Submitted by Oddfellows Playhouse
(December 29, 2025) — Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown is offering a special Winter Session of Advanced Theater and Circus Training for ages 13 – 20 starting January 5, 2026. The six-week session features four classes, each meeting weekly, and culminates in a Teen Winter Showcase featuring the work of all classes on February 13, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. Students may sign up for one, two, three or all four classes. The Winter Session provides advanced training rarely available to teenagers, taught by professional performers and teaching artists. The classes also offer participants unique preparation for the original Teen Repertory Company Commedia-infused Circus-Theater Spectacle that will be premiered in May. The classes are as follows:
Foundations to Performance: Teen Acting Intensive with Leland Williams
Mondays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Deepen your acting skills through monologues, scenes and ensemble work. Actors will strengthen vocal clarity, physical presence and emotional truth while learning to use their voices as powerful storytelling tools. Ideal for anyone looking to gain confidence with both classical and contemporary material.
Performance Acrobatics with Naja Muller
Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. A chance to build strength, flexibility, grace and stage presence, whether you are an actor, a gymnast, a dancer, or none of the above. Training in tumbling, partner acrobatics, mini-trampoline, stretching, flexibility and contortion, with an eye to performing for an audience.
Circus Skills for Actors with Joel Melendez
Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. A chance for actors (and circus performers) to build their apparatus-based ground circus skills, including juggling, rola bola, diabolo, flower stick, rolling globe, unicycle and more. These skills may seem impossible at first, but with practice and perseverance, the impossible will become reality!
Commedia dell’ Arte with Dic Wheeler
Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. An introduction to the characters, style and world of the Commedia dell’ Arte, a 16th century Italian masked comic form which has impacted comedy ever since. Fast-paced, physical, irreverent and revolutionary, Commedia will play a big role in this Spring’s Teen Rep production. This is a great opportunity to put your voice in the Spring production while learning where the roots of most contemporary comedy come from.
Following the Showcase on February 13, 2026 students are encouraged to audition for the Spring Teen Rep Company Spectacle, an original piece created and directed by Oddfellows Artistic Director Dic Wheeler. Auditions for the Spring show will be February 23 and February 26, 2026, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Rehearsals begin March 16, 2026 and performances will be May 14 – 16 and 21 – 23, 2026.
For more information on tuition, or to register, go to www.oddfellows.org, email info@oddfellows.org or call (860) 347-6143. Financial Aid or Work/Study options are available for anyone who cannot afford the tuition.
