Jordan Beswick

PROFESSIONAL ACTING WORKSHOPS with JORDAN BESWICK, CSA

The workshop takes you through the process of creation. From the initial reading of the script to the realization of any given character’s emotional, psychological, spiritual, physical, sexual and sociological world. You will learn not only to think for yourself, but also to take and incorporate very specific direction. Bottom line! You will obtain the tools you need to develop into an actor with both the ability and the confidence to make the impression necessary to get the job.

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MASTER CLASS

Every moment of every day, whether we’re conscious of it or not, we’re making choices. Our lives are a reflection of the choices we make. The same can be said about our work. Our work is a reflection of the choices we make in the process of creating a character and his/her world. The Master Class focuses intensely on the choices that best serve the actor in the professional workplace.

An actor’s job is to create characters. In other words, to create people. Different types of people. To create the things that differentiate them from their characters and not simply project their own personality, character, nature, etc. onto their characters. I often hear actors say, “They’re (casting directors, directors, producers) not looking for an actor, they’re looking for the person!” To which I reply, “Maybe their experience has led them to believe that most actors aren’t capable of creating other people. What are you doing to change that perception?”

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ONE ACTOR/ONE ROLE

This workshop is designed specifically to allow the actor to focus entirely on building his given character and the world he inhabits for the purpose of production.

Each actor is assigned a one person play and over the course of the four weeks works to create that one person. Works to create a life so secure that on opening night he can step out onto the stage genuinely prepared to live and breathe as that person. Knowing who he is and where he is as that specific human being. A person prepared to live the experience.

From the initial breaking down and analyzing of the script, through the myriad exercises necessary to create sense and logic, form connections (i.e. relationships) to every person, place and thing mentioned by and/or dealt with by his character, through the mandatory receiving and incorporating of specific direction to the seemingly endless repetition of dialogue and actions to achieve the illusion of spontaneity.

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SCRIPT ANALYSIS

I believe that “constructing” a character benefits from first taking the time to “deconstruct” the script. Not unlike a mechanic who takes apart an engine to know how it’s put together. To build something you must have materials to build with. For actors those materials exist in the form of information in the script. Scripts are loaded with clues. Pieces to a puzzle. A puzzle that when put together creates a world. Creates life. A life the actor is meant to live in a world he’s meant to inhabit.

“Actors are investigators…Actors are responsible to the people we play.” — Philip Seymour Hoffman

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SHAKESPEARE

I have had the great privilege of seeing some of the most extraordinary performances of Shakespeare’s plays ever produced. What made them extraordinary? The fact that the actors on stage weren’t “playing” Shakespeare. They weren’t focused on a “style” of acting. They had created real, flesh and blood, people who were simply speaking to each other in their mother tongue. Not “Shakespearean” language.

Actor John Douglas Thompson (who recently starred as Othello in NYC) said he prized “the actor’s ability to make antique language sound contemporary, just like they are speaking to us right now in an everyday conversation. It still contains meaning and urgency, but it’s delivered in such a way that our contemporary ears say, ‘Oh, he’s speaking to me.’ ” This is achieved, Mr. Thompson said, when actors bring “a certain amount of irreverence to the text.” He doesn’t mean improvising, of course, but that actors can stiffen up when they “follow the iambic pentameter religiously. When you follow rules like that rigidly, you can become a rigid performer.”

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2021 WORKSHOPS

PARIS, FRANCE

Manufacture des Abbesses
Contact: Sophie VONLANTHEN
sophie@manufacturedesabbesses.com
http://www.stage-jordan-beswick.fr/

March 1 – 26 One Actor/One Role
May 17 – June 11 Master Class
August 16 – September 10 Chekhov
November 8 – December 3 Preparation for the Actor

2022

March 7 – April 1 Master Class
May 7 – June 3 Preparation for the Actor
July/August dates TBD One Actor/One Role
November/December dates TBD Preparation for the Actor

LEXINGTON, NC

Lexington Youth Theatre
4 E 3rd Ave
Lexington, NC 27292
Contact: Nita Jarrett @ nitaj.lyt@gmail.com

ACT YOUR SONG
March 8-11, 4pm-6pm
(4th thru 12th grades)
Far too often young musical actors are directed to simply hit their marks, sing well, and do it faster and funnier. I have heard again and again people say, “It’s just a musical,” which suggests there’s no need to do any more than that. But what about creating characters who have real lives and are dealing with real situations and circumstances? When you choose to create the people singing you approach their songs entirely differently. Because you know what your relationship is to what you’re singing about, thus you know what you think and feel about what you are singing about and to whom you’re singing. Songs in musicals are the characters’ form of communication, and that requires thought, and actual acting.

THEATRE 101 FOR KIDS
March 22-26, 4pm-6pm
(K thru 5th grades)
Limit: 10
A fun filled intensive for kids who want to develop skills in acting, performing, build their confidence and think more creatively. To act is to play and we believe that students excel most when learning in a relaxed environment where they receive positive, constructive, reinforcement.

FROZEN JR.
July 19-30, 10am-3pm
(K – 8th grades)
Limit: 20
A two week intensive culminating in a performance of this delightful musical. The young actors will be kept extremely busy acting, singing and dancing their hearts out. A seriously fun time will be had by all.

BERLIN, GERMANY

iSFF
Institut fur Schauspiel, Film – und Fernsehberufe
an der VHS Berlin Mitte
Telefon: +49 (0) 30-9018 374 43
Fax: +49 (0) 30-9018 374 86
Email: info@isff-berlin.eu
Internet: www.isff-berlin.eu

INTERNATIONAL CASTING WORKSHOP
July 12 – 16
October 11 – 15
Monday – Friday, 10:00am – 6:45pm
Over the course of this 4 week workshop actors have the opportunity to work with different casting directors from different countries to gain a broader perspective of the casting process and to develop their ability to adapt to the different ways people work. Different environments, different demands.

BOCHUM, GERMANY

Pott Cast NRW
Contact: Dirk Hermann & Lesley Higl
Langelohstr 33
44627 Herne
Tel: 0157.37 16 52 79
https://www.pottcast.nrw/

November 1 -5
The workshop provides professional actors an opportunity to exercise and fine tune their preparation skills. When actors feel secure in their ability to create whatever the job requires, they can breathe freely and focus on what their characters are focused on. They arrive confidently in work mode, not fear of judgement mode. Practice may not make perfect, but it does contribute to developing one’s craft and professionalism. Actors have job requirements, they must accept that there are expectations involved that they must meet. The ability to create whoever, wherever, whenever takes work. Over the course of the five days the actors will be assigned assorted scenes and monologues to prepare, as well as be called upon to improvise, achieve specific emotional reactions, sing and dance. A very full five days spent preparing as very busy, very successful actors do.

PODCASTS

Listen to Jordan talk about his experiences and approach to acting on these podcasts:

You Gotta Act – Montgomery Clift edition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JELpTCc2As

You Gotta Act – Christmas edition
(w/ Denis Ménochet )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6IBnhwBEQk

Lexington Youth Theatre – Showcase @ The Smith
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1084205/4030427?fbclid=IwAR2gqslKh9M8AsDj9pzA1MJ3yVCzuaYUi-wD–f3PxIpztBtXMsWGKcWTNU

LONDON, ENGLAND

The Actors Centre
1a Tower Street
London
WC2H 9NP
Reception: 020 3841 6600
reception@actorscentre.co.uk

ON SET
Dates TBD
10am – 5:30pm
A fun and energizing two-day workshop designed to help you prepare for the mental, physical, emotional and technical demands of working on a TV or film set. HOW WILL IT WORK? – From breaking down the text, through rehearsal and filming, Jordan Beswick will take you through the preparatory process that has helped actors maximize their on set experience for decades. Knowing who you are, where you are, and what you are dealing with ‘in character’ whilst simultaneously hitting your marks, dealing with green screen, imagining specific worlds off camera, sight lines, sound levels, continuity, etc. is key. WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF IT? The goal of the workshop is to become an actor who is focused, flexible, has a fertile imagination and is able to multi-task.

SALISBURY, NC

Piedmont Players Theatre
213 South Main St. Salisbury, NC 28144
https://piedmontplayers.com/summer/

SHREK
June 14 – 18 & 21 – 25
(6th – 12th graders. 9-5 daily.)

Take a romp through the swamp with Shrek, Lord Farquaad, Fiona, Donkey and all sorts of fairy tale friends. In this 2 week camp, we will sing, dance, act and learn how to bring this much loved story to life on stage with costumes, sets and makeup! It may be your turn to shine as we prepare for an hour long performance at the end of camp!

EXPLORE SHAKESPEARE
June 28 – July 2
(5th – 12th graders. 9-2 daily)

Come spend the week learning how to transform into Shakespeare’s characters through voice, movement, and imagination. Unravel Shakespeare’s plays with text analysis and develop fundamental acting skills.

HOW TO AUDITION
July 5 – 9
(6th – 12th graders. 9-2 daily)

SO you want to be in a play! When preparing for auditions it’s vitally important to think about the who, what, where and why. Scenes and monologues from an assortment of films, television shows, and plays will be assigned, analyzed, characters built, and mock auditions held. Come learn how to make characters come to life.

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My SHREK director’s note

Shrek is the story of an unlikely hero. Or rather, unlikely heroes. Because everyone in the story who is supposed to lose, wins. Shrek’s story was written long before he was born. Ogres are monsters. They’re dangerous. It’s in their nature. Their very DNA. They’re to be feared. Reviled. Destroyed. Same with dragons. As for nobility, donkeys might dream of being noble steeds but they aren’t and never will be. Pinocchio spends his life wishing on stars that he'll become what he’d been taught he...

Ruminating

Lanford Wilson’s “Redwood Curtain” provided me with one of those moments that made me think about something differently than I’d thought about it before. I love those moments. Even when they make my stomach churn. A young piano prodigy is concerned about the expectations being placed on her to be a great success and when she shares her concerns with her aunt, her aunt, without hesitation replies, “It’s very easy to be a success in this world. All you have to do is change your goals.” Boy did...

Trumped

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears as if a significant portion of the populace is seriously considering pounding the final nail into our dying republic and replacing it with what they clearly believe our founding fathers always intended...a reality TV show! No longer a nation but a failing corporate casino, desperate for a bombastic gambling man, a silver spoon fed, sex fueled, CEO with the necessary commercial real estate cred to get old glory glittering again and return it to its former...

Been awhile…

I go quiet sometimes. Not a bad thing. Opportunity to reflect. To process. To figure out what I think, how I feel, in reaction to. In relation to. My favorite line in my favorite film, from one of my favorite plays, A Raisin in the Sun...“Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.” - Lorraine Hansberry So that's what I do. I sit awhile...and I think. And...things come. Some good, some not so good, some horrific, some absolutely extraordinary. And although I may not enjoy some of the things that...

Dear Glenda…

Rain falling, power going on and off and on and off and on and off and on then off. And this time it stays off. So I leave my house and drive. I love driving. I was a colicky baby. How many times was I told I didn't stop screaming for months after my birth? Far too many to count. When my poor frazzled mother could stand it no longer she'd put me in the family Rambler and drive. It calmed me. And although I remained alert...I was quiet. And my mother could rest. Listening to Glenda...

And so it goes…

I have been deeply saddened by the daily reports of deaths in the news. Some of whom have passed I knew personally and some I've simply, but profoundly, been inspired by. I won't speak about the folks I knew personally because that's...well...personal. So I choose to focus on the passing of Shirley Temple Black. No one...and I reiterate...no one...dealt with adversity like our Shirley. When I began watching her movies her career had been over for a good three decades...but how was I to know...

C’est la vie

You know what? No. It doesn't simply have to be...that's life. Although it is. It always is. But I don't have to just sit back and say...well...that's the way it is...whatever will be will be...even though it's true...whatever will be WILL be! But accepting that fact is not the same as believing that I have no role to play. Because I can make a difference in my own life. I can affect the way things happen in my world. The outcome. I can not predict the future...no crystal ball...

When the bug bit

The movie was "Lili", directed by Charles Walters, starring Leslie Caron. She is a waif who joins the carnival to pursue handsome, smooth-talking, womanizing carnival magician, Jean-Pierre Aumont, who, unfortunately for her, is married to glamorous, and sexy as hell, Zsa Zsa Gabor. Mel Ferrer is an embittered, crippled puppeteer in love with Leslie. At one point an enraged Mel slaps Leslie. Hard. As the credits rolled, I sobbed. My father was mortified. "Why are you crying? The idea of...

Catching Up

My last entry was at the beginning of this year. New starts. Goodbye to the old...heralding in... Today seems like as good a day as any to write something fresh. Check back in. 50 years ago today something momentous happened in this country. In this world. But most definitely here at home. I was a month and a half shy of two. Tumultuous times. Then again...when have times been anything but? Martin Luther King, Jr. marched. I love that although I wasn't conscious of what was...

Happy 2013!

2012 is finished. It was an extremely tumultuous year the world over but as I recently told a friend of mine...I've only ever known the world to be in chaos...so what's new? I was born in 1961...and I could easily create a list of the most horrific things that have happened in the world from the moment I saw light to the present. But I choose to focus on the positive. Works for me! I agree with Lena Dunham that our hearts are too valuable to be treated like monkey meat!!!!! So let's...

An Actor, Director, Playwright, Casting Director, and Teacher.

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About Jordan

Jordan Beswick