Amanda Huotari Erzah Churchill photo
Norway Memorial Library, Norway Opera House Corp and theater artist Amanda Huotari are teaming up to offer an eight-week improvisation workshop for older adults.
The series is set to run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 6 through Oct. 25. Classes take place at the 258 Main St. library.
The Show Up and Play: Theater without a Script workshop series has been made possible through the Creative Aging program of the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant supports experiential learning opportunities for area residents ages 55 and older, according to a news release from Huotari.
The program will be taught by Huotari. For more than 20 years, she’s worked in professional theater, appearing at diverse venues from Montreal to Bogota, from New York Clown-Theatre Festival to the White House. In 2021, she was awarded the Maine Arts Commission’s Performing Arts Fellowship, recognized for artistic excellence and a “joyful spirit for ferocious play.”
As a teaching artist and creativity coach, she’s worked with professionals in various fields, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the American College of Nurse Midwives, helping team members strengthen collaborative relationships and unleash creative potential. Her improvisation and ensemble creation masterclasses have been at numerous colleges, including Dartmouth, Bates and Bowdoin.
For 15 years, she served as executive artistic director of Celebration Barn Theater, where she hosted thousands of international artists for workshops dedicated to amplifying the uniqueness of each person’s artistic voice.
Huotari explains, “It’s so liberating to create original theater together, without having to memorize a script. Participants will learn tools to manage performance anxiety, free up their bodies and voices to be more expressive, create characters, develop stories, and activate their imaginations through a playful approach to improvisational theater.”
Because of grant support, the eight-week series is being offered to participants at a reduced fee of $20-$80 (sliding scale.) Additional scholarship funds are available for those for whom cost is prohibitive.
For more information and to register, visit amandahuotari.com/workshops.
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