Some illustrations from the sketchbook of Steven Fischer

Chalkboard drawing for Rocky Run Tap & Grill restaurant chain. copyright Steven Fischer. stevenfischer.net
Join us January 25, 2018 at Northwestern University’s Norris Center for an intense acting and character creation experience! Click here for details and sign up.
Director Steven Fischer leads actors through exercises for Call Me Giant, part of an actor’s intensive character creation experience at McCormick Auditorium, Evanston, Illinois. Photo by Jeff Sweeton.
Director Steven Fischer leads acting exercises at McCormick Auditorium in Evanston, Illinois, as part of an actor’s intensive character creation experience. Photo by Jeff Sweeton.
Learn the basics of video editing from a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker! This course introduces students to the role of the editor as storyteller, the history of cinema editing, and the fundamentals of editing in effective communication. This course involves hands-on Premiere Pro work. You’ll be editing a lot!
This interactive course is an introduction to acting, taught by a two-time Emmy nominated filmmaker in film and television! Animation and live-action directors will experience the fundamentals of acting to generate performance ideas they can use to help bring on-screen characters to life. *Please note, this course will not meet on November 23.
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Aine Dougherty, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Northwestern offers lots of interesting classes for its students, but if your class schedule is full and you’re still itching to learn, look no further than Mini Courses at Norris University Center. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and community members, Mini Courses give participants the chance to learn new skills in just a few short weeks.
Courses cover a wide variety of topics, from cooking to dancing to drinking, so no matter what your interests are, you’ll be able to find a Mini Course that suits your needs. Or, you’ll get the chance to discover a new passion. Some of the most popular courses include Ceramics, Cherokee, Latin Ballroom Dance, and Wine Appreciation (for those over 21). The Spring 2017 program will offer these choices as well as many others, including Baking, Belly Dancing, Public Speaking, and Mixology.
Aspiring Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolies need look no further than Steven Fischer’s Acting and Character Creation class, where they can learn from an two-time Emmy-nominated instructor who has 25 years of work experience as a director, writer, animator, and actor in live-action and animated films. Fischer, a Mini Courses instructor since 2012, says that a typical session of his acting class involves “a lot of acting exercises and improv games” that help students generate performance ideas they can then use outside of class. Fischer affirms that his course is a safe place to create because there are no right or wrong ideas, and he says that participants can make the most out of their experience “simply by being open to something new.”
According to Fischer, all of the Mini Courses participants are “the best of the best … They are all ready to work; they are ready to share and give of themselves; they are open. They’re just terrific people.” Don’t you want to be one of them? Sign up today!
Early registration is open now and lasts until March 29 – sign up during that time to save $8. Regular registration lasts until April 16, and courses begin during the third week of April, meeting on weekday evenings for around six weeks. Find more information on the Mini Courses web page, and sign up for the class of your choice at www.nbo.northwestern.edu