What am I watching: the performance or the performer?
A critical essay on a strong individual’s exploration inside the dance world. Read more…
Bearing Witness – MFA work
To observe without judgment, to help by not helping at all
Staying, listening, recording… Read more…
Sharing MFA Grad work
[fblike] Hi everyone, This is Jess Pillmore, Co-Artistic Director of CI. I’m currently working on my MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College and would love to share some of my work with you on this blog. My goal for this degree is to explore how to active an individual inside an ensemble and conversely …
Latest News: Hamlet opening July 21 in North Adams, MA
C.I. has been slacking a bit with the blog entries (hopefully, this will change… today). Busy bees that we are, we have tons of news: Jess & Chris have conceived and directed a post-modern feminist look at HAMLET, that’s one rollercoaster ride of rock ‘n’ roll and physical theatre! We decided to do gender specific …
Ensemble – Timing – The sooner, the better
[fblike] There are a lot of sayings that pop into my head with this one: “Timing is everything.” “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” All of these tried and true quotes and yet we still downplay the importance of timing. A prime example, in our work, is when companies and schools …
Independent – Ownership
So… I volunteered to partner with a student for his small sword test. And unfortunately, that is where my ownership of the experience started and stopped. I thought I was being helpful “just being his partner”, letting him lead the rehearsal process and giving him whatever he asked for. Because of this, I was holding back many things: a personal interest in my work, major skills I could utilize (teaching and coaching) and a point of view….
Master Class montage from latest residency
[fblike] Great week in Jacksonville working on physical theatre (contact improv, “As One” collective consciousness, intention and actor/creator skills). We had a blast with a terrific group of risk takers! Watch the video here…
Play Today! – An Energy Game
[fblike] On the blog, we’re starting to spotlight exercises we use in rehearsals and workshops. The key is never the game itself, it’s the use of it. One game can be used in so many different ways, accomplishing many different goals. Keep in mind: What does the group need? Why am I using this exercise …
Independent – Switching Roles
[fblike] Here’s the quandary… how does someone know what someone else NEEDS to learn? They can’t, they can only guess based on statistics and past experience. But we’re not living in the past and education is meant to prepare us for the future. So… what to do? I suggest switching roles. Let the student be …
Ensemble/Community – Stereotype
[fblike] They say we all have a little bit of stereotyping/prejudice in us and I am no exception. Recently, I was at a conference of multicultural schools in Germany. While there, I worked with teachers and students from many different countries and cultures. As our ensembles formed, I noticed a student who fit the Non-Team …
Independent – Simplicity
As I watch a student try an activity, I see how we’ve truly become creatures of multitasking… and I don’t know if that’s good or not. The more you’re doing the better, seems to be the current motto. With that in our blood stream, are we ever doing one thing well? I ask the students …
Creativity – Commitment
[fblike] When directing a play or teaching character work, I have many exercises dedicated to giving the actor the opportunity to live inside the world of the play. We start these exercises at the beginning but I’ve noticed it’s difficult for some actors to fully commit early on. They tend to hold back in …
Creativity – Neutrality
Clean slates are important in our work, starting from neutral in order to build a character, a play, a song, etc. Yet most of us tend to cover up our neutral in one of two ways… doing too much or suppressing doing anything… both fight what truly “is”. Sometimes we observe our students doing more …
Ensemble/Community – Play
I just spent 4 days playing with an amazing group of middle-schoolers in Germany. Their task was to create theatre based around the theme of “Play”. When preparing for the workshop, I kept hitting a roadblock: “What’s the difference between Play and Art? Aren’t we always playing?”. So, that became the quest as my ensemble …
Ensemble/Community – Partnering
I love it when you find your match. The partner who is in tune with your every move, thought and feeling. It happens when you least expect it, at least it did for me.
Working in the Stage Combat world, as with many other worlds, you are constantly partnered up with people you don’t really want to work with … the issues… safety and talent mainly. It’s great to find that fellow actor that you can succeed and fail with and know they have your back. Recently, I found that partner….
Independent – Play
Somehow and somewhere we have lost our ability to play freely without judgment. I’m amazed at the amount of times I need to remind students, of any age, that they have an open opportunity to play within these exercises. They still feel closed off, shut down and simply not willing to let themselves go….
Ensemble/Community – Reading the Signs
During a directing master class, a student commented that a group HAD to have one person to control the group, to calm it down in order to avoid confrontations and bickering. I asked him, “What about traffic? How do we all know where to go and what’s going on without that one person to control the situation?” He said, “Well, we have traffic lights and stop signs.” And I propose that people also have traffic lights and stop signs in their body language, spacial presence and facial expressions. So, how do we read the signs?…
Creativity – Inspiration
[fblike] So, I’m in the process of writing a play. About 3 months into this idea, I find myself trying to trace my steps backwards in order to keep on track with the original inspiration. I can pin-point the exact moment when the decision was made to commit to the idea but the real need …
Independent – Unexpected Discoveries
I’ve always been curious about the moment of unexpected discovery and its effect on live theatre. The beauty of live theatre to me is that there is always an opportunity for the unexpected…