Prelude: Singer-Actor Lab
Prelude gives students a stage to develop the skills, language, and confidence needed to prepare for the challenges of the performing arts.
Prelude helps students prepare for a career in the performing arts. Students are guided and supported as they develop skills, gain confidence, learn to collaborate, tell their stories, and learn to trust themselves.
Prelude values process over product–vocal technique, text interpretation, emotional communication, physical control and agility, knowledge of music and theatre genres, and the ability to perform them vocally and theatrically.
Prelude meets on Saturdays, September through May, 2 – 5 pm at MacPhail Minneapolis
Applications for the 2025-26 fall semester are until August 7, 2025. Auditions for fall will take place on Monday, August 18, 2025 starting at 2:00pm.
Interested students are encouraged to sit in on a Prelude rehearsal!
Please contact Anna Hashizume, Prelude Coordinator, at [email protected] if you need more information or would like to arrange for an audition or sit in on a Prelude rehearsal.
Prelude Components
Vocal Ensemble
- Everything from Renaissance to Musical Theater to Opera to Jazz
- Emphasis on a cappella repertoire
- Interpretive skills
Performance Lab:
Voice Work, Acting, Movement for Singers
- Addressing unique challenges of singer actors
- Incorporating gestures, facial expressions, and focus into performance, while addressing points of tension
- Applying performance techniques to solo repertoire and scenes from musical theater and opera
- Collaborative improvisation work in creative storytelling
- Polishing solo repertoire to be audition ready
- Coaching with collaborative pianists
Goals
- Foster a strong community of student musicians and a supportive collaborative environment for individual growth
- Complement the musical instruction being offered in private studios and to support and facilitate performance skills for high school choral and musical theater programs
- Nurture talent at an exceptional level through all disciplines of the singing actor
Faculty
Prelude’s faculty are professional singer-actors, performers, and gigging musicians. These teaching artists value a holistic approach and understand that music brings richer understanding and a deeper meaning to all areas of a student’s life.
Leadership Team
Anna Hashizume
Anna Hashizume (she/her) is a Japanese-American singer-actor and voice teacher based in the Twin Cities. After receiving both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in vocal performance, she is equally comfortable on opera and musical theatre stages, as well as onscreen.
Bradley Greenwald
Bradley Greenwald has performed opera, theater, music-theater, concert, and recital repertoire with Jungle Theater, Theater Latté Da, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Minnesota Dance Theatre, James Sewell Ballet, VocalEssence, and more.
Prelude Faculty
Markell Kiefer
Prelude Acting & Movement Coach
Markell Kiefer She/Her, Executive Artistic Director of TigerLion Arts (TLA), has produced and directed large-scale walking plays and immersive spectacle events such as The Buddha Prince and the award-winning national tour, Nature. In addition to creating all TLA productions in collaboration with her partner Tyson Forbes, Markell has worked with premier organizations including Ten Thousand Things Theater, Circus Juventas, Minnesota Boychoir, Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, TPT, Mia, Guthrie, CTC, Pillsbury House, Stages, Project Success, UofM’s BFA Actor Training Program, and Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. Training & Awards: MFA, Lecoq Physical Theatre, Naropa University; BA, Religion & Environmental Ethics, Middlebury College; Professional Acting Certificate, Circle in the Square; Theatrical Clown Pedagogy, Giovanni Fusetti. Markell is a recipient of the 2018 Regional Emmy Award for Twin Cities PBS documentary Nature: Walking with Emerson & Thoreau.
Important Dates & Information
Prelude Singer-Actor Lab 2025-26 Calendar
Monday, August 18, 2025: PRELUDE auditions, 2:00pm (Antonello Hall)
Saturday, September 13, 2025: First Day of Fall Semester (Antonello Hall)
January 17, 2026: Winter Concert Dress Rehearsal (Antonello Hall)
January 24, 2026: Winter Concert (Antonello Hall)
January 31, 2026: First Day of Spring Semester
May 2, 2026: Spring Concert Dress (Antonello Hall)
May 9, 2026: Spring Concert (Antonello Hall)
May 16, 2026: Last Day/Recording Day
Please note that there will be no rehearsals on the following dates:
- October 18, 2025: MEA Weekend – no rehearsal
- November 29, 2025: Thanksgiving Break – no rehearsal
- December 20, 2025: Winter Break – no rehearsal
- December 27, 2025: Winter Break – no rehearsal
Prelude: Singer-Actor Lab meets in Minneapolis on Saturdays from 2 to 5 pm, September through May
Tuition, Scholarships, and Financial Aid
Tuition for 2024-25 school year is $905 per semester. Scholarships and financial aid are available to eligible Prelude students.
The Prelude Program offers several merit-based performance scholarships. There are several Prelude scholarships which are awarded as a part of the Prelude auditions in August 2025. Students can choose to be considered for a performance scholarship in the application process. There are named scholarships for the Prelude Program:
- Elinor Watson Bell Preparatory Program Endowment, created in 1991 by MacPhail board member Elinor Watson Bell (1911-2002). A gifted pianist and lifelong advocate of the arts, Elinor served on the boards of the Minnesota Orchestral Association, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and MacPhail. The first student to receive a scholarship in her honor was MacPhail Preparatory Program and violin student Emilia Mettenbrink in 1995.
- Lillian Vail Scholarship, created in 1989 by Robin Withington in honor of her aunt, Lillian Vail, whotaught dance at MacPhail for 43 years. She was a former vaudeville dancer who performed on Broadway and was friends with the actor Rudolph Valentino, comic George Burns and actor Archibald Leach (aka Cary Grant).
- Henry H. Wade Scholarship, created in 1992 by Henry H. Wade at his death based on his long love of music and his desire to encourage students who are wishing to pursue a career in music.
Additionally, Prelude students who take individual instruction lessons at MacPhail are also able to audition for two other scholarships. These scholarship auditions take place in August 2025 and awards are applied to individual instruction lessons only, evenly split between the fall and spring term. More information about these scholarships can be found here.
- Edith B. Norberg Religious Studies Scholarship is for student who use their music in a place of worship. This scholarship is available to students of all religious faiths, beliefs, and practices.
- The Elizabeth Dreuding Vocal Scholarship is for high school students who intend to pursue either a career in music or a degree music performance. This is a hybrid performance scholarship for students demonstrating financial need.
Students may also apply for Financial Aid. Financial aid awards are based on demonstrated financial need, with the amounts determined by a sliding scale. Financial aid applications are accepted on an ongoing basis while funds remain available. Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible. More information can be found here.
Get Started Today!
Prelude: Singer-Actor Lab is a year-long program, running from September to May. Auditions for the Fall Term for the 2025-26 school year are Monday, August 18. Students who are unable to audition in-person will be allowed to submit a pre-recorded video audition as a part of their application.
There is no cost to apply or audition for the Prelude Program. Simply submit the online application with the following:
- Contact information
- Parent/guardian information
- School information
- Music and/or theater experience (helpful, not required)
- Voice teacher contact information (if applicable, not required)
- Contact information for a recommendation from an adult other than parent/guardian (e.g., teacher, employer, etc)
Applicants submitting a pre-recorded video audition should upload their video to YouTube (setting it as ‘unlisted’) and submit the video link in the application.
Auditions for the 2025-26 fall term will be Monday, August 18, 2025 in MacPhail’s Antonello Hall. Application deadline: Sunday, August 17.