workshops 05

July 11-16
BIOGRAPHICAL THEATER
with Kathy Randels of ArtSpot Productions and Katie Pearl
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mae West, Harriet Tubman, Tupac, the old lady who lived down the street when you were growing up: all of these people had secret lives. Find the theatrical potential in the secret life of the person you have always wanted to perform, and explore your relationship to that person. This workshop gives you permission to excavate and create information about a person in whose shoes you have always wanted to walk. Using techniques of the Nita & Zita creative team, participants will work in theatrical and visual arts mediums to create a biographical sketch of their favorite subject.

July 18 - 23
STORYTELLING
with Nora Amin
This workshop will concentrate on storytelling drawn from literary sources. Participants will work on:

1- how to use a literary source (play, novel, short story) and convert it into material for storytelling

2- strategies to recreate/transform the initial stories through improvisation

3- improve the story as a piece of oral literature, focusing on poetics and images.

4- Adding a physical input to further the expression of the story.

5- Creating group stories from the individual inputs/stories, by combining them and developing them into a collective structure exploring the result as a one big story.

6- performing the "one big story" in addition to other individual stories.

July 25-30
CLOWN
with Mark McKenna of Touchstone Theatre
Also known as "Courageous Acting: Creating a Clown," this workshop will be an intense exploration of the sense of play, courage and skill needed to create a theatrical clown character. In a community of fun and support , built to encourage great risk taking, the actor creates a clown in the crucible between exquisite listening and revealing his/her most guarded self. Availability and generosity are essential, self-indulgence is scorned. Solo and group improvisations, assignments, along with individual guidance will locate for each participant how to create original, moving material thru developing his/her unique clown. Mark McKenna studied at the LeCoq School in Paris and is the Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, PA.

August 1-6
SHADOW PUPPETRY: bringing shadows into the light
with Wendy Morton
This workshop explores dramatic storytelling through shadows and light projections. Shadow theatre has changed dramatically since the days before electricity. Advanced technology has given us lighting that can project sharp shadows on a screen in large scale. The performer must coordinate three elements: the light, the puppet and the space from the screen. We will practice traditional shadow puppetry movement to find subtlety and simplicity in expression. We will take a look at our own shadows, exploring how good and evil are viewed in our culture and how those values are reflected in our stories. To create stories on the screen we will employ modern film techniques and explore theatrical shadow images through improvisation. Workshop participants should bring a poem or song containing shadow imagery.

Workshops cost $350. There is a $25.00 materials fee for the Shadow Puppetry workshop. Optional room and board are available on the Amherst College campus for an additional fee.

Workshops, except for the Shadow Puppet workshop will be held in Studio II or Studio III of Webster Hall on the Amherst College campus in Amherst, MA.

The Shadow Puppet workshop will be held in the facilities of the Theater Department in the Fine Arts Center of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.