The theatre arts have returned to Belltown. Weeknights find a steady stream of students learning the craft of acting at Freehold on the second floor of 2222 2nd Ave. Freehold has taught acting, writing and directing since 1991. They started in Capitol Hill’s Oddfellows Hall; but a new lease relocated the group to Belltown this past March.

Freehold offers introductory and specialized classes throughout the year. Each quarter finds roughly 250 students enrolled. They range from 18 to 80, from just beginning to the well advanced. Each comes for their own reasons; but all hold the very basic need for human expression which language, by itself, can not express.

The classes are fun to watch. Teacher George Lewis guides his Accelerated Intro to Acting students through a series of physical exercises. They start with a simple command to move around and use the space. The next step is to move around deliberately. This is followed by the more complicated act of moving around together and deliberately. Each exercise reveals and overcomes a new limit. The process works as eager grins and nervous laughter suggest a growing confidence that says, “Look! I am doing this!”

George has to repeat “Breathe and enjoy” to his class, as they tend to tense up during the drills. He offers many insights during each phase of the class. There is not really a right or a wrong. The measure is not succeeding but the quality of one’s effort.

After the warmups, there is a shift to scene work. One scene id acted by a couple of students and deconstructed by the whole class. The method of instruction is a sort of mix of Freud and Socrates, as the questions see saw from “How does that make you feel?” to “What does change mean?” Developing the drama of the scene reminds the students of the importance of trust, listening and collaboration. As George likes to say, the ultimate goal is “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”

For the students, the process is the result. Bringing characters to life brings themselves to life. Our society favors the confident and composed who are well-spoken and can think on their feet. The students’ new skills will serve them well in that life. And it realizes part of Freehold’s vision, which is “to be truthful, illuminate the unseen, and articulate the unspoken.”

The students exercise and drill in silliness and with all seriousness. Under the lights of the stage students learn a new the workings of their bodies with each action and the emotions of their personalities with each reaction. A lot of it is finding one’s own limits and then moving beyond them. Over time, the awkward moments will become less so. Over time, the hurried lines will be spoken in the proper meter. Over time, the students will become actors.
 
More details about
Freehold Theatre can be found at freeholdtheatre.org.