We believe in supporting performances of all kinds and giving the actors who study with Green Wood Studio the opportunity to perform frequently, after all, it is a performance art. To not discover the relationship with the audience would be like a painter with a finished canvas hanging in a closet!  Every quarter, the students perform the art they have been creating with us in an open house performance situation.   Visit our Studio Affiliates page to see what our colleagues are performing; the Message Board to see what colleagues around the world are performing and our Resources pages to discover performances sponsored by sister organizations.

Excelsior! Stage Performances:

Quarterly Open House Showcases: Monday evenings at 8pm, next performance TBA.  

Play Reading Series: Students, teachers and guest directors have the opportunity to explore a full-length play using the techniques studied in our classes and workshops.  Sometimes, the readings are done in conjunction with our Developing New Works series.  

Developing New Works: Over the last 4 years, we have had the opportunity to help artists create new works. What better atmosphere than a classic acting conservatory to help playwrights and performance artists develop future classics?  Whether a first reading, staged reading, works-in-progress or new work festival, we celebrate the performances of potential future classics.  We can provide classically trained actors, casting services, director, stage and minimal production values at little or no cost to the playwright. 
Excelsior! has hosted artists from Ireland, LA, NY, Seattle and Vancouver BC in the development of new pieces. Many, like Director Molly Lyons' solo show A Most Notorious Woman, have moved onto New Works in Fringe Festivals & World Premieres as fully developed pieces of new theatre. Excelsior! -- meaning "ever higher", forward, avanti (and, ironically, is also a green tree!), is the place where we encourage artists to go forward with their new works.

Upcoming Excelsior! Stage Performances
Works-in-Progress & New Works Performance Series
We enjoy providing the facility, actors or audience for a playwright developing a new work in performances which are crucial to the progress of the play.

The Sonnet Project :: To Me Fair Friend
Conceived and directed by Studio Director, Molly Lyons, and based on the Sonnets of William Shakespeare, this unique performance piece brings to life the characters and themes of the collection. 
We celebrated our first Works-in-Progress performance of 20 minutes on the Excelsior! Stage in September 2002.  Next development, TBA, but visit our treatment page on this new work here.  

Shows Grown on the Excelsior! Stage:

A Most Notorious Woman
Studio Director, Molly Lyons, stars in this solo show about 16th century Irish queen & sea captain, Grace O'Malley.  While conceived at the retreat of a sister organization, Artistic New Directions (www.improv.net), it grew up on the Excelsior! Stage before celebrating its world premiere in Colorado, an Ireland tour, Canadian premiere and next year's command performance for the O'Malley chieftain and clan back in Ireland.  Please visit AMNW's own pages here.  

Lilia!
Green Wood Studio Member and now NY resident, Libby Skala, performs a funny, touching and poignant piece about her relationship with her grandmother, Oscar nominated actress, Lilia Skala.  
Libby began work on her solo show in a Green Wood Studio sponsored workshop (with Groundling Founding Director, Gary Austin).  The show was then developed as a works-in-progress and in a new works festival on the Excelsior! Stage.  Lilia! has been performed in Festivals in Canada and at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.  Studio Director, Molly Lyons, was thrilled to recently attend performances at the Sanford Meiser Theatre in NYC and in Chicago's Single File Festival (when she was in both cities teaching national workshops).  
For more information on this show, please visit the website: Lilia

Mother Load
Green Wood Studio Member Camille Wooden, and regular student Louise Carnachan perform funny, touching and most memorable looks back at life growing up in two single-mom households throughout the 50's & 60's. 
Mother Load began as a works-in-progress in two different festivals on the Excelsior! Stage.  It then celebrated its World Premiere in Seattle's Fringe Festival in 2001 to sold-out houses, immediately followed by a run in Bas Bleu Theatre's Summer Festival of Hits!
For more information on Mother Load, visit their website: www.offlimitsimprov.com/motherload