Students in a previous theater program led by Barbara Gregson making plaster cast masks of their own faces. The upcoming teen theater workshop will run from August 7 through 11, with a performance by the group on August 12. (Submitted photo)

MORRIS — The Butternut Valley Arts and Crafts Center (BVACC), located at 124 Main Street in Morris, will host a free teen theater workshop from August 7 through 12, taught by local artist and thespian Barbara Gregson.

The six-day intensive program is free for all teens going into 7th through 12th grade in the area, with any level of acting or theater experience. Students will learn various aspects of theater, including acting, mime, improvisation, play writing, and crafting a mask using a plaster cast of their own face.

Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. from August 7 to 11, and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on August 12.

Gregson said participants will spend the week learning about theater and creating their own show, to be performed for friends and family at the end of the workshop at 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 12.

Her teaching style is based on the commedia dell'arte Renaissance theater training, in which the actor becomes their own mask maker, artist, playwright, storyteller, and performer. The group will draw inspiration from existing stories and stories from the lives of the actors, then using improv to carve out scenes. From there, actors will practice the scenes together, but no scripts are written or used to memorize lines.

"We might take a story, a folk tale for example, and then depending on the group, we will see. We might have some text, some dialogue between some of the characters. We might just have a narrator, and usually mainly mime and improv," she explained.

"We do improvisations on a scene, and then from that improvisation comes the actual scene that we're going to do. Like they might practice it over and over again and then they’ll know what they’re doing," she continued. "So it’s not like they go home and memorize a script. It’s more like you do an improvisation and you figure out what your motivation is, what you’re doing in the scene, and you practice it with the other person. You go over it. And we all watch it and say, okay, that’s clear, or no it's not clear so you guys work on it some more."

She also ensures everyone gets involved in every aspect of creating the show, from set design to crafting scenes to performing.

"When I work with a group, everybody does everything. So if we’re going to paint the set, they do it. Everybody," said Gregson. "It’s not like, oh, only the artsy kid does the painting. We’re all going to make masks, we’re all going to work on the show, everybody is in the show, everybody does everything. So that’s how I work."

Spaces are still available for local teens to sign up for the six-day workshop, and Gregson recommends signing up as soon as possible.

Registration forms can be found at form.jotform.com/231724908215051, by contacting Gregson at 607-895-6032 or blgregson@gmail.com, or contacting the BVACC at 607-263-2150 or BVACC2150@gmail.com.

Those who would like to learn more about the program can also contact Gregson by phone or email.

Should the workshop fill up, Gregson said additional registered teens will be placed on a waiting list, and contacted if spots open up before the class begins.

This project is made possible with public funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the new York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the Earlville Opera House.

Gregson said this is the first year the BVACC has received the Artists in the Community grant, and they received the full amount which allowed the program to be free for participating teens. She also said young thespians can expect the program to return in years to come.

Barbara Gregson is a local artist, author, actor, and award-winning theater director with many years of experience in the world of theater. She studied theater in London and mime in Paris, and now works with several organizations, theaters, institutions, schools, and individuals throughout the country.

This year, Gregson has already created and performed two shows this year, including "Tales of Love and Transformation" with the Mountain View Players in Oneonta, and "What a Woman Wants Most" with The Carpenter's Barn Cazenovia Arts Hub in Cazenovia.

More information on Barbara Gregson and her work in theater and arts can be found at Gregson.Theater.