Food & Drink
New Studio Offers Adult Acting, Dance and Music Classes
A public performing arts training center materializes under the Monorail
By Seattle Mag November 5, 2014
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
So you’ve always wanted to be a clown. Or learn to tap dance. Or do improvisational theater. Like they say on reality-TV shows, it’s never too late to pursue your dream! Thanks to The Studios Center for Performing Arts (1801 Fifth Ave.; 206.582.3878; thestudios.org), you can hone that dream to a waking-life skill. Opened in October by local arts supporters Shanna and Ryan Waite (she’s a longtime actress, he’s a senior manager at Amazon), The Studios offers adult classes in acting, dance, music and related fields for both novices and professional performers. Appropriate given the nature of the space, the center is located downtown in the Times Square Building, the flatiron-shaped landmark that housed the editorial offices of The Seattle Times from 1916 to 1930. The Waites worked with Graham Baba Architects, Dovetail General Contractors and Tom Sturge Designs to gut 10,000 square feet of space and create several studios of different sizes, including a dance rehearsal room with 20-foot ceilings and a recording studio in a former bank vault. In addition to the packed lineup of classes taught by local performance pros, The Studios plans to offer public performances, both intentionally (indoors) and incidentally (via the floor-to-ceiling street-level windows). Brush off those ballet slippers and stretch out those vocal cords—your big debut may be just around the corner. Prices range from $18 for a drop-in class to $170 for a 10-class package; union members receive discounts. Stardom not guaranteed.
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