Have you ever dreamed of being under the big lights, singing your heart out? There’s a place for you at Point Loma Playhouse.
That’s where the Musical Theater Workshop run by Act Live Now takes place twice a year.
Act Live Now, based at Liberty Station in Point Loma, is a nonprofit group of directors, performers and other industry professionals who believe in learning through performance. It offers workshops in singing and stand-up comedy, as well as one-on-one private acting lessons.
Award-winning vocal coach and director Jordan Miller leads about a dozen participants through six weeks of training in the Musical Theater Workshop before they perform in front of a live audience. He helps singers learn techniques designed for every voice type and skill level so they can belt out solos, duets and group numbers during the big show.
All voices are welcome, Miller said, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned artist trying to build your audition book.
“There are usually two types of people who the workshop,” Miller said. “There’s the type who always wanted to do theater and never took the time to train or do it in college and think, ‘This is it, this is going to be my start.’ They take this class and a couple of private lessons and go out and start hitting the community theater and work their way up.
“The other type is generally somebody past middle age who always wanted to sing and likes singing but just wants to get better at it. And now they have the time to do that in a safe environment.”
Students get to pick their own two songs to sing, with a little help from Miller’s repertory knowledge. The final show usually is a combination of Broadway and pop songs.
The first class in the workshop starts with an hour-long lecture from Miller on what vocal technique is, what the vocal cords can do and why making sound is actually a primal trait. Students start experimenting with those sounds and the class devolves into hysterical laughter for a bit.
Then each member gets onstage and sings something. It can even be “Happy Birthday.” That gives Miller an idea of where to start with each student.
One of the biggest challenges Miller sees in his students is the fear factor, but they learn to work through it. “The good thing about this class,” he said, “is that you can be someone who’s never even sung on karaoke nights. I’m able to meet you where you are and get you what you need.”
Oya Croston is a professional nurse who does stand-up comedy and is studying acting on the side. She signed up for the workshop to explore singing and get some good reels to put on her acting platform.
“I decided what I like about stand-up comedy was really the performance part,” Croston said. “So that led me to acting. And if you’re doing something like that, singing is a good place to explore what else you can do. I’m not a great singer, but I can belt it out.”
Nick Ayers ed the program for a totally different reason. “I’m writing a musical and I’m not a great singer, but I thought if I did some musical performance, it would help my composition,” he said.
Ayers is a restoration builder by profession, but music has always been his ion. He took the Musical Theater Workshop last year and wrote an original song that he performed then. This time around, he’s writing another song while also taking notes on what everybody else is singing.
“It’s interesting to hear other people’s selections of music, because when you’re writing music, you need to think of how people will perform it or connect to it,” he said. “So I’m just watching that happen.”
Miller said he loves to watch students’ transformation as they progress through the workshop.
“The biggest thing they learn is that they could have done it all along,” he said. “They just didn’t get the information. Sometimes that can be very frustrating and can make them feel like, ‘Oh, I just lost 20 years that I could have been singing.’
“But on the flip side, they’re no longer burdened by the thought that they didn’t have any musical talent and therefore they couldn’t sing. They leave the program knowing they can sing.”
Hannah Green used to perform musical theater in high school and college. She ed the workshop because she thought it would be a fun way to get back into singing.
“I think the biggest challenge is just getting over the nerves,” she said. “But I think my voice has improved, along with my confidence and my comfort level.”
Nat Biendara Wilson ed for the same reason and hopes to eventually move on to community theater roles. She said she’ll probably take the workshop a second time.
“It’s a great mix of challenge but also invitation and affirmation,” Wilson said. “We’re always being encouraged to push ourselves a little bit further than we’ve gone before while also getting really constructive along the way.”
Wilson said Miller and the rest of the group have made her feel confident onstage.
And there are other benefits, she said. “In a way, it feels like therapy. It’s like you’re showing your strongest vulnerabilities in performing in front of other people. You’re working through things that scare you.”
This Musical Theater Workshop will culminate in a performance called “Broadway and Beyond” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at Point Loma Playhouse, 3035 Talbot St. Tickets are $15.
For more information, visit actlivenow.com.
