City Offering Free Acting Classes to Youth

Mayor Cory A. Booker and Neighborhood and Recreational Services Director Tharien Karim Arnold announced that the City of Newark will partner with Seventh Sons Theatre, Inc. to launch a free actors worskshop for Newark residents aged 13-21 at Rotunda Recreation Center, starting on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and continuing on alternating Saturdays until Dec. 14. The center is located at 75 Clifton Ave.

Participants in the program will learn the fundamentals of acting through games, exercises, storytelling, monologues, and scene study. Actors will explore the power of theatre and its ability to bring to light social and economic challenges urban communities face and how theatre can create a platform for dialogue, coping mechanisms, and give room for viable solutions. Actors will perform in a public showcase at the Newark Public Library at 5 Washington St., at the end of the five-week workshop.

The class will begin with an audition on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 11 a.m. Participants must come prepared with a two-to-three minute song, dance, poem, or monologue. Those who pass the audition will be accepted into the course. Registration is first-come, first-served.

The class is being conducted by Kyle Christopher Coles, the founder and Artistic Director of Seventh Sons Theater, Inc., based in Newark.   He directed “Live Your Life…a montage of play on words, song, and movement,” co-created by the Youth Actor’s Workshop. Seventh Sons Theater is a production company that presents the works of new and established playwrights.

For more information about any Newark municipal program or policy, please contact the Non-Emergency Call Center at (973) 733-4311.