This summer, it’s time for area teenagers to Get Your Act Together, during a first-of-its-kind audition workshop presented by the Tower Theatre Foundation. Workshop director and veteran performer Mollie Tennant will run the workshop July 10-14. It’s designed especially for singers, dancers and actors 13-to-19 years old interested in a collaborative and productive week spent sharpening performance skills in their audition “tool belt.”
Bend’s Mollie Tennant has been singing and dancing her whole life. Starting at Disneyland as a teenager and a lead performer on cruise ships in her 20s, Tennant has worked at Paramount Pictures and Tri Star Pictures in Los Angeles and was the lead singer for ten years in the Las Vegas production of Jubilee at the Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel.
“This audition workshop has been a dream of mine for quite a while,” says Tennant. “I have prepared and auditioned hundreds of times and I want to share what I know and what I’ve learned about auditions with Central Oregon’s best young performers. There are practical skills and tips that will benefit them at schools and in local shows, but also for college and professional jobs as well. This workshop will be a space where young performers can practice and explore their skills with other teens and experienced mentors, while receiving personalized feedback in a fun, safe environment.”
In addition, attendees will participate in daily Skype Q & A sessions with three professional equity actors or Skype Mentors currently working on Broadway and National Touring Companies plus one New York City casting director. The Skype Mentors will share their experiences auditioning throughout their careers in performing arts, as well as personal stories, tips and encouragement.
The workshop will focus on organizing an audition book, practicing monologues to showcase versatility and strengths, showcasing vocal strengths for audition songs and practicing different dance variations.
At the final session all participants will walk through a typical audition day singing, dancing and acting in a professional setting on the Tower Theatre stage.
Meet the Coaches
Ben Larson holds a Bachelors of Arts in theatre arts from Portland State and is now a playwright and composer as well as a multi-disciplinarian in the performing arts, having worked as a stage director, music director, actor, singer, instrumentalist and dancer throughout the country. Ben serves as the worship pastor at Antioch Church and the board president at Cascades Theatrical Company.
Sarah Sutter is a dance teacher at Del Sol Academy, a performing arts magnet school in Las Vegas. She is a professional dancer and has worked as a line captain in several Las Vegas production shows and has traveled on audition tours as the dance instructor for production companies across the country.
Skylar Adams is a graduate of Ridgeview High school and was accepted to the prestigious 2015 and 2016 Oregon Shakespeare Festival Summer Seminar her junior and senior year. Skylar is currently studying theatre arts at Santa Clara University. Skylar will be advising on how to navigate college auditions in addition to coaching on monologue organization
and preparation.