The workshop is an intensive two-day course focusing on the techniques needed to analyze, prepare and interpret diverse and demanding material. A New Yorker who studied with Stella Adler, Robert Lewis, and Wynn Handmann, Fields' methods emphasize a simple, personal approach as a means to demystify emotion and to make acting organic and doable. All material used will be from plays and will be assigned ahead of time. Students will work repeatedly over the course of the two days. The topics to be covered are:

• The use of the self and the actor's responsibility.
• The synthesis of personal experience and the imagination.
• Motivation, intention, action and the importance of adjustment, expressivity, and behavior.
• The practical breakdown of a scene with an emphasis on spontaneity.

Day One:

• Preparation
• The monologue
• The past and the use of imagination
• The monologue II

Day Two:

• The scene and the given circumstances. Point of view.
• Preparation. The monologue. The scene.

To strive to behave truthfully under imaginary circumstances; to put oneself in service to the text by habitually giving over to the integrity of the moment; to live out the role simply and specifically... that is acting.

Chris is a Los Angeles-based director, teacher, and actor who is currently the artistic director of the award-winning Echo Theater Company, a theatre he founded in 1997. Most recently, he directed the premieres of Jessica Goldberg's Body Politic (Ovation nominated), Kate Robin's What They Have at South Coast Rep, Kate Robin's Anon at The Echo, Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play, Paul Zimmerman's Pigs and Bugs, and Eat Me by Jacqueline Wright, which was nominated for six LA Weekly Awards including Best Director and Ensemble. He produced the Echo production of Bryan Davidson's War Music at the Los Angeles Theater Center, which won three Ovation Awards including one for Best Premiere Play and one for Best Ensemble. Chris founded and was Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference from 1996 to 2000, additionally, as a director, he's worked with and staged plays by Adam Rapp, Christopher Durang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Ellen McLaughlin, Napoleon Ellsworth, Padraic Duffy, Bernardo Solano, Deborah Pryor, Neal Bell, Kira Obolensky, Herman Daniel Farrell III, Quincy Long, and Karl Gajdusek, among many others. His work in film includes his adaptation of Neal Bell's Out the Window, which he produced and directed, and his recent short Sunnyslope, which was awarded Best New York Film at the New York Film and Video Festival and nominated for Best in Fest at the Great Lakes Film Festival. As an actor, Chris has appeared on Broadway (Homefront), Off Broadway (Machinal at the Public, Aristocrats at Manhattan Theater Club, Orphans with Steppenwolf) and has numerous regional credits, among them: Golden Boy, All My Sons, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, and 2. His film and television work includes: Zodiac, Fight Club, Apollo 13, The Game, Jurassic Park, Alien 3, Jacobs Ladder, "Sleepercell," "ER" (recurring), "NYPD Blue," "Boston Public," "Ally MacBeal" and "The Guardian" (recurring). He was also a proud member of the acting ensemble of the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Festival at the National Theater Center under Lloyd Richards. Chris was an adjunct professor of drama at SUNY Purchase and maintains a workshop in Los Angeles.

Chris has worked as director, actor, or teacher with, among others, the following:

Michael Attenborough Lee Blessing Linda Cardellini David Caruso Enrico Colantoni Laura Dern Michael Douglas Robert Downey Jr. Patty Duke Christopher Durang Charles S. Dutton Anthony Edwards Roland Emmerich David Fincher Michael Greif Jake Gyllenhaal Cole Hauser Dennis Hopper Ron Howard Michael Patrick King Tony Kushner Michael Learned Delroy Lindo

David Lindsay-Abaire Romulus Linney George Lucas John Mahoney Ann Margaret Edward Norton Carroll O'Connor Alfred Molina Penelope Ann Miller Sam Neill Adam Rapp Sarah Ruhl Mark Ruffalo Kurt Russell Paul Schrader Rufus Sewell Martin Sheen Gary Sinise Steven Spielberg Frances Sternhagen Sigourney Weaver Scott Wolf

Possible plays to be used:

After the Fall	Arthur Miller
All My Sons	Arthur Miller
All Summer Long	Robert Anderson
A Moon for the Misbegotten	Eugene O'Neill
Animals and Plants	Adam Rapp
August Snow	Reynolds Price
Awake and Sing	Clifford Odets
Beggars in the House of Plenty	John Patrick Shanley
The Big Knife	Clifford Odets
Blue Surge	Rebecca Gillman
Boy Gets Girl	Rebecca Gillman
Boy's Life	Howard Korder
Carnal Knowledge	Jules Feifer
Chapter Two	Neil Simon
Children's Hour	Lillian Hellman
Closer	Patrick Marber
The Country Girl	Clifford Odets
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea	John Patrick Shanley
Death of A Salesman	Arthur Miller
Dinner With Friends	Donald Marguiles
Dreamer Examines His Pillow	John Patrick Shanley
Drowning Sorrows	Douglas Post
Fat Pig	Neil LaBute
Finer Noble Gases	Adam Rapp
Fool for Love	Sam Shepherd
Fresh Horses	Cindy Lou Johnson
Good Thing	Jessica Goldberg
The Heidi Chronicles	Wendy Wasserstein
Hurleyburley	David Rabe
Landscape of the Body	John Guare
Life and Limb	Keith Reddin
Long Day's Journey Into Night	Eugene O'Neill
Loose Ends	Michael Weller
Moonchildren	Michael Weller
The Night of the Iguana	Tennessee Williams
Orpheus Descending	Tennessee Williams
Proof	David Auburn
Rabbit Hole	David Lindsay-Abaire
Red Light Winter	Adam Rapp
Rich and Famous	John Guare
Search and Destroy	Howard Korder
The Shape of Things	Neil Labute
Shining City	Conor McPhearson
Sin	Wendy MacLeod
Streetcar Named Desire	Tennessee Williams
Tea and Sympathy	Robert Anderson
Terra Nova	Ted Talley
A View From The Bridge	Arthur Miller

FEE: $350.00

To reserve your spot please call Chris at 818.512.5945

Enrollment is limited: a non-refundable deposit of $150.00 must be received by July 25th to hold your place in the workshop.

Prior to July 18th, checks should be mailed to:

Chris Fields
4129 Camellia Avenue
Studio City, CA 91604

After July 18th, checks should be mailed to:

Chris Fields
c/o Meghan Ory
101-522 Moberly Road
Vancouver, BC
V5Z4G4

Any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call Chris at 818.512.5945