Melanie Anderson Joins Mainstage Performing Arts Academy

Mainstage Center for the Arts welcomes teaching artist, Melanie Anderson, to the Performing Arts Academy, Blackwood, where she will be teaching commercial and film acting.

Anderson developed a passion for film work when she worked as the casting assistant for Paladino Casting in New York. She eventually opened her Melanie Briggs Casting with offices in Philadelphia and New York. She left her agency to become a theatre teacher in Vineland. Her theater students were recently highlighted in the primetime PBS documentary "I Can't...I Have Rehearsal," and have been recognized by Bucks County Playhouse, Papermill Playhouse's Rising Star Awards and The South Jersey Theater Festival for achievements in high school musical theater. Anderson is a proud graduate of Pace University, BFA Musical Theater 2007, and currently resides in Washington Township with her husband and two daughters.

In the Acting for the Camera classes that Anderson will teach at Mainstage, students grades 1- 12 (grouped into classes for grades 1-3, 4-5, and 6-12) will learn how to bring out the best of themselves at a commercial audition. This includes tips, techniques, and personalized coaching on how to deliver a professional commercial audition. This class is ideal for the student who wants to become comfortable in front of the camera and loves to perform. Each week students will be filmed, and the commercials will be watched in class for feedback from their peers and the instructor.

Mainstage Center for the Arts is holding an open house where students can register for this and other performing arts classes on August 29 and September 6, 6:30 pm at the Performing Arts Academy, 27 S. Black Horse Pike, Blackwood, NJ. For more information, visit www.mainstage.org or call (856) 302-6485. Anderson's website is: Melanieandersonperformingarts.com.