FIU Theatre crosses the boundaries between stage and screen

Students in the non-credit course will have access to professional resources to create original commercials and explore stage-to-screen dramatic scenes.

By Sissi Aguila

FIU Theatre and Miami World Cinema Center (MWCC) have partnered to offer a unique, six-week course for beginning performance and production artists who want to explore the creative connections that exist between theatre, film and TV.

Students in the introductory course, which will run from Sept. 21 to Oct. 30 and be held at MWCC, will perform various exercises that bridge the stage and screen such as screen tests and audition monologues.

“The most important element of this course is discovering the compatibility that exists between film and theater,” said Phillip Church, an associate professor in FIU’s Department of Theatre. Church will teach the course, bringing 30 years of teaching and directing experience as well as an innovative perspective to the class. “They both complement and are to some extent essential for the survival of each other.”

Church is a recognized professional actor and director in the Miami community. Trained in the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, he worked for several years alternating between stage and television productions in Johannesburg with the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal Classical Company Ballet.

Church, who joined FIU in 1980, is co-director of the Shakespeare in Stratford Study Abroad Program. He has directed more than 40 productions at FIU, and he received an Excellence in Directing award for his work on the production of “Spring’s Awakening” at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Recently, Church directed singer/songwriter Carly Simon’s one-act opera “Romulus Hunt” at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

“The partnership with Miami World Cinema Center is an extremely important one in that it provides FIU with a professional resource to develop foundation-laying instruction in performance and technique of TV and film,” said Church. “MWCC also benefits from having us as an educational partner. It is an important stipulation in meeting the requirements of their grant objectives, which is to be an educational film-making center for the community.”

At the conclusion of the non-credit class, students will screen their final projects at FIU, followed by a reception where certificates of completion will be awarded.

Students do not need prior experience in either acting or production to enroll. The class costs $450 and is limited to 18 participants. An installment payment plan is available.

To register, call 305-348-0496 or e-mail carta@fiu.edu. For more information, contact Church at 305-348-3358 or e-mail churchp@fiu.edu.