2:00pm – 5:00pm: Voice and Alexander Technique for the Actor with Charlotte Herst

There is a middle, a balancing centre from which we can move in any direction physically, vocally and emotionally.

In this workshop we'll zoom in and out of creative tension to learn more about our vocal habits, befriending what we've come to rely on, while cultivating the skill of returning to grounded effortlessness in our embodiment - an unstuck place full of choice, and spontaneous possibilities.

Through singing/movement explorations and the alexander technique process we'll collaborate with our body instrument and anatomical design to deepen our relationship between breath impulse, voice and body. We'll build healthy vocal technique and ease in movement so that we can both sing and move, and sing and act at the same time without sacrificing character or musical style.

All are welcome, whether you dread being asked to sing, or you need the stamina to get through many shows a week.

Please bring water, a scarf, and whatever snippet of text or song is on your mind. If accessible, you can also bring a yoga mat for lying on the floor.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Mime: The Narrative Body with Joylyn Secunda

This workshop includes movement technique, collaborative group exercises, and embodied writing prompts to support students in creating their very own mime pieces. Our immersion in mime helps theatre artists working from all styles and approaches make clear, physical choices for the creation of environment, character, and story. We shape the performance space, as well as endow absent objects with weight, shape, texture, value, and power. We explore comedic timing, character-based comedy, conflict, lazzi, and exaggeration. The workshop will also explore conventions and aesthetic approaches that help the audience interpret and appreciate visual theatre.

The pedagogy draws on Joylyn Secunda's performance experience especially in mask theatre, mime, and puppetry, as well as intensive studies in Corporeal mime, pantomime, clown, and dance.

Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a water bottle.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Improvising Shakespeare with Zach Wolfman

Learn the basics of Improvising Shakespeare from a member of Vancouver's premier Improvised Shakespeare Company. Brush up on your iambic pentameter, poetry, and rhyme in a safe and inclusive learning environment that will equip you with tips, tools, and techniques used by professional theatre artists to improvise in the style of the bard. This workshop is intended for performers of all skill and experience levels.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Monologue Session 1

In these sessions, a limited number of actors will work in-depth on Shakespeare monologues. Each actor will have approximately 20 minutes of one-on-one workshop time while the rest of the group is present to support their work.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: 殺陣 (Tate): Exploring the Japanese Performing Art of Sword Combat and Movement with Hitotose

Have you ever watched a Samurai sword fighting performance? Join us to learn this cultural performing arts! Our workshop focuses on a Japanese-style stage combat, known as 殺陣 (Tate), a traditional Japanese performing art. You may have seen these techniques in films or on stage. Unlike martial arts, 殺陣 is a choreographed blend of fighting and acting. We’ll share the unique Japanese movements, balance, and body control that make this art form so special. You’ll also connect with your partners through non-verbal communication, using vocal cues, eye contact, and expressive body language to enhance your performance. Even though it looks like we’re fighting, it’s really about teamwork. By the end of the session, participants will showcase their new skills in a group performance.

Hitotose is a group specializing in Japanese-style stage combat, founded by Haruno Niiyama and Yuki Kedoin.

Participants should wear athletic shoes/clothing and bring a water bottle.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: FOOLS PROOF with Nayana Fielkov

This workshop is an invitation to expand and develop play and personal presence on stage and in everyday life.
Through a series of experiential awareness building games and exercises, we will cultivate curiosity, explore emotional range and practice the bravery of sharing our willingness and openness. Through following the body and our impulses, we can be in delight with the discovery of the moment.

In this workshop we will:
*Laugh A LOT
*Practice emotional range in order to widen possibilities of freedom with agency
*Practice simplicity to discover honesty and detail in what is funny
*Explore extension of impulse to become familiar with the edges of what is possible
*Work with tempo, rhythm, space, tensegrity, shape and form to gain agency in the body as a tool
*Discover by witnessing and practicing what generates laughter
*Widen tools and possibilities for generating content and inspiration
Perfect for performers and non-performers, dancers, actors, musicians, storytellers, and anyone interested in building their personal presence and sensory awareness in performance and everyday life! Taught in English with Gibberish subtitles.
"If I were a fool, I'd know exactly what to do"

Please wear neutral clothing you can move in.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Monologue Session 2

In these sessions, a limited number of actors will work in-depth on Shakespeare monologues. Each actor will have approximately 20 minutes of one-on-one workshop time while the rest of the group is present to support their work.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Voicing Shakespeare with Alana Hawley-Purvis

Join Bard’s vocal coach, Alana Hawley Purvis, in exploring how to find clarity and personal connection to Shakespearean text. Explore tools that will enable you to approach and deliver Shakespeare in a way that resonates authentically with you and with your audience while still honouring the poetry inherent in the work.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: Play is a Verb with Heidi Taylor

Join dramaturg Heidi Taylor to discover how your ideas can be transformed into theatrical action. Through experimentation with space, sound, movement, text and objects, participants will gain experience in creating theatrical moments that go beyond words. This workshop will serve writers and makers who are curious about how to create onstage moments that inspire directors, designers and actors to make theatrical magic. Participants can bring their own written content, and will work collaboratively to create short experiments.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Improv and Text with Tess Degenstein

In this class I’ll work with actors to deepen their process with scripted text through various improv methodologies. We’ll work on presence, responsiveness, aliveness, and authenticity, moving back and forth from improv exercises to text work. We’ll also work on generating back story, ‘moments before’, and additional world building for a character on our feet, using improv as a generative imaginative tool to root character work in the body. Further, we’ll expand beyond existing scripted text and look at creating characters and working with other actors in original improvised scenes, always emphasizing self-discovery (surprising yourself!), joy, and play.

Wear clothes you can move in.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: The Art of Performing with Brenda Leadlay

‘The Art of Performing’ with Brenda Leadlay is a physical training experience for actors, dancers and other performing artists who want to play between the boundaries of form and formlessness - structure and freedom - and break free of human tendencies that get in the way of creative invention.

The work is based in ‘plastiques’ - a methodology developed by Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski.* Plastiques are simply physical isolations - movement explorations of each body part in every direction it can move – integrated with full-body gestures. The plastiques evoke body memory, feelings, images and sound that surprise the performer. The work ecourages emotional risk-taking, dynamic expression and breath-based movement directed from internal impulses. It builds heightened awareness and confidence that gives people the freedom be who they are in a safe, supportive and fun environment.

Identifying and responding to impulse is at the heart of the exploration and an external key to help bring your emotional life into your work. The workshop also investigates physical and vocal practices to build group dynamics, spatial awareness, improvisational skills and rhythm.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Building Roles using Archetypal Sources and Alexander Technique with Stephen Atkins & Gabriella Minnes-Brandes

Archetype work is a unique approach that reveals and shapes the actor who engages with it. It is a practical tool for demystifying relationships and cutting to the core intention of any scene. Alexander technique provides tools to examine habitual reactions physically and psychologically. Once we identify these habitual reactions, we can choose what serves us and what needs to change as we seek efficiency and clarity of expression. Working with archetypes helps frame our discoveries in broad strokes, discovering the kinds of interaction that ignite the imaginative energy, story-logic and intention in improvisation driven explorations.

The intersection between these two methods will enable performers to “inhabit themselves” from new perspectives and starting points, generating new self-perceptions and intentions to enhance the approach to a role.

In this hands-on session, we lay the foundations for developing a role with the Alexander technique and Archetypes. The goal is to prepare the whole self, “body, mind, and spirit”, for exploring, discovering and noticing while being grounded in the story/stories that text offers.

Come to experiment and safely move away from your familiar comfort zone.

Actors who have taken this workshop previously are welcome to repeat. Modifications and responsive design change the course slightly each time.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: Critical Response Process: How to Give and Receive Effective Feedback with Brian Postalian & Joyce Rosario

Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process (CRP) is a feedback system based on the principle that the best possible outcome of a response session is for the maker to want to go back to work. Whether you're laboring on a painting or designing a website, drafting a lecture or composing a score, CRP helps you get fresh and useful feedback from peers, laypeople, and experts alike, while giving you the tools to do the same for others' work. Through the supportive structure of its four core steps, CRP combines the power of questions with the focus and challenge of informed dialogue. In use for over 25 years, CRP has been embraced by art makers, educators, scientists, and theater companies, dance departments, orchestras, laboratories, conservatories, museums, universities, corporations, and kindergartens. With a focus on actual works in progress – a dance, a script, a lecture, visual art work, even a cake – this training will highlight participation, conversation, and the flexibility of the Process.

2:00 - 5:00pm: Everybody Loves Puppets! Tips and Tricks for Conceiving, Producing, and Directing for Puppets with Stephanie Elgersma and Randi Edmundson

Join Steph and Randi for a conversation and hands-on exploration that will leave you with the confidence you need to incorporate puppetry into your theatrical process. Great for producers, playwrights, directors, reviewers, and the puppet curious, this workshop will touch on the enormous potential of puppetry as a storytelling tool, tips for budgeting and scheduling, and strategies for working with a puppet designer and/or puppet coach! Participants will work in small groups to craft short pieces in a few of the most commonly used puppetry styles and will leave with a newfound appreciation for the complex and exciting form of puppetry performance.

Bring a notebook, water and snacks, and comfortable clothing for movement. Kneepads are optional.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Theatrical Archetypes: Connecting Commedia Dell'Arte to Shakespeare II with Ming Hudson

Have you ever noticed that similar stock characters can be found in theatre and film throughout history? From ancient Greek comedies to modern day sitcoms, we repeatedly see the same theatrical archetypes used in storytelling, including in the Shakespearean cannon. Using Commedia Dell'Arte as our foundation and access point, this workshop will explore the different bodies and voices associated with a number of theatrical archetypes, and then apply them to Shakespearean characters and text. Be prepared to start with more individual exercises, and then end with group work. This is a highly physical class, without the use of masks. Please note that the material covered in this session will different from Fall 2024, and that this workshop is suitable for both new students and previous Theatrical Archetypes participants.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: Monologue Session 3

In these sessions, a limited number of actors will work in-depth on Shakespeare monologues. Each actor will have approximately 20 minutes of one-on-one workshop time while the rest of the group is present to support their work.

2:00pm - 5:00pm: Viewpoints for the Stage with Victor Ayala

Viewpoints, as developed by Mary Overlie and modified by Anne Bogart, is a way of expanding your awareness in performance and overcoming blocks in creativity. The material will be presented in a series of playful group exercises that will culminate in a game to create staging worthy of Shakespeare! Participants will walk away with increased understanding of their role in ensemble performance creation.

Bring a water bottle and clothes you can move in.

6:00pm - 9:00pm: ARTrepreneurship - The 'Art of Business' in the Business of Art with Jill Raymond

"It's the part of being an artist that very few want to think about, and even fewer know the practicalities of - how to balance the very real business side of being an artist. In this interactive workshop, Jill Raymond will lead presentations and discussions in how to become an ARTrepreneur, including time management/scheduling and accountability, building and maintaining an online presence, the dreaded 'social mediaaaaargh' piece, marketing and communications, and sharing a wealth of tools which participants will be able to build on. Whether you are a burgeoning artist, a theatre creator, or have any business related to the arts this course will provide insights and tips on how you can better your business practices.

Jill Raymond is a performer, writer, producer, educator, and ARTrepreneur, for more info head to www.jillraymond.com/artrepreneur

Bring a notebook, as well as a laptop or other device for looking at websites.