THOUSAND OAKS : Workshop Offered for Budding Actors

Looking to nurture a new generation of actors, directors and stage hands, the nonprofit Gold Coast Performing Arts Assn. will sponsor a 16-week workshop this winter for budding theater buffs ages 8 to 18.

Participants will learn how to spin a monologue and how to string up lights, how to put on makeup and how to film a TV show. Though the courses will focus on theater, the students will also learn how to perform on radio and television and will experiment with such new-age technology as CD-ROM interactive films.

At the end of the course, the students will stage their own production in Thousand Oaks’ Civic Arts Plaza.

“We have quite an ambitious program planned,” said Stu Levin, a veteran youth theater teacher who will lead the workshop. “We want to introduce young people to the theater arts in all its aspects.”

And they have an ulterior motive. By sparking kids’ curiosity, Levin said, Gold Coast hopes to ensure the long-term success of Thousand Oaks’ new theater.

“The more you train kids, the more you make them feel it’s their home, the more likely they are to grow up as the future audiences, trustees and donors who support the Civic Arts Plaza,” he explained.

The course, which costs $160 per student, will run from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, starting Feb. 24.

Interested students can sign up now for admission interviews, which will be held in late January. No audition is required, but Levin will screen all applicants to make sure they are genuinely interested in theater.