Classes

Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts offers classes for all ages! If you or someone you know are interested in the performing arts, these classes in everything from acting, to dance, to improv comedy are a great place to begin. Check below for upcoming education opportunities.

Announcing our 2019 Winter/Spring classes!

WINTER DANCE CLASSES

Classes offered Saturdays January 5, 12, 26, Feb. 2 (no class on Jan. 19th) (4 weeks total):

Youth Musical Theatre Dance Classes – 2019
This very popular and successful class will teach basics in musical theatre movement and style. These classes are geared towards giving youth, with little or no dance experience, a foundation in movement through musical theatre. They will also give more experienced dancers the opportunity to learn fun and engaging dance combinations that will help them as they continue to grow in the performing arts.

There will be 2 classes offered:

9am-10:00 Grades 4-6
10:30-11:45 am Grades 7-12

Fee: $40

How do I sign up? Please stop in the Wagon Wheel Theatre Box office (2515 E. Center St.) to pay for the class and fill out the registration form. You may also print out the registration form PDF (below) and bring it with you.

Contact: wagonwheeljr.kids@gmail.com with any questions.

Each class is limited to 25 students and will be taken on a first come first serve basis. Classes fill up quickly. Reserve your spot today!

Instructor: Scott Michaels

Class Registration Form

SPRING ACTING CLASSES

Classes offered Saturdays from February 23rd to March 30th (6 weeks total):

Theater Adventures – Grades 2-4, 10am-11am
An introduction to the world of theater! Each class will bring a new adventuresome scene to life as the students learn basic principles of acting. Students will gain confidence and creative experience through storytelling, games, and creative dramatization.

Drama Time – Grades 5-7, 11:15am-12:15pm
Learn voice, movement, and acting techniques through beginning scene work and improvisation. Students will practice creating characters by making specific choices to support the text in this introduction to the formal study of acting.

Acting I – Grades 8-12, 12:30pm-1:45pm
This class covers everything from audition techniques to performance. Students will engage in intensive scene work using scenes from contemporary and classic plays to explore the actor’s world of analysis and character interpretation.

Fee: $60

Contact: wagonwheeljr.kids@gmail.com with any questions.

Each class is limited to 20 students and will be taken on a first come, first served basis. Classes fill up quickly. Reserve your spot today!

Instructor: Kira Lace Hawkins

Class Registration Form

Scholarships:

Scholarships are available for all programs. Wagon Wheel Theatre believes that every child should have an opportunity to experience live theatre first-hand regardless of ability to pay. To request consideration for a scholarship, please complete the scholarship application form and bring it to the box office. You may also submit it directly to Executive Director, Jay Michaels, (jay@wagonwheelcenter.org).

Scholarship Application Form

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Meet the Teachers

Scott Michaels

Dance Classes

Bio

Prior to Scott’s 11 years as the Wagon Wheel’s Artistic Director, he spent 12 seasons as resident Choreographer/Director on nearly 100 productions. During that time, he spent 4 years as the resident Director/Choreographer at the Armory Theatre in Janesville, Wisconsin. In his free time, he continues to work with high schools and colleges all over the Midwest directing, choreographing, and running countless workshops and master classes. Scott’s work on Cats at Arrowhead H.S. in Hartland, Wisconsin won USA Today’s award for Best High School Musical in the country for 2008. Scott spent 2 years as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL as the Musical Theatre Dance Teacher. He has over 25 years of performing experience from Chicago to Regional theatre. Scott has performed all over the country and Japan and enjoyed a 2 year tour as a back-up singer for Perry Como.

Kira Lace Hawkins

Acting Classes

Bio

Kira Lace Hawkins is often seen on the Wagon Wheel stage performing such roles as Francesca in Bridges of Madison County, Katharine in Freaky Friday, the Witch in Into the Woods, Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins, and Doly Levi in Hello, Dolly!. Kira has an MFA in Acting from Penn State University and loves teaching students of all ages. She has served on the theater and music faculty of St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and currently directs and teaches at Manchester University.

Kira Lace Hawkins

Acting Classes

Bio

Kira Lace Hawkins is often seen on the Wagon Wheel stage performing such roles as the Witch in Into the Woods, Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins, and Doly Levi in Hello, Dolly!. Kira has an MFA in Acting from Penn State University and loves teaching students of all ages. She has served on the theater and music faculty of St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and currently directs and teaches at Manchester University.

Ben Dicke

Summer Musical Theatre Workshop

Bio

Ben Dicke began working at the Wagon Wheel in 2004. Favorite roles on that stage include Dr. Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes, Applegate in Damn Yankees, and Cliff in Cabaret, among many others. Ben helped co-create the Wagon Wheel’s Summer Youth Programming alongside Andy Robinson in the summer of 2005. In addition to their directing work with the students of Warsaw and the surrounding areas, Ben and Andy have collaborated as directors for the professional company on a number of projects including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Blithe Spirit, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others. Ben is excited to work both onstage this summer in My Fair Lady and, once again, collaborate with Andy Robinson as co-directors for One Man Two Guvnors. Ben is currently the Chair of the Theatre Department at The Chicago Academy for the Arts.

Emily Ann Luhrs

Summer Musical Theatre Workshop

Bio

Emily Ann Luhrs is a Chicago theatre artist whose exploits include writing, performing, directing, and puppetry. Her most recent projects include directing a TYA production of Seussical with the Musical Theatre students at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, and designing a five-headed dragon puppet for the Theatre department’s spring play: She Kills Monsters. Emily also worked for five years as a teaching artist at the Denver Center Theatre Academy. She has a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from the University of Oklahoma.