YoungLiars Summer Training Festival 2025

YoungLiars Summer Training Festival

July 26th - August 2nd @ Webster University Old Orchard Studio

All classes are held from 6-10pm nightly from July 26th - August 2nd.

Eight hot summer days! Over thirty hours of intense physical training in three disciplines. Please join us for the best week of the year!

YoungLiars are pleased to announce the eighth annual Summer Training Festival. The Festival is a eight-day event featuring three separate physical training styles taught by three different St. Louis theatre artists - Suzuki Method, taught by Chuck Harper; The 6 Viewpoints, taught by Jamie McKittrick; and Yoga, taught by Maggie Conroy.

Classes are offered on a nightly basis throughout the week. No prior experience is necessary for any festival class. All registered participants are welcome to attend any individual class, and are encouraged to attend them all. Space is limited and registration is first-come-first-serve. All classes will be held at Webster University's Old Orchard Studio.

Suzuki Method - The Suzuki Method is a physical training system for performers that draws from traditional Japanese and Greek theatre, martial arts, and other disciplines. Focus is on expressive presence, physical clarity and breath control. The technique also brings attention to the voice and its connection to the physical body. Come prepared to sweat and laugh, and to develop your stage presence and physical power.

The 6 Viewpoints- This class will focus on the 6 Viewpoints practice attributed to Mary Overlie. This practice is interested in generating presence and infinite possibility of choice for the performer. We will take performance as a whole and break it down into its component materials- Space, Time, Shape, Movement, Emotion, and Story- and engage physically and impulsively with each of them. We will use the Viewpoints, as Overlie said, as “a practice at making art- not necessarily art itself” in the desire to embody the idea of the artist as “the original anarchist” in creative spaces- willing and able to make choices outside of habitual response patterns and traditional hierarchical structures.

Yoga - Each night begins with forty-five minutes of yoga aimed at getting you out of your head and into your body. No yoga experience required, and modifications are offered and encouraged! You can expect a balanced blend of held postures and vinyasa-like flows to prepare your body and mind for the demands of the night ahead. Bring a yoga mat and small blanket or pillow to sit on; straps and blocks are provided.

Chuck Harper (Suzuki Training) is a director and actor who has practiced and taught Suzuki for the past twenty years. His training includes intensives with master teachers Robyn Hunt and Steve Pearson of Pacific Performance Projects East and Will Bond and Ellen Lauren of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute. He has led Suzuki workshops both in the US and overseas. He is Chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at SIUE and Co-Producing Director of YoungLiars. He has directed YoungLiars' productions of The Dispute, Burrow, Titus Androgynous and Whammy! The Seven Secrets to a Sane Self. His most recent devised works at SIUE include AreUR? and The Tragical Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood in the Land of the Wolf King: A True Story.

Jamie McKittrick (The Six Viewpoints) is an interdisciplinary artist and teacher who’s worn many hats in theatre. She’s an Associate Artist at Metro Theater Company where she’s directed, choreographed, and performed in their productions. She's also on the advisory committee for The Six Viewpoints Institute. Notable original and collaboratively created work includes Sparkle- TA DAAA!!! (Critic’s Choice Award winner of the St. Louis Fringe Festival), SURIVE! (“Best of the Year”- Philadelphia Weekly), and Lady M with Swim Pony Performing Arts, and international symphony tours of The Scheherazade and Ma Mere l’Oye with Enchantment Theatre Company. She has an MFA from Naropa University where she was able to dive deep into post-modern performance practices like 6 Viewpoints, Contemplative Dance, Grotowski, Roy Hart Voice, and Developmental Movement Technique with her mentors Wendell Beavers, Barbara Dilley, Ethelyn Friend, Erika Berland, and Leeny Sack. She’s currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Salisbury University, and has enjoyed teaching at Webster University’s Conservatory of the Arts, Muhlenberg College, Lindenwood University, and UMSL.

Maggie Conroy (Yoga) is a 200HR certified yoga instructor who has studied yoga over the last decade. Having a background in Suzuki/Viewpoints methods, she became interested in Vinyasa yoga as a way to continually develop the relationship between the breath and the body. She is co-producing director for YoungLiars.

Also check out other Workshops in Webster Groves, Arts events in Webster Groves, Health & Wellness events in Webster Groves.