Adult Acting Classes

Whether you’re interested in becoming a great actor or directing one, we’ve got a class for you! All classes are held at RPAA inside the Dominion Energy Arts Center in downtown Richmond, VA.

Upcoming Classes

True Stories:
Memoir as Monologue
with Rusty Wilson

This class explores each student’s selected personal stories in the form of a monologue. Each week, students will focus on one chosen story from their lives to share in monologue form with their classmates. The use of monologue as the vehicle for sharing these stories will enhance the skills needed by the actor to bring a more personal manifestation of themselves to the stage. Monologues will be recorded at the end of the class for the student’s personal use.

Tuesdays & Thursdays 7-9PM
October 7-23, 2025

Ages: 18+
Tuition: $300

Monologue Audition
with Denise Simone

This class is designed solely in preparation for a theatre audition requiring contemporary monologues. Class work concentrates on tools to relax you and help you focus. Whether you are reworking a monologue or learning to stay in the moment, this workshop can help. Students will leave with two audition-ready monologues and may select and bring in their own material to work on (no monologues from film, please) or receive suggestions from the instructor. Memorization is required for this class.

Tuesdays & Thursdays 7-9PM
October 28 - November 13, 2025

Ages: 18+
Tuition: $300

The Business of Acting
with Brian Landis

Acting is an art, but it’s also a business. In this workshop, Brian shares how actors find work, market themselves, and stand out in a crowded field. What makes a self-tape shine? What really happens behind the casting curtain? And what are the tough realities of building a career? Join Brian for insider tips, practical strategies, and a candid look at the business side of acting.

Tuesday 7-9PM
November 18, 2025

Ages: 18+
Tuition: $75

Educators: Ask us about
Professional Development points! Contact laine@cadencetheatre.org

Instructors

Brian Landis

Instructor

  • Brian Landis (he/him) is an actor, writer, filmmaker, and professor of Cinema at Virginia Commonwealth University. A Virginia native, he’s spent his career moving between stage, screen, and music—fronting noise rock bands, creating indie films like “Kill Jar”, “Song of the Common Loon”, and “Manhammer”, and acting in projects such as M. Night Shyamalan’s “Servant”, Focus Features’ “Harriet”, and Apple’s “Swagger”.

Denise Simone

Associate Artist / Instructor / NNPN Liaison

  • Denise Simone (she/her) has pursued a life in the professional theatre for the past 40 years as an actor, director, teacher, administrator and consultant. Between 1996 and 2016, Denise served as Company of Fools’ Co-Producing Artistic Director. She also served as a commissioner for the Idaho Commission on the Arts and as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Denise is currently an advisory board member for the Sun Valley Playwrights Residency as well as a member of Actors’ Equity Association and Screen Actors’ Guild. For her work in the theatre, Denise was awarded the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Rusty Wilson

Associate Artist / Instructor

  • Rusty Wilson (he/him) is a theatre artist and teacher who has directed a number of critically acclaimed productions for Cadence since 2005. Previously, Rusty spent ten years serving as the Founding Artistic Director for Company of Fools. His favorite directing credits there include Uncle Vanya, James Joyce’s The Dead, Waiting for Godot, How I Learned to Drive, The Tempest, Death and the Maiden, Buried Child, and Other Desert Cities. Rusty has been a guest director and teacher at various colleges and universities around the country, received a fellowship in directing in 2003, and was featured in an issue of American Theatre Magazine.