Past Masterclass Topics

Join us for a sneak peek inside the working creative process of Manor Mill Playhouse's next main stage production, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, adapted from Washington Irving’s classic tale, running October 9th-18th at the David Niven Theater at Oldfields School. In this dynamic Masterclass session, peer inside the rehearsal process with director Vanessa Eskridge and witness the cast at work developing this highly collaborative piece. Then, join the cast as the production’s Movement Director Lauren Meley teaches the specific techniques used to create the play’s signature look and feel. 

No prior dance experience is required; just wear comfortable clothes and most importantly, bring your openness to create and play. You may also opt to continue to observe.

This event is free and open to the public, but parking and space is limited, so plan to arrive early and register below to guarantee your seat!  

Manor Mill Playhouse is proud to present 5 original works, collaboratively produced from within our company, for our first ever 10 minute Play Round Up- a performance showcase on Monday, August 10.  

Featuring:

Chop Suey by Mark Squirek 
Raptor by M. Eden Walker
Bookends by Kathleen Barber 
A Quiet Cafe  by John C. Wilson 
Silenced Scientist by Mary Trifillis 

The evening will feature performances of each script, followed by the opportunity to discuss the plays and the writing process with the writers, directors, actors, and offer feedback. Join us for this engaging and enthralling evening of new theatre at its best! 

This event is free and open to the public. Be sure to register for your spot, as space is limited and this evening is likely to sell out.

MMPH Masterclass is a monthly evening of theater appreciation and performance that meets at Manor Mill and is free and open to the public. Masterclass is an extension of the Manor Mill Playhouse (MMPH) Company, and is designed to bring local and regional theater artists and enthusiasts together.

June 8, 2026: Majorie Prime by Jordan Harrison

MMPH Company Member Wendy Snow Walker hosts our June Masterclass and brings us a deep dive into the play Majorie Prime by Jordan Harrison. A 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist,  Majorie Prime explores the complexities of the AI phenomenon amidst the aging, death and dying process.

Upon registration,we will provide you a copy of the script, and, like a book club, participants should come prepared to discuss the play. On the night of, we will watch a few pinnacle short scenes read from the play. Then, in the second hour,  Wendy will present to us as a production designer, with her vision for a set design focusing on the futuristic elements impacting the soul of the play. Our audience will have the opportunity to discuss the play, the readings, and production design process, and offer feedback throughout.

If you are a lover of the theatre, a designer, or interested in the process of how these elements move from page to stage, this is a Masterclass you won't want to miss! Masterclass is free and open to the public. Register for your spot and receive a copy of the script today! 

Whether you are a veteran actor or have never been on stage, this is your opportunity to learn the basics of stage combat! Join MMPH company member Anthony O'Campo (The Actor's Nightmare, Shorts, Murder on the Orient Express) for Stage Combat 101. We will learn moves like punches, slaps, and falls in a fun and safe environment that you can confidently bring to your next production.

MMPH Monthly Masterclass is free and open to the public. Make sure to register to save a spot. 

Produced by Carol DeLisle and Griffin DeLisle, MMPH Company members will present a reading of Jen Silverman's play Witch (featuring Carol, Anthony O'Campo (The Actor's Nightmare, Murder on the Orient Express), Michael Zemarel (Our Town), Paul Norfolk (Our Town), and Lauren Meley (The Actor's Nightmare, Murder on the Orient Express) and MMPH friend Hayden Hauptman).

First produced in 2018, Witch explores the delicate balance between hope and despair and the value of the human soul when hope is hard to find. With modest scenic requirements and some challenging questions at its core, this subversive dramatic comedy is perfect for small theatre.

If you are a director looking for a new play, an actor interested in the process, or a theater fan who would like to observe, this is a terrific (and FREE) chance to come on out to see experienced actors at work!

Are you an actor? Or a person interested in learning to be more present and confident in your individual choices? If you're open to that kind of authentic, moment-to-moment, human experience, then the Sanford Meisner approach to acting might be just for you.

In this free Masterclass, Manor Mill Playhouse company members Emily Decker and Anthony Ross Ocampo will be offering an introduction to this technique. You'll learn how this versatile approach equips you to be a better listener, more present partner, and prepared for any scene and circumstance—truthfully. You'll also experience some of the foundational exercises of this technique and learn ways to apply it in your own practice—across stage, TV, or film.

Are you interested in working in film and TV? Manor Mill Company Member Lauren Meley (SAG-AFTRA) will guide participants through the process of making a self-tape for commercial and film auditions, an essential skill for getting work on screens big and small. Register for this FREE and incredible opportunity before it fills up.

Our June Monologue Workshop was such a hit, we are doing it again! Get audition-ready with our December Masterclass—a FREE workshop, just in time for the upcoming Baltimore Small Stage Coalition (BSSC) auditions in January (or any others you may have on the horizon)! Come with a monologue that is one minute or less and receive real-time feedback from our experienced directors. Don't want to perform? Come and sit in for great tips and watch and learn more how other actors might prepare.

This month's Masterclass will feature a full length reading of the play Oleanna by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet, directed by Manor Mill Playhouse Company Manager, M. Eden Walker.

Starring local actors Carlo Olivio and Azure Grimes, you are invited in this exciting Masterclass to share an actor's process from the very first read-through. Then come to witness the fully developed production later in September 25-27th, at the Motor House in Baltimore.

We are thrilled to partner with a Baltimore theater institution to present a reading of "Sweet Baby Jesus", an original work by Baltimore-based playwright and screenwriter Steve Blair. Come hear this hilarious, modern Christmas story before it is staged at Spotlighters next year, then participate in a feedback session with the author after the reading.

Get audition-ready with our June Masterclass—a Monologue Workshop just in time for the upcoming Baltimore Small Stage Coalition (BSSC) June auditions (or any others you may have on the horizon)!

MMPH Masterclass is a monthly evening of theater appreciation and performance that meets at Manor Mill and is free and open to the public. Masterclass is an extension of the Manor Mill Playhouse (MMPH) Company, and is designed to bring local and regional theater artists and enthusiasts together.

May 12, 2025:

This month, we'll explore how a cast begins the process of unpacking a script and developing characters at the first rehearsal of a theoretical production of August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. Under the direction of Matthew Sean Mitchell (Trifles director), participants can volunteer to read a part in select scenes from the play.

Come see our Manor Mill Playhouse's 2nd production, An Evening of One Acts, running April 3 - 6th and then join members of the cast, directors and designers for a Talk Back. Bring your questions and comments as we discuss and detail the process of mounting the show, from play selection all the way to our closing performance. All are welcome to this free event!

Please join us for a different kind of Masterclass this month and enjoy a full performance of Anton Chekhov's one act farce The Bear presented as an "Actor Slam" by Manor Mill Our Town cast members Mike Byrne (Dr Gibbs), M. Eden Walker (Julia Gibbs) and Elizabeth Malis (Mrs. Soames). "Actor Slam" is a technique where the actors come to the performance fully blocked and memorized, but have never once performed the play together before doing it in front of a live audience.

This method explores what the magic of the "first time" and the trust of their real bonds as artists can bring to a particularly risky and wild approach to live theatre. Come watch them sink and swim!

Did you catch Manor Mill Playhouse's captivating production of "Our Town"? Whether you have cherished memories of reading it or are discovering it for the first time, we invite you to dive deeper into this timeless classic.

Join us for a unique Masterclass gathering featuring actors and designers from our acclaimed production. Engage in a lively discussion about the play's themes and the creative choices that brought it to life on stage.

Kay-Megan Washington is a seasoned stage, television and film actor, and now intimacy director. Having worked in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion and mental health treatment for both survivors and perpetrators of sexual violence in her non-theatre life, moving into advocating for artist safety, bodily autonomy, and universal use of consent practices seemed an obvious next step. Kay-Megan is currently completing certification through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC).

M. Eden Walker received her BA on a full ride scholarship as a performer, director and playwright from Boise State University on the twelfth day of May 2001, with all the rights and responsibilities pertaining hereto. She then jumped into a Uhaul with her two cats, no job, and no GPS and drove to New York City without ever having been there before, to seek her miraculous fortune in the theatre. NYC Theatre: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth 2008), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Quickly, 2007) produced by The Oberon Theatre Ensemble. Self-Produced Credits: The Ascetic of Lincoln County (2004 with the NY Fringe). Eden directed and starred as Emily in Our Town (2005), Leapfrog through Time and Space (2005, Awesome New York Times Review), The Rehearsal (2006); Chesapeake by Lee Blessing (2008). Eden produced and performed The Dream of a Ridiculous American, written and directed by Phil Atlakson, at the United Solo Festival on Theatre Row in 2013, which achieved a sold out and extended run. Last fall, Eden produced her new play, Lady, a modernized bastardized version of Lady Macbeth's story mixed with a Brian Epstein nightmare in Baltimore at the BIG Improv theatre space, and then again in NYC at the United Solo Festival, again to a sold-out house with standing room only. Her 14-year-old son, Teagle Walker, played the title role. The "M" in Eden's professional name comes from her patron saint, St. Mary of Egypt. For Eden, the theatre is first and foremost a spiritual errand; she just does what she is told.

Max Garner (he/him) founded Rapid Lemon Productions in 2012, as a theater company governed by the urgent need to amplify new voices, and to bridge the isolating gaps across Baltimore's arts landscape. A reluctant producer and former playwright, Max is best known for his design work - his soundtracks have appeared with AXIS, Mother Lode, PTB, Mongrel, Rep Stage, The Flying Tongues, CTA, Top Floor, Run of the Mill, TMC, Arena Players, FPCT, Cohesion, Single Carrot, and RLP; and professional productions for Coppin, Morgan, Loyola, and Catholic Universities.

A Baltimore native, Laura Malkus is a veteran of local small and mid-sized stages where she has performed, advocated, and served for more than three decades. Throughout her life as an artist, she has been an actor, deviser, playwright, teacher, producer, musician, and a singer/songwriter for a local alt-country band. In her professional career, Laura has two decades of experience serving local arts and educational organizations in strategic, fundraising, operations, advocacy, consulting, and marketing/communications capacities. She currently serves as the Board President of Fells Point Corner Theater. By day she works as the Marketing and PR Manager for Towson University's College of Fine Arts and Communication, where she graduated many years ago with her acting degree.

Each month, we analyze and discuss one play, first as a literary piece and then as a production piece. If you love to go to the theater, enjoy reading plays, create theater on any level and/or love story-telling, come and join a lively conversation about what makes a great play. Come to the meeting, having read the play (as best you can).

Brad Norris is a Baltimore based Scenic Artist, Sound Designer, Fight Choreographer, Director, Production Manager, and Arts Administrator. Brad spent a good part of his early career in Chicago, IL where he graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Theatrical Directing and Technical Theatre. After moving to Baltimore in 2009 he worked at Baltimore Center Stage as their events coordinator, and co-founded his own theatrical company, Cohesion Theatre Company, where he worked as Co-Founder, Executive Director, Production Manager, Director, and Designer from 2014 until 2019. He is currently the Managing Director of Fells Point Corner Theatre, the Production Manager for the Performing Arts Department at CCBC, and the creator and Game Master of Baltimore's favorite retro-sci-fi sitcom show, Planar Taxi Co.

Kurenai is a New York born, Baltimore based cosplayer, self-published writer, podcaster and artist, and now convention chairwoman of KhromaKon, a new Baltimore based convention. She's been a featured artist at conventions as well as in interviews and podcasts. Leading as well as participating in panel discussions focusing on diversity, cosplay, and art, Kurenai's knowledge stems from her background in the Arts, Comic History, and Graphic Design. With her motto "Creating Fantasy and Altering Reality", she works tirelessly to expand her side of the internet by evolving her cosplay portfolio, increasing the details in her costumes, as well as showcasing her available artwork and cosplay accessories at conventions across the country.

An alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Belle Burr has studied classical theater, Commedia Dell'arte, Dance and Film. When not directing, Belle combines theater with history to teach children of all backgrounds about the world around them, and as an actor she has performed all over the country in various styles of dramatic and comedic theater. You can follow her adventures via @BelleBurr on Instagram, check out her reviews and podcasts at Pop Culture Uncovered, catch her on tour with the American Immersion Theater, or join her at a show with the crew of Drop Three Sketch and Improv.