VIL nov 09 GRID3.indd - Tubac Villager

14
A CTING
CLASSES
OFFERED
by Kathleen Vandervoet
FOR SCHLITZ, IMAGINATION FUELS TALENT
Everyone knows what acting is. And most
people can provide a critique about the quality
of acting. But does that mean everyone can
do it Polly Schlitz, who recently opened Tubac
Performance Studios, is here to provide expert
guidance.
Many of us may believe acting will never be one
of our talents, but Schlitz aims to prove that idea
wrong.
Passion, hope and determination fuel her
conversation. She intends to play a role in enriching
the cultural offerings in Tubac through her acting
studio. Within a few years, she expects to see it
expand to becoming a formal conservatory which is,
in turn, part of an even larger foundation to support
music, writing, performing and more.
Schlitz trained as an actor in New York but only
worked professionally for a few years, she said.
Acting was something she embraced from childhood,
when she had the lead role in elementary school
performances.
She turned to acting, she said, because “I wanted to
understand how I could enrich my life, have better
personal controls, better observational skills, and a
better way to communicate.
“I realized I loved acting, but wasn’t as interested in
being an actress,” she said. That led her to becoming
a teacher and a writer.
She now offers acting classes for anyone interested,
from ages 5 to 95, she said. Classes are of varying
lengths, such as a three-hour course or a weekend
program. Alternatively, they can run a week or a
month.
With novice adult students who may be fearful or
lack confidence, she said, “I start out saying, ‘I think
you have a mistaken notion of acting.’ The first thing
I do is divide the class into half. I put half onto the
stage, sitting on chairs. The other half is the audience.
I say to the actors, ‘go.’
Schlitz explained that no one knows what to do with
themselves. But that provides the first lesson. She
next tells them, “Acting is doing,” and gives them
varying small tasks in the room. As they start to
do what she suggested, “Suddenly, they forget they
Polly Schlitz
are actors. You have
interesting things happening.”
Acting is a craft, Schlitz said. “You can learn it like
anything else.”
The craft “trains the imagination. And the imagination
is what shapes our intention, our perspective and our
sets of possibility.”
She approaches the children’s classes differently.
“Every workshop for kids starts with a story.” Often, a
book with large, colorful illustrations will be used. The
children immediately begin to talk about what they
see and what their impressions are.
“I always explain to kids, from Day One, that the glory
of theater is that there’s no black and white, right or
wrong. It’s about exploring your imagination, and
manifesting that into something that interests you.
“They’re learning to work together, to work as a team
to go through a process towards an end product.
My emphasis is always on the process of creating.
We include music, movement and voice. We include
creative writing.”
LOCATED IN LA ENTRADA SHOPPING PLAZA
At ZForrest
Gallery you’ll
find Fine Art
and Mesquite
Furniture with
Artful Accents
created here
in Southern
Arizona by
Local Artisans.
Join Us on
Nov 7 & 8 for
Demonstations
Treestump Woodcrafts
American
Contemporary Crafts
Mon-Sat 10-5M, Sun 12-5