July 9 - 14
THEATRICAL CLOWN
with Julie Nelson
The exploration of Theatrical Clown plays a vital role in actor training. In this workshop, actors will enter the world of clown and get to know its topography.   For example, adventurous physicality is a way of life here. Words are used sparsely and never squandered. The impulse bypasses the brain and gets right to work in the body. The presence of the performer is heightened by the immediate connection and volatile relationship between clown and audience.

Through a progression of exercises and structured improvisations, the actor will recognize and develop his/her nascent clown character. In the process, s/he will uncover and highlight habits and foibles that, until now, s/he wanted to ignore, hide or banish. They turn out to be crucial and delightful building blocks for the clown.

As with any theater ensemble, good will and a collaborative spirit are essential in creating an atmosphere in which all can take big risks.

July 16 - 21
BREATH, VOICE AND THE PERFORMATIVE SELF:         
from inner experience to outer expression
with Leeny Sack, Laurie McCants
A single cycle of breath and you've already been in relation: impressed through the inbreath, expressed through the outbreath. And you've shared air.

"Hmmm", you might say, and you've also, perhaps unknowingly, just toned ancient sacred sounds, and voiced a sound you've seen in comic books. Hmmm ...

A voice is like a fingerprint. Unique. Identifiable. Only yours.

It is vibratory imprint. It is a form of touch. "Speech," says Dr. Oliver Sacks, "consists of UTTERANCE - an uttering forth of one's whole meaning with one's whole being".

If you said, "hmmm" aloud, did you "utter" it? What did you mean by it? Was it loud? Barely audible? A single pitch? Several? Was there wonder in your voice? Disdain? Was there a frog in your throat, or a family member, whose voice seemed to come through you? Did you feel the sound in your body? Did you "utter" it?

This series combines guided, experiential practices for expanding internal awareness with exercises for reeducating and unifying the body/mind through breath and sound.

Elements of the following will be included:
breath awareness
breath, voice and the diaphragm
vowels and subtle energy centers (chakras)
consonants as frame and punctuation
embodying communication
softening psychophysical constraints
working with self-consciousness and fear
working with evocative and provocative texts
simple presence

Open to students of all levels.  

July 23 - 28
SOLO PERFORMANCE
with Michelle Matlock
This workshop will focus on how to develop and perform a solo show. Starting with what motivates you!

Through theater games for the solo actor we will explore the "right now" and "doing, not thinking." Clown techniques will be introduced to uncover the unique, connected and visible performer. We will then move into building your character/characters from a physical point of view. Storytelling will figure heavily in the work as you begin to discover and structure your own solo performance material.

Participants are asked to please come in with an idea. It can be anything, a poem, a prop, a gesture, a monologue, a word. Anything.

July 30 - August 4
CREATING STAGE TEXTS FOR OUR TIMES
with Ruth Margraff
How does the play you are writing (or want to write) measure up against the world right now? How can we write beyond America's own backyards? Is there a way to write your story from a more world-driven centrifuge? How can we write more colossal characters? What are the politics of empathy and travel? In our highly intuitive laboratory, we'll do writing exercises designed to get your play in motion, expand the horizon of your stage and to stir up interdisciplinary passions.

Open to writers and would-be writers from all genres of playwriting, screenwriting, fiction, music-theater, poetry, solo performance, etc.