Sperling's "A Faery Hunt" Comes to the Workshop

The Teenage Drama Workshop's own Ronnie Sperling and Chris Halsted gave their students a glimpse into their professional lives today, when the duo presented a portion of their live show, "A Faery Hunt," which is the longest-running kids' show in Los Angeles.*

In each acting class today, the students got a visit from Noll the Troll (Sperling) and Isfandiar, the Simurg (Halsted).  Fans of Sperling and Halsted noticed many of their favorite comedy elements in the performance - from the vaudeville-style jokes, to the commedia dell'arte masks.

After the performance, Sperling shared with the students that "A Faery Hunt" is now in development to be a TV show.

"You are among the first ones to hear this," Sperling said. "We have a development deal for 12 episodes."

For Sperling, this most recent success is anything but overnight. A working actor "forever," Sperling's professional career has included stints in the national tour of "Grease" (as Eugene) and numerous TV commercials and appearances. He even appeared as The Mad Hatter on extra content featured on the Disney "Alice in Wonderland" DVD. And recently, he appeared opposite James Franco on "General Hospital."

After attending CSUN's Theatre Department, Sperling began working as a professional actor, earning his Screen Actors Guild card opposite Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattheau in Billy Wilder's last film "Buddy, Buddy." 

"I had a passion for this since I was the age of these kids (at TADW)," Sperling said. "It was the only thing I ever wanted to do and I never deterred from it."

Sensing the challenge in becoming a "star," Sperling said his primary goal was to be a working actor.  "I did it," he said. "I found a way to stay working all these years, and managed to feed my family doing what I love." 

In addition to teaching at TADW, Sperling also teaches improv to teenagers at the ComedySportz Theatre in Hollywood. And when he's not working in commercials and TV, he's writing for television and doing live comedy and theatre performances, as well as corporate shows.

"Working as an actor can be like a roller-coaster," Sperling said. "When it rains it pours, but it can also be dry.  You just have to keep doing something. Stay involved. If that means getting friends together to do a play reading, or renting a theatre to do your own show, you have to do something."

This is Sperling's second go-round at TADW.  He also taught in the workshop in the 1980s, where he met his wife Romy, who ran lights on his show.  "She was the tech director," he said. 

Happy to be back at the workshop after directing the acclaimed production of "Pinocchio" last summer, Sperling said many elements of TADW are the same two decades later. "You still have kids and we're still doing shows," he said, "but what Doug Kaback has done with this program is really special. The idea that we do these two really wonderful productions is really great."

About his upcoming production of "Seussical," Sperling said he is excited to present it in a new way -- with a heavy dose of Seuss.  "There are lots of Seuss things throughout and this amazing puppet element," he added.

Seussical, directed by Sperling, opens July 28 in the Campus Theatre at CSUN.  For tickets, visit www.csun.edu/tadw.

*"A Faery Hunt," the longest-running kids show in LA, won the Nickelodeon Parents' Picks award last year. The show is nominated again in 2010! Support Ronnie and Chris with your vote: http://www....parentsconnect.com/parents-picks/los-angeles-ca-usa/best-los-angeles-theatre-group-for-kids

Backstage Glimpses: Improv Class

Students in the Teenage Drama Workshop's Improvisation Elective got a workout today as instructor Ronnie Sperling put them through their creative paces. 

Working in pairs, students created short scenes based on suggestions from the class. After running their scenes twice, the students had to think on their feet as Sperling changed things up, asking them to re-do the scene in a different genre. 

Students acting as home-repairmen suddenly had to redo their scene as a horror movie and as an MTV reality show.  A scene involving a pregnant woman and her husband stuck in an elevator suddenly became a game show, then was redone in the style of "Glee."  Another scene involving astronauts battling an asteroid field was redone as a samurai film and then as a Nickelodeon cartoon. 

Later, students worked in groups to tell a short story, with each actor adding the next word, one at a time.  After that, students played an improv game called, "Clue," in which an actor tries to convey the details of a crime using only gestures, movement and gibberish. Lots of laughter ensued, but the kids came away with real-life acting skills, too.

Sperling encouraged the class to stretch their imaginations--and their vocabularies--in their scene work. 

Beginning next week, students in the improvisation class will be cast in plays written by students in the play writing elective.  The short plays will be featured in TADW's upcoming "10-Minute Play Festival," which will run Aug. 5 and 6 in the Studio Theatre in Nordhoff Hall.

Professional Puppeteer Brings Her Magic to 'Seussical'

Professional puppeteer Renee Vlashi, whose work has appeared at the famous Bob Baker Marionette Theatre and on the Jim Henson/ABC-TV show "Dinosaurs," is bringing her special skills to the Teenage Drama Workshop. Vlashi is creating 15 paper-mâché-and-foam fish puppets and two other puppets for TADW's upcoming production of "Seussical."

Renee offered her puppeteering skills  to TADW at the spring "Meet and Greet," when director Ronnie Sperling mentioned that "Seussical" would be using puppets. Vlashi's daughter, Jeta, 12, is a first-time student in the workshop this summer. "I've been  a puppeteer for 40 years," Vlashi said.

"What Renee is creating is remarkable," said executive director of TADW Doug Kaback. Students in TADW's design-tech program are also assisting Vlashi with painting the puppets and putting on the "finishing touches."

(Pictured, professional puppeteer Renee Vlashi working on her creations for the upcoming production of Seussical; some of Vlashi's puppets drying in the scene shop; Vlashi with "Seussical" director Ronnie Sperling and a few of the puppets.)