Come May, The Actors Studio Academy @ klpac will be rolling out its first Workshop Series for 2021 aimed at offering aspiring thespians an insight into the varying approaches and processes of the performing arts.

This special series of intensive workshops will be led by some of Malaysia’s most exciting and award-winning performing artistes, each well-known in his or her field of expertise. All in all, five workshops aimed at those aged 16 and above will be running between May and June covering acting, playwriting and voice.

This time round, students are offered the flexibility to choose from either online and in person classes for three of the workshops while the remaining two will take place entirely online. In person classes will be held at The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac) with strict SOPs in place.

To commemorate the start of its Workshop Series, TAS Academy @ klpac is honoured to welcome back Melbourne-based voice and speech coach Mark Wong. An expert in his field, Wong holds a Master of Arts in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and has worked extensively in London and Australia. He currently teaches Speech and Communication at The University of Melbourne.

Wong will be conducting a one-day only #Online masterclass “Finding the Voice: Speak with Confidence” on 8 May which is part of klpac’s Covid-19 Relief Fundraiser as all fees will be donated to #saveklpac. He will also be conducting another #Online workshop titled “The Performer’s Craft: Body, Voice, & Text - Exploring the Relationship between the Breath and the Spoken Word” from 12 to 26 June.

Those who wish to build their writing skills can look forward to Terence Toh’s “Creating Worlds for the Stage – Discovering the Elements to Playwriting and the Musical” from 15 May to 5 Jun (In Person) or 16 May to 6 Jun (Online). Participants will be introduced to the elements of a story and will learn how to combine these elements to create a play or musical script.

Toh is an author, lyricist, playwright and journalist. He won Best Libretto at the SHORT+SWEET Musical festival three times and wrote two BOH Cameronian Arts Award-winning musicals, 'Euphrasia The Musical' (with Cheah Uihua) and 'The Working Dead' (Best Book and Best Original Score).

Performers can look out for Farah Rani’s “Mastering Monologues - A Comprehensive Guide to Performing a Monologue” from 8 to 29 May (Online) or 9 to 30 May (In Person). Trained at the Michael Howard Studios in New York City, she is a six-time BOH Cameronian Arts Awards recipient including Best Supporting Actor (Nadirah, 2012). She will be teaching the foundations of performance technique and text analysis as well as practical tools in approaching professional material.

The Workshop Series will also feature Jun Vinh Teoh’s “Character Acting – The Physical Approaches to Transformation and Constructing Character” from 8 to 29 May (In Person) or 9 to 30 May (Online). The LASALLE College of the Arts graduate will offer various perspectives to character creation, such as Laban's physical gestures, vocalisation, costumes, and character study.

To find out more on the Workshop Series, visit https://www.klpac.org/tas-academy klpac/.

Issued by: The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac)

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