Winter/Spring Adult Classes

Improvisation, Games, and Risk-Taking (outdoors)
with Artistic Director Jen Green

Tuesdays, 6:30 to 7:30pm

$175
May 18 to June 22

Want to know what Piven is all about? Are you interested in getting into a theater class, shaking off the dust, and activating your creativity? This class allows students to discover the Piven Technique by learning theatre games and improvisation in a fun, supportive, ensemble-based environment. Perfect for all students looking to discover and re-discover our work!

Creative Wellness (virtual)
with Mikalina Rabinsky

Thursdays, 7 to 8:15pm

$175
May 20 to June 24

In this class we will explore making and meditation through the lens of mythology as tools for our own creative practice. We will feature short, guided meditations and creative exercises to plant and nurture seeds exploring one’s self as a maker in community. Each participant may bring in a current project or develop a project in class. Using Joyce Piven’s concept of encounter we will explore the ways in which our making can deepen by getting to the heart of transformation and our own truths as humans and artists. Projects could include but are not limited to: short films/scripts, puppetry, painting, drawing, sculpture, writing, knitting, needlepoint, baking, music, song making… What you make is your own hero’s journey. Join for the exploration through the labyrinth, into the woods and through the underworld and back.

Creative Wellness: Meditation, Making, and Myth
with Mikalina Rabinsky

Thursdays, 7 to 8:30pm
Feb 11 to March 18

$175

In this class we will explore making and meditation through the lens of mythology as tools for our own creative practice. We will feature short, guided meditations and creative exercises to plant and nurture seeds exploring one’s self as a maker in community. Each participant may bring in a current project or develop a project in class. Using Joyce Piven’s concept of encounter we will explore the ways in which our making can deepen by getting to the heart of transformation and our own truths as humans and artists. Projects could include but are not limited to: short films/scripts, puppetry, painting, drawing, sculpture, writing, knitting, needlepoint, baking, music, song making… What you make is your own hero’s journey. Join for the exploration through the labyrinth, into the woods and through the underworld and back.

YPC Directors’ Institute presents: The Spring Show
with Morven Higgins, Director of the Young People’s Company
current students and college-age YPC alums are invited to join us

Saturdays, 1pm to 3pm
Feb 13 to April 24

Final Performance: April 24
$450

Under the leadership of YPC Director, Morven Higgins, students will approach theatrical and on-camera material from the point-of-view of a director. This collaboration-forward program is a dynamic learning opportunity for any aspiring theatre artist, where students will have the chance to work in small and large groups to generate and workshop new material. Open to advanced students by teacher recommendation or resume submission.

Working (largely) virtually, will provide us with new ways to innovate and explore how we can use technology to tell stories:

• How can you capture an entire fairytale in a TikTok video?
• Could a budding relationship take root through Marcopolo?
• How can we use the resources we do have–the world outside the theatre–to tell stories in new ways? Could you adapt Romeo and Juliet for the world of social distancing or explore other classic plays?
• Could a radio play or fairytale or poetry reading capture the magic of theatre through voice alone?

The virtual setting will also allow us to engage YPCers and alumni outside of the Chicago area and recent YPC grads of college age are welcome to join the class as directors or players to further enrich our work.