BA, Bard College. Certificate of Completion in Clown, The Burlesk Center, Locarno, Switzerland. MFA, Brooklyn College. A New York based playwright, performer and educator, Clair makes work under the name Lisa Clair Group—a collective of performers, musicians, and designers who collaborate across disciplines to create live, experimental performance. Clair is a New Georges-affiliated artist and a 2020/21 New Georges Audrey Resident, as well as an affiliated artist with Immediate Medium/AGENCY. Her work has been presented at The Collapsable Hole, Target Margin Theater, SPRING/BREAK art show, The SFX Festival@The Wild Project, The Bushwick Starr Reading Series, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, JACK, The Performance Project at University Settlement, and The Silent Barn. Her play, Willa's Authentic Self, is slated to have a 2023 world premiere in partnership with Immediate Medium. She is also a voice over artist, having voiced numerous animated and commercial characters. SLC, 2022-
Undergraduate Courses 2022-2023
Theatre
Historic Survey of Formal Aesthetics for Contemporary Performance Practice
Open, Component—Year
Once upon a time in a rehearsal, a playwright said, “I just think that this is the most Cubist moment of this play.” Everyone in the room fell silent and grew uncomfortable, because...what in the heck did she mean by that? And aren’t we already supposed to know? This interactive lecture course surveys the aesthetic movements throughout history and teaches you to track their impact on your work. Ideas behind each movement are examined in relation to the historical moment of their occurrence and in their formal manifestations across visual art, music, architecture, and performance disciplines. Each student then places his/her own work within a wider context of formal aesthetic discourse—locating hidden influence and making conscious and purposeful the political resonance that is subsequently uncovered. Students are encouraged to find ways of acknowledging the responsibility that one carries for the impact of one’s work on the world and to start using terms like “Postmodernism” and “Futurist” with confidence.
Faculty
Voice Over Acting Technique
Open, Component—Year
This class is an introduction to the craft and technique of voice over acting in various forms. It is open to performers with an interest in gaining the necessary skills to perform in the fields of animation, video games, audio books, commercials, and more. Actors will learn to differentiate between genres and how to adapt their performance approach to each. We will cover basic skills, such as warm-ups, common terminology, home-studio setup, and audition and performance techniques. We will then build on those skills by learning to break down text, apply breath, perform copy, develop specific characters, and receive feedback and direction. Actors will have the opportunity to dive deeply into a genre of their choice, find and write their own copy, and practice recording and editing takes with the goal of creating a demo reel.