When you’re a kid, there are a thousand opportunities to explore your interests. In some ways, it’s harder for adults to get those same exploratory opportunities, says actress Nora Fiffer of Peterborough.
Fiffer wants to bring one of those opportunities to Peterborough, in an adult acting class for all ability levels.
“There is so much that theater offers that is applicable in real life,” said Fiffer. “You get to empathize with a character who is someone you might not empathize or interact with in real life.”
Fiffer has been working as a professional actress and teaching in Chicago for the past 10 years, both onstage and onscreen, with featured roles on NBC’s “Chicago Med,” ABC’s “Detroit 1-8-7” and in the web series “Matching Pursuit.” Usually, she said, she works with youth, but wanted to extend some adult opportunities in her new artistic home base of Peterborough.
Also, she added, there is a layer of authenticity you can have when performing with adults with a wide variety of ages. You can have a scene with a parent and adult child with actors that are actually in those places in their lives, for example.
“I’d like to see those kinds of intergenerational scenes, and that kind of thing can happen in this class,” said Fiffer.
Her class uses scenes from contemporary playwrights, and she has students work on a monologue as well as a two-person scene from a published play or film.
While there’s plenty to learn from the classics, and Fiffer is open to students who come in wanting to perform a particular work, she prefers to have students work from the current time period.
“I want to offer a class that feels contemporary in its dialogue. And the issues discussed will feel more relevant due to that,” said Fiffer.
Fiffer intends the last class of the eight-week session to be an open performance of the work students have completed in the workshop.
The class will be held on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 15 to April 5 at the MAxT Makerspace at the Monadnock Plaza. The cost of the class is $200 for eight sessions. Participants must sign up by Feb. 1.
Contact Fiffer at 224-420-1285 or at norafiffer@gmail.com to sign up.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.