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…
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 …
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….
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?…