The most impactful work I've ever done." "I loved it and the work really opened my eyes up to a whole new world." "The way Ato taught us was so insightful... I will never forget this class." "The insights I've gained through this course will last a lifetime."

Ato (he/him/his) is an actor, theatre-maker, and educator based in New York.

Broadway: Slave Play (Tony Award nomination), Hair and Lysistrata Jones. Off-Broadway: The Rolling Stone at Lincoln Center Theater (Drama League Award nomination), Slave Play at NYTW (Lortel Award nomination), The Total Bent at The Public (Drama League and Lortel Award nominations), The Public Works’ Twelfth Night and As You Like It, Transfers at MCC, Antigone in Ferguson at the Harlem Stage, The Foundry Theatre’s O, Earth, and Iphigenia in Aulis at ‪CSC. Film/TV: Worth, BlacKkKlansman, ‪The Kindergarten Teacher, Detroit, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, “When They See Us” (Netflix), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “She’s Gotta Have It” (Netflix), and “The Good Fight” (CBS).

Ato is on the faculty of the Playwrights Horizons Theater School, a member of The Actors Center, and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama.

Email crpstudiomanager@gmail.com for more information about class bundles and alumni discounts.