Story Published: Jun 17, 2010 at 8:05 AM EDT

Story Updated: Apr 13, 2010 at 8:13 AM EDT

Summer Arts at IPFW
Sign Up for these exciting classes in the arts through Continuing Studies at IPFW

Acting for the Camera –Taught by Zuzanna Szadkowski, a seasoned stage and screen actor who currently plays “Dorota” on the CW hit series “Gossip Girl”

Zuzanna got her start in the community theatres of Fort Wayne. Actors: learn all levels of training in adjusting your work from stage to screen and experience the freeing subtlety of playing in the mediums of TV and film. Work from sides in front of the camera and have an opportunity for self and peer review. Learn the technical functions and responsibilities of an actor on the set. This is a fun and highly interactive class.

Very limited class size.

Registration Information (Non-credit courses only)
You can pay by:
• Credit card (over the phone at 260-481-6619, online at learn.ipfw.edu, by mail, or in person) Discover, MasterCard, Visa accepted
• Debit card (over the phone at 260-481-6619, online at learn.ipfw.edu, by mail, or in person)
• Check (by mail or in person, with completed registration form)
• Cash (In person with completed registration form)
• Phone (260-481-6619)

Fees are due upon registration.
IPFW Division of Continuing Studies
2101 E. Coliseum Blvd. KT 139
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499

A note to theater snobs: actress Zuzanna Szadkowski, who trained with the American Repertory Theatre, says the popular television show “Gossip Girl’’ is not so different from Shakespeare. On “Gossip Girl,’’ Szadkowski plays Dorota, the housemaid and sidekick to Leighton Meester’s social queen Blair Waldorf. Szadkowski claims that playing the maid on the steamy teen drama is similar to portraying the Nurse in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.’’ The characters are equally important in their comic relief – and the dramas themselves are similarly over-the-top.

“Definitely all the years of theater work have helped me to develop Dorota,’’ Szadkowski tells us. “The heightened stakes of ‘Gossip Girl’ are very theatrical. I definitely think there’s a very classic relationship lifted directly out of theater history.’’

Szadkowski is in Boston tonight to perform a free reading of the Thornton Wilder plays “The Long Christmas Dinner’’ and “The Happy Journey’’ as part of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “American Voices’’ series. The night is being directed by another ART alum, Rebekah Maggor, whom Szadkowski has known since they were undergraduate students in New York.

Szadkowski has made a name for herself on television, usually playing opinionated servants, including Elzbieta, Tony Soprano’s maid on “The Sopranos.’’ But Szadkowski tells us that theater is still her home, and that she attributes much of her success to what she learned while she was studying here. “Boston is my creative home. The ART – it’s what made me an actor and makes me want to continue to be an actor.’’

Of course, Szadkowski has nothing but good things to say about her post-ART colleagues, actresses like Meester, with whom Szadkowski shares most of her scenes. “She’s such a comic talent,’’ Szadkowski says. “And the work feels very much like working on stage.’’ Szadkowski urges “Gossip Girl’’ fans to give tonight’s readings a chance. She describes the plays as “funny’’ and “juicy’’ – perfect for those who enjoy the antics of Dorota and Blair. “Without Thornton Wilder, we wouldn’t have the one-hour dramas we watch on TV today,’’ says Szadkowski.

The free “American Voices’’ performance is at 7 p.m. at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.