Lifelong Learning Series: FREE Virtual Seminars with Bay Street Theater!

AARP Long Island along with Bay Street Theater is proud to provide a FREE four-part series of seminars focusing on topics such as stage acting, improv, creative writing, and public speaking. This is part of Long Island’s Lifelong Learning series – to have fun with purpose! 

Lifelong learning is good for your brain health!  Not only can education increase our likelihood of higher living standards (less stress, social interactions and better quality of life), it also increases the brain’s ability to reroute and decreases our likelihood of developing cognitive decline as we age.

All seminars will be an hour and a half long, are recommended for adults ages 18 and over and are FREE to attend! Advanced registration is required.  See the AARPNY cvent links below for more information. 

• Intro to Acting: Thursday, September 17, 6:00PM - 7:30PM

Bay Street Theater’s resident thespian, Director of Education Allen O’Reilly, will conduct an exciting and engaging seminar for anyone whose bucket list includes “Take an Acting Class.” Allen will walk participants through concepts of annunciation, delivery, staging, and pacing. Allen has worked as an educator and professional actor for over thirty years, and has served as Artistic Director at Young Audiences of Atlanta, Education Director at Georgia Shakespeare and, most recently, Education Programs Manager at Cleveland Play House. While at Georgia Shakespeare, he directed touring productions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His television and film credits include Sleepy Hollow, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Assassin’s Code and The Enormity of Life.

Learn more: https://aarp.cvent.com/BayStreetIntrotoActing0917
 

• Improv: Improving your Life with IMPROV! Thursday, October 15, 6:00PM - 7:30PM

Using the “Yes, and...” improv method, improv master Scott Baker will keep students engaged, entertained, and inspired during this fun and motivational seminar. Scott performs with several improv teams at top entertainment venues across the U.S. and incorporates his own experiences both good and bad into his very unique career as an improv performer. He is a retired veteran of the NYPD, in which he served six years as a decorated officer. Since leaving the force he has written three books about his experiences as an officer. Scott created and stars in the the TV sitcom "Midtown," and presently teaches improv comedy at Hofstra University.

Learn more: https://aarp.cvent.com/BayStreetImprov1015

• Writing Your Life Story: Thursday, November 12, 6:00PM - 7:30PM

Everyone’s got one: their OWN life story. Bay Street Theater’s Associate Artistic Director Will Pomerantz—master storyteller, playwright, and director—will present this unique writing seminar. Students will learn how to access their own creative writing skills to write their own story in their own words. Will Pomerantz will share his writing successes and challenges in this fun and engaging seminar.

Learn more: https://aarp.cvent.com/BayStreetWriting1112

• Public Speaking: Thursday, December 10, 6:00PM - 7:30PM

For most people, their number one fear is public speaking. Most people fear it more than death itself. This informative and fun seminar, taught by stage, film and television actor Paul Hecht, is designed to help people overcome their fear of public speaking by introducing a series of easy to use methods and techniques that will empower them. Paul Hecht is an English actor who made his Broadway debut in 1968 in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Additional Broadway credits include 1776, The Rothschilds, The Great God Brown, Caesar and Cleopatra, and The Invention of Love. He received the Obie Award for his performance in the off-Broadway production of Enrico IV. His television credits include the recurring role of Allie's ex-husband Charles on Kate & Allie, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and As the World Turns.

Learn more: https://aarp.cvent.com/BayStreetPublicSpeakingSeminar1210

We hope to see you virtually in class!