Salida Theater Festival
2024-09-23 - 2024-10-03
Join us for Salida Theater Festival, A Revival of Live Theater in Chaffee County!
Offering 2 full weeks of live theater with 6 shows, 4 companies, and 4 venues. See Salida Theater Festival – Quality, sustainable, and inspirational theater for our community. link for tickets and information including acting workshops for all levels by experienced theater professionals. September 23 through October 6. Get your tickets today!

Acting Workshops
2024-09-28 13:00 - 17:00 (America/Denver)
The Salida Creative District presents workshops during the Salida Theater Festival for actors, directors, and those interested in learning more about performing and developing your skills! This fun and inspiring series of classes taught by experienced theater artists provides essential skills you need as an actor including voice, movement of the body, acting, stage combat, and skills for trusting your instincts such as improvisation and clowning workshops. For ages teen to adult. All levels, beginners and especially actors and directors with experience are invited to come and learn! Participants will get up on their feet as you explore new skills so dress comfortably in clothes that allow for movement and bring a water bottle. Each workshop is an hour long with a short break in between, so you can plan to attend one or more! Free! See individual links for each class below to reserve your spot for one or more workshops! Follow Salida Creative District on social media and the Salida Theater Festival website for more information and updates!
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 AT THE STEAM PLANT

VOICE FOR THE ACTOR led by Creede Repertory Theatre. Friday Sept 27 at 1:00pm- 2:00pm at the Salida Steam Plant Theater. THEATER WORKSHOP: Voice for the Actor Tickets, Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite
Explore the care and use of this most valuable tool to convey emotion. Breath work, annunciation, exercises, and care. ABOUT CREEDE REPERTORY THEATER: Founded in 1966, Creede Repertory Theater (CRT) is now in their 58th season. A nationally recognized theatre serving over 20,000 patrons during the summer and over 37,000 youth through their educational outreach programs. They are an artistic home to their rural community and beyond, through the creation of repertory seasons, dynamic educational programs, and compelling new works. CRT Education programs offer residencies, intensives, and workshops bringing hands on learning directly to students of all ages.
STAGE COMBAT led by Tina Gramann. Friday, Sept 27 at 2:15-3:15pm at the Steam Plant Theater.
THEATER WORKSHOP: Stage Combat Tickets, Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 2:15 PM | Eventbrite
What to do when your play has a fight scene. Actors and directors learn and discuss safety, fight styles, the rehearsal process, and overview of stage combat disciplines such as unarmed fighting and sword techniques. Tina Gramann is a professional fight choreographer and has staged over 100 fight scenes for the stage. During her tenure in Austin, Texas, she served as resident fight choreographer for Austin Shakespeare Company, and fight choreographer for professional regional theater Zachary Scott Theatre Center (ZACH Theatre) staging numerous fights, notably for Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan- Lori Parks’ world premiere of The Book of Grace; and ZACH Theater’s innovative production of Porgy and Bess which was featured in the New York Times. She served as the Department Director for ZACH’s Performing Arts School and Education Departments for 10 years, overseeing 25 staff and teaching artists and providing theater education and youth productions to 50,000 students a year. She is certified by the Society of American Fight Directors in the stage combat disciplines of Unarmed, Rapier & Dager, Broadsword, and Single Sword, and she holds an MFA in Theater from the University of Houston School of Theater where she served as the Fight Choreographer for Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee New Play Workshops. Tina is the Artistic Director and founder of Salida Creativity Lab since 2016, providing art, theater, and diverse cultural events for the community such as Asia Fest, Dia de los Muertos Salida, and Filipino Modern coming in 2025.
THEATER WORKSHOP: Viewpoints Acting Techniques Tickets, Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 3:30 PM | Eventbrite
Viewpoints is an acting technique that relies less on the written language of a script and more on how time, space, and vocality can inform the story you are trying to tell. Rather than diving into a character’s backstory, Viewpoints allow you to more holistically embody a character to evoke certain emotions from your audience. This style of acting is highly collaborative and is best used in ensemble pieces. In our Viewpoints workshop we’ll spend some time getting into our bodies and exploring some of the basic viewpoints. We will then work together to craft some improvised stories as an ensemble. Please come dressed to move! Stretchy pants and bare feet are highly encouraged. Please note that the nature of Viewpoints exercises incorporates some physical contact, and participants should be comfortable with appropriate physical touch. Liz Dunn is thrilled to be a part of the second annual Salida Theater Festival! She received her BFA, in Theater Performing and Directing, from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO and has worked with several companies throughout the state. Previous credits include Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and June in Chicago at the Pagos Center for the Arts, Kenni in Bas Blue’s production of Becky’s New Car, Mattie Silks in TINTS various productions, and Pip in Love…Really and chorus in Rocky Mountain Horror Picture Show with Salida Theater Project. She recently joined the Salida Theater Project’s board and is thrilled to be expanding her impact in a company that she holds near and dear to her heart.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 WORKSHOPS AT THE SCOUT HUT

CLOWNING led by Jennifer Dempsey. Saturday, September 28,1:00pm- 2:00pm at the Salida Scout Hut.
THEATER WORKSHOP: Clowning Tickets, Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite
Jenn will show how “clown” is a verb and will take you through exercises to show the simplicity and endless possibilities of clowning! Jennifer Dempsey founded the Salida Circus in 2007. She has been a circus performer for 35 years, as an acrobat, stilt walker, unicyclist, juggler, comedy actor. Jennifer trained in clowning with Angela De Castro, Peta Lilly and Circo Rum Baba. In this workshop, Jennifer will show how “clown” is a verb and will take participants through simple exercises to show the simplicity and endless possibilities of clowning. No experience required, just an openness and willingness to try!
“YES, AND… “ An INTRODUCTION to IMPROV COMEDY led by Garrison Garcia. Saturday, September 28, 2:15pm- 3:15pm at the Salida Scout Hut. THEATER WORKSHOP: Intro to Improv Comedy Tickets, Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 2:15 PM | Eventbrite
In this class, participants can expect to learn and practice three foundational principles of improv comedy: agreement, supporting your scene partner, and free association. Highly engaging and participatory, students will be immersed in exercises and games aimed at learning these concepts. After 60 minutes, participants will leave with a greater understanding of key tenets of improv and will have several games they can continue to practice. Please come in comfortable shoes and be ready to move! According to his mother, Garrison Garcia is “very funny” and has been leveraging that trait through improv comedy since 2013. The founder of two headlining Arizona improv troupes (Tiny Punches and Chomsky School of Business), Garrison loves to make people laugh and discover the joys of improv. While making things up on the fly is his primary interest, Garrison has also acted and directed for Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival, the Flagstaff Foundry, and Northern Arizona Playmakers. A student of the Tucson Improv Movement, Northern Arizona University, Kevin Macdonald, and Emily Holland, Garrison brings a diversity of knowledge and perspectives to his teaching.
ACTING & AUDITIONING, AN INTRO led by Jan Justis. Saturday, September 28, 3:30pm- 4:30pm at the Salida Scout Hut. THEATER WORKSHOP: Intro to Acting & Auditioning Tickets, Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 3:30 PM | Eventbrite
Actors become used to transforming into someone different than themselves. This is the essence of Acting. There are also techniques for actors to learn and use to audition for Theater Projects. In this Workshop we will explore the ‘how-to’s of transformation: vocal, physical, and emotional. We will also explore several different audition styles used by Theater Directors today. Jan Justis has spent most of her life and career creating dance and theater in New York, Chicago, and Colorado. After training in classical ballet at the Cincinnati Conservatory and performing internationally with the Nikolais Dance Theater, she co-founded and directed the Denver-based Jan Justis Dance Company. She has a large repertory of original choreographic work spanning over 4 decades that includes six full-evening Dance/Theater works. She directed and choreographed over 30 plays and musicals. She holds a Masters in Humanities from the University of Colorado at Denver. Also, a dance and theater educator in Universities, Schools, Festivals and Conferences across the U.S., she received the Richard L. Knaub Award for Colorado Theater Teacher of the Year and in 2020 was recognized as one of Colorado’s Legends of Dance from The Dance Archive at the University of Denver. In July 2020 she opened in TINTS’ one-woman play MOTHER! The Life of Mother Jones in Salida. In 2022 she founded Justis Theater Works. She currently teaches Dance for people living with Parkinson’s and other mobility issues and is happy to return to the stage via Salida Theater Project.
