The Bison Theatre Company spent their Saturday in a Master Class with Rick Garcia of Maestro Theatre. The group learned about movement and characterization and spent much of their time working with partners or in small groups.

“My favorite part was characterization because I literally love becoming someone else and it’s just really cool,” sophomore Nicollette Arabie said. “We also worked on how we could make our play look more surreal.”

The characterization work focused on facial expression, movement, speed, posture and the prep work that needs to go into creating a character.

“My favorite part was the team exercises and the movements,” freshman Tristan Cole said. “It really helped with learning what to do when you’re just standing there, and then we worked on our character walk, which also helped us learn how to turn into our characters.”

Students warmed up for the day by learning simple Tai Chi moves. The group now uses the movements to warm up before every rehearsal.

“I kinda liked Tai Chi,” freshman Guadalupe Gonzalez said. “I mean, it was a bit embarrassing because it was weird hand movements and I thought I looked really dumb doing it, but it was also relaxing.”

While this was the first time the students worked with Maestro Theatre, the concepts were not new to Bison Theatre.

“Mrs. Villarreal and I have traveled to the Maestro summer workshop for the past two years,” director Melonie Menefee said. “Rick is phenomenal not just at the art of acting, but at making actors and directors feel their value and their worth. We really wanted to be able to share this with our students, and I’m so glad we were able to do so.”