Celebrating its 9th year, The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) will hold its MAC to School weekend event on Saturday and Sunday, September 28 and 29, at Don’t Tell Mama and Studios 353 in Manhattan.. The two-day interactive cabaret symposium features master classes, panel discussions, seminars, workshops and showcases. MAC to School’s sessions feature cabaret performers, directors, musical directors, ensemble musicians and booking managers from NYC and beyond.
MAC TO SCHOOL is open to both MAC members and non-members. (See registration info below.)
The complete schedule is as follows:
Saturday, September 28
9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th St., New York, NY 10036
1:30-5:30 p.m. at Studios 353, 353 West 48th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10036
9:30-10 a.m. Registration
Join the MAC Board of Directors in the piano bar at Don’t Tell Mama to register for MAC to School. Receive your schedule of events and hobnob with your fellow cabaret enthusiasts.
10-11 a.m. How To Block and Light a Show with Kelly Wohlford
How do lights and blocking enhance (or undermine) the narrative and emotional arc of a cabaret show? Don’t Tell Mama’s Chief Technical Director Kelly Wohlford takes a deep dive into the mechanics of color, space, and movement, and how performers can utilize those powers to make their show pop. Wohlford will also demystify the “tech sheet,” the document the Tech Director works from to light a show on the fly. Q and A.
11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The Pathos of Patter with Carolyn Montgomery
This class takes a comprehensive look at the spoken word in a cabaret act. Seventy-five minutes includes basic principles for creating dialogue that is both interesting and authentic, while supporting the music that is the focal point of any program. An outline of specific guidelines, followed by a brief demonstration by the instructor, highlights the building blocks for creating effective patter. Four participants will bring in samples of their spoken work to perform for the class, and receive feedback from the instructor. (4 participation slots available)
1:30-2:45 p.m. Panel Discussion: Nuts and Bolts: Establishing, Maintaining, and Growing Your Cabaret Career
A cross-section of cabaret professionals discuss best practices, shortcuts, what works, and what’s possible in the cabaret industry. A wide-ranging discussion with useful nuggets for beginning, emerging, and mid-career cabaret artists. Q & A. Panel includes promoter, performer, editor/publisher of NiteLifeExchange Scott Barbarino; Meg Flather, winner of the 2024 MAC Award for Major Artist; director, songwriter, and dramatist Barry Kleinbort; performer and booking manager at Don’t Tell Mama Sidney Myer; entertainer, singer, story teller, and host Richard Skipper; pianist, composer, and musical director Yaz; and is moderated by actor, singer, and MAC Award-nominated cabaret artist Cheo Bourne.
3–3:30 p.m. Vocal Warm-Up Extravaganza with William Zeffiro
In this interactive lecture-demonstration, William Zeffiro will guide attendees through a comprehensive warm-up designed to bring the vocal instrument into alignment, reduce tension, and get the breath moving, while simultaneously analyzing and explicating the function of each exercise. You’ll leave this session with a battery of vocal exercises built upon Zeff’s extensive knowledge of anatomy, acoustics, and vocal mechanics, from which you’ll be able to pick and choose, depending on your own vocal needs, for years to come.
3:30-5:30 p.m. Cabaret Performance Master Class with Vivian Reed
Winner of the 2024 MAC Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cabaret, Vivian Reed has had a distinguished Broadway, nightclub, TV, film, and recording career. Juilliard-trained, Reed honed her chops on international stages, and now shares her wealth of experience and expertise with students at Berklee College of Music and Marymount Manhattan College. We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Reed to MAC To School to present a master class in which she’ll critique, challenge, and inspire eight singers to take their work to the next level. (8 participation slots available)
Sunday, September 29th
10 a.m.-12:45 p.m. at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th St., New York, NY 10036
1:45-6 p.m. at Studios 353, 353 West 48th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10036
10-11:15 a.m. “Let It Go” Vocal Wellness Clinic with Lisa Viggiano
Combining her expertise as a speech therapist, performer, and certified instructor in The Singing Athlete vocal training method, Lisa Viggiano will work with all attendees as well as five individuals to release tension and set the voice free to be its best self, through the use of neuroscience-based drills that utilize massage, movement, temperature, and touch. Whether you’re recovering from a physical or vocal injury, or are simply looking for short-cuts to a more efficient vocal practice, you’ll experience the power of these simple drills to short-circuit stage fright, get you out of your head and into your body, and set your instrument free. (5 participation slots available)
11:30-12:45 p.m. Holiday Song Showcase hosted by Hannah Jane
Planning a Christmas show? A Valentine’s Day show? An Administrative Professionals’ Day show? In this showcase, a phalanx of talented songwriters will parade their original holiday songs for YOUR consideration, interspersed with songwriter interviews by host/emcee Hannah Jane. Sheet music will be available for interested singers after the show. Songwriters include David Alpher, Ed Alstrom, Daniel Cainer, Ann Hampton Callaway, Eden Casteel, Michael Colby, Annie Dinerman, John Forster, Julie Gold, Harriet Goldberg, Oren Levine, Jennie Litt, Tracy Stark, and Tom Toce.
1:45-2:15 p.m. Christine Lavin and John Forster: In Conversation
Songwriters, humorists, entertainers par excellence, and national treasures, John Forster and Christine Lavin have been making music and mischief together for decades. Straddling the worlds of cabaret, folk, musical theatre, and children’s music, they’ll share stories from the trenches, drop names, reminisce, and maybe even sing a song or two. The Boston Globe says, “If Joni Mitchell and Daffy Duck had a love child, he’d probably write songs just like John Forster.” “Christine Lavin is an iconic singer/songwriter who has earned her legendary status through years of tireless performing, doing shows at once quirky, hilarious and touching. Her songs have a wordsmith’s eye for detail, with a comic’s vision for the absurd, and a huge and fearless heart that will go anywhere.” Gary Gould, The Davison Index
2:30-3:45 p.m. Self-Portrait with Jennie Litt
Cabaret is an intimate art form with no fourth wall, rendering the performer completely exposed. Wow, this can be unnerving! Participants in this workshop will have a choice of two songs about that very feeling of exposure: “Self-Portrait” by Ed Kleban, and “You There In The Back Row,” by Cy Coleman and Barbara Fried. This is an opportunity to get up in a safe space and experience the discomfort of letting oneself be truly seen—and the exhilaration of radical self-acceptance that can result. (6 participation slots available)
4-6 p.m. Refresh That Old Standard On A Dime!, with Steven Ray Watkins and Yaz
Your musical reflexes will get a workout in our final session of the weekend! Eight singers will perform an American standard of their choosing, and then recast it on the fly in a whole new style—and then in another whole new style! Musical Directors Watkins and Yaz will mine their knowledge of musical genres—country, disco, bossa nova, rock, jazz, mariachi, klezmer, etc.—to challenge singers to move outside their comfort zones and explore how imagination, spontaneity, listening skills, and sheer guts can transform a familiar song into something entirely new and unexpected. (8 participation slots available)
Flat registration fee for MAC members: $90. Registration fee for non-MAC members: $165, or join MAC for only $65 (basic level) for a full-year membership to take advantage of the deeply discounted MAC member price of only $90 for the entire MAC to School weekend (as well as discounts to other MAC events throughout the year!).
The registration fee is good for admission to all MAC to School events. Tuition is the same regardless of how many sessions you attend. Register early, as opportunities to participate in interactive sessions are determined on a first come, first served basis!
Registration closes Sept. 27. For more info and to register, click here.
