by Michael T. Steffen
A local theater company will offer introductory and intermediate acting classes, as well as private coaching, throughout the winter at their studio at 259 Elm St.
“Drama gives you the chance to vent feelings you would not otherwise get the chance, or dare, to express,” said Amanda G. Hennessey, co-director of Essayons Theater.
Most students are drawn to Essayons to learn techniques, character development, improvisation, text analysis, and to get ideas about auditioning in the Boston theater scene, said Hennessey. Some attend classes to build confidence in public speaking and to improve communication skills, she said.
After attending Wheaton College, Hennessey received a Master of Fine Arts from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City, she said. As an undergraduate, Hennessey said she spent her junior year in India, where she found the time to read and contemplate the direction of her senior year. On returning from India, she decided to study acting under Pam Bongas and fell in love with drama, she said.
Along with her classes at Essayons, Hennessey said she teaches at the Huntington Theater Company and at Boston University. Hennessey’s performance experience spans from commercials to stage and film, she said. She recently appeared in the Boston based theatre company SpeakEasy’s hit show “The Women,” and in “The Child King,” a feature film that premiered in the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival in October and, early in her acting days, she played the character Shelby in a dramatic production of Robert Harding’s “Steel Magnolias.”
Recent Comments