Classes and Training
More classes are always in the works, and we also do workshops by request.
Reach out if you don’t see what you’re looking for!
Knife Skills Proficiency Class
Sundays, Sep 7 thru Nov 23, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 18+
Knives appear on stage more than any other weapon, always eliciting a visceral audience reaction. Why? The knife, in all of its various forms, is an everyday part of life for most people, especially those of us who spend any time in the kitchen and most of us know what it is like to slice a finger or hand in the execution of some culinary or woodcarving project. This Skills Proficiency Test Class is a total of 30 hours of instruction culminating in an adjudicated performance for a Society of American Fight Directors Fight Master.
This SPT Class builds off concepts of Unarmed, and is suggested that this not be your first SPT. Recommended to have an SPT in Unarmed.
She Kills Monsters Pre-Production Workshop
Saturday, Oct 4, 2025
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Herndon, VA
FREE Registration • Ages 14+
Ever wanted to fight a bugbear? Stake a vampire? BE an orc or a goblin or a gnome? Now is your chance! Join the Noble Blades and Reston Community Players for this free two hour workshop looking at some of the foundations of stage combat and creature movement. Come see what goes into the making of a fight show, and get a taste of what the rehearsal process may include.
This workshop is held prior to Reston Player's production of She Kills Monsters, but has no bearing or involvement in the audition process. You must sign up for an audition slot separately and this workshop will not affect any casting decisions.
Surviving the Fight
Sunday, Dec 7, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 14+
Surviving the fight will explore the how and why of physical and mental warm-up, maintenance, and recovery. We will cover focus and consistency, mobility and flexibility, stability and balance, and more!
Savage Smallsword
Sunday, Dec 14, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 18+
Although the smallsword is often associated with poise, decorum, elegance, and honor, the weapon is an efficient killing machine and duels involved snapped blades, multiple wounds, and a question not of who won but of who survived.
Prop-rioception!
Sunday, Jan 4, 2026
10:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 14+
Do you want a closer, more intimate relationship with your sword? Come and incorporate your prop into your proprioception! We'll focus on finding where your body is in relation to itself, and how to extend that awareness to something you're holding.
Not Throwin Away My Shot
Folkstyle Wrestling Footwork and Takedowns for Swordplay
Sunday, Jan 11, 2026
9:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$45 Registration • Ages 18+
American Folkstyle Wrestling was the local unarmed complement to saber, cutlass, smallsword, and spadroon for over a hundred and fifty years. In this class, we’ll adapt the “shot”- the signature offensive footwork of this style- to swordwork.
Rapier and Dagger Hula Hoop
Sunday, Jan 25, 2026
10:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 18+
Improve your understanding and technique of rapier and dagger using the classic stage combat teaching tool: the hula hoop!
Actual hula hooping not required.
Case of Blades
Sunday, Feb 1, 2026
9:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 18+
Choreography and combat with a blade in each hand - it sure seemed like a good idea at the time. This class will examine the difficulties and possibilities of theatrical double fence, from Three Musketeers to Zorro, and how to contain the chaos
Next. Level. Intimacy!
Sunday, Feb 15, 2026
10:00am - 12:00pm
Herndon, VA
$35 Registration • Ages 18+
Once we have basic consent practices in place, we can explore how distance, movement, shapes, and contact shape characters’ relationships and intimate stories.
Pre-requisite Required.
Previous Class Seasons
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• Knife SPT – Robb Hunter
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• Unarmed SPT – Robb Hunter
• Working with Disabled and Chronically Ill Performers – Monty Davis
• Fierce Knife Fighting for Beginners – Bess Kaye
• Feeling Strong with Sword and Shield – Melissa Freilich
• Theatrical Intimacy in the Real World – Bess Kaye
• Rapier and…WTF??? – J. Tyler Jones
• Rope Dart – Chase Whitehurst
• Swashbuckling! – Jon Beal
• O, I am Slain! – Bess Kaye
• Remembering Fight Posture – Gerrad Taylor
• Attention to Intention – Joe Wright
• Sword, with a side of Bolognese Sauce – Joe Wright
• Wing Chun Kung Fu, Deny the Defence – Jan Pan
• Got it? Do it. Learning Fast – Jan Pan
• CORE-terstaff – Jenny Male
• Two-Hand Sword SPT – Casey Kaleba
• How we got There from Here, A History – Brian Guidry LeTraunik
• Making a Better Website – Jen Pan -
• Is It Real? Safety and Story of Visceral Contact Technique – Bess Kaye
• Single Sword SPT – Robb Hunter
• Practical Blood Effects – Casey Kaleba
• Combat Dance: Bar Brawl – Jenny Male
• Combat Dance: Rhythm and Blades – Jenny Male
• Fighting Messy – Melissa Freilich
• Intro to Pro Wrestling – Jonathan Ezra Rubin
• SAFD Theatrical Firearms Safety – Robb Hunter
• Rapier and Dagger SPT – Casey Kaleba
• Rehearsing the Fight – J. Tyler Jones
• Intro to Gore Makeup for the Stage – Celia Konowe
• Fighting on the Spectrum – Hannah Roccisano
• I Feel Very Attacked! – Hannah Roccisano -
• Smallsword SPT – Robb Hunter
• Fighting Backwards in High Heels – Melissa Freilich
• That’s Not a Knife…Or is it!? – Jonathan Ezra Rubin
• How to Fight Like a Pirate – Mallory Shear
• Sword and Shield SPT – Robb Hunter
• Johannes Wick: Medieval Close Quarters Dagger – Casey Kaleba
• High Falls from Low Places – Robb Hunter -
• Unarmed SPT – Robb Hunter
• T.I.E. Consent and Boundaries – Kailey Azure Green
• Rapier Basics – Adam Konowe
• Zero Budget Blood Effects – Casey Kaleba
• Acting the Fight with Alexander Technique – Melissa Freilich
• Knife SPT – Robb Hunter
• SAFD Theatrical Firearms Safety – Robb Hunter
• Maintaining the Actors’ Body – Ian Claar -
• Rapier and Dagger Foundations
• Partnering and Physicality
• Unarmed Foundations
• Blades of Shakespeare