Sudhoff offers summer acting classes for youth
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B.J. Sudhoff portrays the character “The Poet” in his one-act play presentation of “An Iliad.” The play placed fourth among eight finalists at the Missouri High School Activities Association state competition held April 24-25 at Missouri State University in Springfield. For his performance in “An Iliad,” Sudhoff won the 2015 Outstanding Actor Award, presented by the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri.
Acting has been BJ Sudhoff’s passion for several years, and now he has the opportunity to share his passion with area kids. Sudhoff is offering two theater workshops for kids ages 8 and up over the next couple of weeks and is holding the classes because of his work with the Maryville Young Players.
“I was helping with their musical this year and I had quite a few parents come up to me and ask if I could teach lessons to their children,” Sudhoff said. “The idea of teaching kids took off from there and I thought I could offer a camp for all of the kids that want to go into the field of acting.”
Sudhoff graduated from Maryville High School in May and participated in several high school productions including the role of Kenickie Murdoch in Grease. Along with participating in high school productions, Sudhoff was named “Missouri’s Best Actor” during the state forensics and theater competition last spring.
During the state competition, Sudhoff’s performance of his one-act play, “An Illiad,” captured fourth place out of eight finalists and his performance in the play at state earned him the Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri’s highest honor as the 2015 Outstanding Actor, beating out more than 150 other actors from around the state for the honor.
Sudhoff wants to encourage younger kids to continue their dreams of acting and performing because he sees a great future for the kids.
“I see a lot of talent in a lot of these kids and it’s incredible,” Sudhoff said. “The amount of acting and performing in Maryville is amazing, but Maryville doesn’t have the acting, theater or art capabilities that I would like it to have. I went down to Kansas City and St. Joseph during the summer for a lot of my camps.”
It’s been a busy summer for Sudhoff as he recently graduated from Kansas City’s Coterie Theatre Master Class program and will help teach The Coterie’s youth camps in Kansas City this summer, as well.
The first Maryville workshop begins Monday, July 27 and runs through Friday, July 31 from 2-5 p.m. each day at the First United Methodist Church in Maryville. The workshop costs $40 per student and there is an additional fee for students interested in attending a performance by the Brownville Theater Company.
Sudhoff said the first workshop concentrates on helping beginner and more experienced actors discover and explore the basics of theater through improvisation, creativity and imagination.
The second week-long session runs August 10-14 from 2-5 p.m. each day and also takes place at the First United Methodist Church. The workshop will also cost $40 per student and focuses on character development and building monologues.
For more information regarding the two workshops, contact Sudhoff at 660.215.0339 or register by emailing [email protected].
