14TH ANNUAL LA MAMA INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM FOR DIRECTORS
JULY 13 – 27, 2013
TEACHING ARTISTS:
ESTELLE PARSONS, VÍT HOŘEJŠ, DAN SAFER, PING CHONG
The International Symposium for Directors at La MaMa Umbria is a training program for directors, choreographers, actors, and theatre-makers. Internationally renowned theatre artists conduct workshops and lecture/demonstrations. Visits to neighboring hill towns and cities for local arts festivals and community fairs are also included.
WEEK 1: July 13 – 19
ESTELLE PARSONS and DAN SAFER
ESTELLE PARSONS – THE ACTOR/DIRECTOR COLLABORATION
Estelle Parsons has been pursuing the art of acting for 77 years, and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2004. She has premiered plays on Broadway by Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams and David Lindsay-Abaire, among others. She has performed off-Broadway, on Broadway, across the country, Canada, London, Australia and Istanbul. She has won an Obie for two distinguished performances and an Academy Award for Arthur Penn’s Bonnie And Clyde. She has received four Tony Award nominations, and was honored with La MaMa’s Silver Bell Award in 2013.
THE ACTOR/DIRECTOR COLLABORATION
The workshop will explore the relationship between actor and director using traditional and experimental rehearsal techniques which are influenced by the style of the piece. Participants will come prepared with a variety of texts to explore.
DAN SAFER – SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE/THEATER
Dan Safer originally hails from the wild suburbs of New Jersey and is the Artistic Director of Witness Relocation. As a director or choreographer, his work has been seen at La MaMa, BAM, Dance Theater Workshop, Ash Lawn Opera; he has choreographed operas, rock videos and fashion shows, and is the winner of two NY Innovative Theater Awards. Dan is the Head of Movement Training at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School/ NYU.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE/THEATER
Creating dynamic, genre-defying dance and theater. Techniques that focus on what is happening in the room, building material from what is on hand and spiraling out from there into surprising and endlessly inventive territory. Task based, problem solving methods that eliminate the pressure to “be creative” and simply allow you to work and make constant discoveries. Making sure what we are doing is continuously fun and exciting, as well as a little scary at times. Bringing to the performance of what we generate a ‘rock band’ feeling – no fourth wall, we’re in the room with the audience making a feedback loop of energy to create a singular shared experience.
Week 2: July 20 – 27
VÍT HOŘEJŠ and PING CHONG
VÍT HOŘEJŠ – PLAYING WITH PUPPETS
Vít Hoŕejš studied traditional puppetry as a child and theater as an adult in Prague. He ultimately founded the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre (CAMT) in 1990 with other émigrés from Prague. Vít has translated, written, adapted and directed a dozen plays for CAMT. Most recently, he wrote and directed King Executioner at Theater for the New City, which earned him an Innovative Theatre Award nomination for Best Director. Vít has performed for film, theater and TV productions.
PLAYING WITH PUPPETS
Master puppeteer and director, Vít Hoŕejš leads a workshop focusing on use of string puppets in combination with live actors in theatre. Participants will learn the basics of traditional marionette manipulation and discover new and unorthodox ways in which marionettes can be used. Scenes will be created based on Plato’s Republic.
PING CHONG – ELEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE: CREATING, DEVISING, DIRECTING
Ping Chong is an internationally acclaimed theatre director, playwright, and pioneer in the use of media in the theater. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, USA Artist Fellowship, two BESSIE awards and two OBIE awards, Mr. Chong’s work has been presented at major festivals and theatres around the world throughout his 40 year career. Ping Chong & Company has created over 40 Undesirable Elements productions, including Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo (Syracuse Stage), Secret Survivors, and Inside/Out: Voices from the Disability Community at La MaMa as part of their 20th anniversary Undesirable Elements Festival in 2012. www.pingchong.org
ELEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE: CREATING, DEVISING, DIRECTING
Interdisciplinary artist Ping Chong will lead a workshop focusing on the generative process. This is a studio workshop in which actor/creators, director/creators, performance/creators with a conceptual bent and open mind will explore and create non-traditional interdisciplinary work. Participants will explore space, image, movement, sound, media, and performance, both separately and in combination, and must be willing and open to collaborating with others from different disciplines. Participants are encouraged to bring texts of all kinds, recorded music and sound effects, and portable media with which to create.
MASTER ACTING WORKSHOPS
JULY 30 – AUGUST 9, 2013
TEACHING ARTISTS:
KRISTIN LINKLATER, PAUL BINNERTS & NANCY GABOR
Actors enhance their skills and learn new approaches to their craft in a ten-day intensive workshop with world-renowned teaching artists.
KRISTIN LINKLATER is a founding member and the Artistic Director of The Linklater Center for Voice and Language. Ms. Linklater is Professor of Theater Arts and currently serves as Head of Acting of the Graduate Theatre Division of Columbia University in New York City. Teachers trained by her are employed in almost all of the professional actor-training programs in the United States. www.kristinlinklater.com
PAUL BINNERTS, the author of Acting In Real Time, is a director and acting teacher who has developed his approach to acting and theater for more than 40 years. An acting/directing/ playwriting teacher and director at several theater schools in Holland, Germany and the US, he currently teaches at the Amsterdam Theaterschool and the Tisch Drama Department of NYU. www.paulbinnerts.com
NANCY GABOR has directed over 70 plays using both improvisation and her own method: The Core Technique. Nancy currently teaches at the Amsterdam Theaterschool. Her classes are physical, vocal, emotional and full of fun! Her workshop focuses actors on developing presence and being present. www.GaborWorks.com
PLAYWRIGHT RETREAT
AUGUST 12 – 22, 2013
TEACHING ARTIST: ERIK EHN
A master playwright meets with the writers to lead discussions, workshops and writing exercises. During the 10-day symposium, playwrights will have ample time to work on new or existing material.
ERIK EHN’s work includes The Saint Plays, Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling, Maria Kizito, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Beginner, Ideas of Good and Evil, and an adaptation of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. He is an artistic associate at San Francisco’s Theatre of Yugen. His plays have been produced in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, New York, San Diego, Chicago, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of New Dramatists and the former dean of California Institute of the Arts School of Theater. He is currently head of Playwriting at Brown University.
PROCESS OF STILLNESS
“A presentation of the process of stillness” – Evagrius of Pontus. Writing as a process of contemplation-in-action, the balance of reflection and construction. Come with nothing and leave with a play; participants are asked to arrive with a clean slate, and over the course of the workshop, writers will develop new, complete scripts.
EXTRA WORKSHOPS
In addition to workshops with our internationally renowned guest teaching artists, symposium participants may conduct their own workshops to share insights and techniques with their colleagues in late night sessions.
EXCURSIONS
As part of the workshops at La MaMa Umbria, at least one day is set aside for excursions to nearby cities. We attend at least one performance event at a local arts festival, which may include Umbria Jazz in Perugia, Spoleto Estate, Todiarte Festival in Todi, etc. There may also be opportunities to see additional performances on an ad hoc basis. The group will visit nearby towns such as Perugia, Umbria’s capital, Deruta, where world-famous ceramics are still painted by hand or Assisi, where the famous Cathedral of St. Francis has reopened after extensive renovation and reconstruction. In addition, we will share an old fashioned Italian tradition, a sagra, or community celebration dedicated to celebrating the specialties produced by small Umbrian villages (such as truffles, olive oil and wine.)
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO APPLY AND FEES
Visit: lamama.org/programs/umbria/
Or contact:
MIA YOO
+1 (212) 254-6468 | mia@lamama.org
La MaMa | 74A East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003
DAVID DIAMOND
+1 (212) 620-0703 | ddjdstar@gmail.com
LA MAMA UMBRIA
+39 0743 521590 | lamamaumbria@hotmail.com
Past teachers have included:
Patrick Acogny, Min Soo Ahn, JoAnne Akalaitis, Ayla Algan, Daniel Banks, Seth Barrish, Nilo Berrocal, Bianca Bagaturian, Anne Bogart, Malick Bowens, Ivica Buljan, Marco Calvani, Romeo Castellucci, Ping Chong, Richard Conners, Karin Coonrod, Andre DeShields, Liz Diamond, Erik Ehn, Hjalmar-Jorge Joffre Eichorn, Leigh Fondakowski, Kama Ginkas, Françoise Gründ, Baba Israel, Dr. Fadil Jaf, John Jesurun, Meng Jinghui, Kwesi Johnson, Rhodessa Jones, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Melanie Joseph, Anton Juan, Jonas Jurasas, Takeshi Kawamura, John King, Maxine Klein, Jan Klug, Stephan Koplowitz, Arben Kumbaro, Neil LaBute, Tina Landau, Jean Guy Lecat, Yuri Lyubimov, Ola Mafalaani, Ruth Maleczech, Michael Marmarinos, Marco Martinelli, Dijana Miloševic, Meredith Monk, John Moran, Gian Carlo Nanni, Alida Neslo, Yoshi Oida, Mary Overlie, Andrea Paciotto, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Annie-B Parson, Enrique Pardo, Bernardo Rey, Federico Restrepo, Luca Ronconi, Dorcy Rugamba, Yoji Sakate, Richard Schechner, Ong Keng Sen, Andrei Serban, Peggy Shaw, Theodora Skipitares, Vladia Smocek, Wlodzimierz Staniewski, Ellen Stewart, Denise Stoklos, Elizabeth Swados, Jun Tanaka, Vito Taufer, Petar Todorov, Liangtee Tue, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Lois Weaver, Mac Wellman, Andrzej Welminski, Teresa Welminski, Putu Wijaya, Rina Yerushalmi and Joel Zwick.
