Culture Connect Featured Event

Have you ever wanted to see yourself on the silver screen? The Darien Arts Center has a new class to begin your path to stardom!

The Darien Arts Center happily announces a three week intensive class that allows students to gain wonderful experience acting in front of a camera. “Connecting to the Camera: The Keys to Delivering Truthful Acting on Camera” is led by two professionals at the top of their field, Nick Sadler and Matt Porretta.

Matt Porretta returns to his native Darien after spending time acting all over the country, alternating between Broadway and Los Angeles. His big break came when cast in the role of Marius in the national tour of Les Miserables, eventually landing on Broadway. Then he landed the part of Will Scarlet O’Hara in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Brooks recast Matthew in his next film, Dracula Dead and Loving It. Soon after, he landed a recurring role on 90210 playing Dan Rubin. Then, back to Broadway where he played Count Ludovic in the original production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s Passion. After returning to Los Angeles, he starred in the title role in TNT’s The New Adventures of Robin Hood.

Nick Sadler is a Juilliard trained actor whose had the good fortune of working in film, television, and theater the past 20 years with such esteemed artists as Barry Levinson, Joel and Ethan Coen, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Danny Glover, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, and Elizabeth Ashley to name a few. As a writer and director, Nick’s work has aired on HBO, Cinemax, Canal Plus, and screened at film festivals such as Denver, Slamdance, Deauville, Hamptons, and Sundance International Film Festivals. Nick is the founder of Present Actor Workshop.  As an educator and private teacher, he has helped students and professionals at all stages of their career in theater, film, and television.

This intensive workshop provides a fun and informative learning experience, where participants of ALL skill levels will learn invaluable techniques and trade secrets to acting with the camera in film, television, and commercials. All participants in the workshop will work with the camera in all genres - using the same scripts that professional actors currently employ. Performers will learn the fundamentals of acting on camera and at the end will receive a copy of their work to enjoy for years to come.

Students from Middle School to adults are invited to participate. The course only accommodates 30 students, so early registration is recommended.  The special class runs on Saturdays in November from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information or to register, please visit arts.darien.org.