BodySchool - Contemporary Theatre Creation Intensive Spring 2008

Sat Feb 23 11:35:28 EST 2008

The Magnetic North Theatre Festival

and The Department of Theatre of the University of Ottawa

present 

BodySchool
Contemporary Theatre Creation Intensive
Ottawa, May 18-23, 2008

Rigorous, liberating and very exciting a powerful experience that is
influencing the development of my creative process today¹
Brian Webb, Choreographer, Dancer and Canada Dance Festival Artistic
Director on his experience at the 2007 movement master-class The Dancing
Word 

1. Description

BodySchool is an opportunity for professional and pre-professional actors
and theatre makers to connect with craft and creativity in a direct physical
way. This weeklong intensive will focus on three themes; the actor¹s work on
their own body, the physical and spatial relationships between performers,
and the craft of creating original theatre in an embodied manner.

A progression of exercises, games and tasks will lead participants from solo
preparatory work, through complicity with a partner and the ensemble, to the
creation of fragments of original performance material. The work presented
will be highly physical and challenging, but also playful and deeply
rewarding.  

Participants will benefit from the presence of a team of teachers committed
to integrating their approaches and supporting each other¹s pedagogy. The
overall plan of the week will allow the instructors to share their own take
on each phase of the process of physical preparation and creation. It is our
hope that this intensive course can offer both a tonic and an opportunity
for continuing education to practicing artists while also providing tools
and inspiration to artists at the beginning of their careers.

BodySchool will take place in the studios of the University of Ottawa
Department of Theatre, in downtown Ottawa.

2. Teachers

Daniel Mroz, Workshop Leader
Daniel Mroz is the founding director of One Reed Theatre Ensemble, a
Canadian company devoted to the creation of original contemporary theatre.
He trained as a performer under Canadian director and acting teacher Richard
Fowler and his company Primus Theatre from 1993 to 1997.  Daniel is an
assistant professor at the Department of Theatre of the University of
Ottawa, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate theatre courses in
English and French. He holds a PhD in the practice of interdisciplinary arts
from the Doctorat en études et pratiques des arts of l'Université du Québec
à Montréal. In June of 2007 he was nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in
Theatre for Directing, Canada¹s major theatre arts award.

A long-time student of Chinese martial arts, Daniel has combined his martial
movement training with the embodied approach to acting he learned from
Primus Theatre. He calls this approach The Dancing Word, an integrated
system of performer preparation and original performance composition. He has
taught this work to professional actors and dancers in Montréal, Toronto,
Ottawa, New York, Paris and Istanbul.

Andy Massingham
Andy began his professional acting career in Ottawa with Odyssey Theatre in
1986, performing in ³The Servant of Two Masters.² He returned to the company
this past summer for their production of ³A Curious Mishap.² In between, he
has performed in theatres across Canada, including Tarragon, Theatre Direct,
The Banff Centre, Soulpepper, Magnus, Young Peoples¹ Theatre and four
seasons at the Stratford Festival, where he played, among many other roles,
Feste in ³Twelfth Night².

Andy refers to his approach to actor training as Body Physics and he ably
combines tumbling and pantomime with a compelling and dramatic physicality.
His solo wordless play ³Rough House² received five Dora Mavor Moore Award
nominations, winning Best Lighting and Outstanding Performance. It was
subsequently presented at the National Arts¹ Centre. ³Rough House² will be
on tour across Canada in the spring of 2008, and Andy is beginning work on a
second installment.

Sam Masich
Sam Masich is a highly accomplished practitioner of the Chinese martial and
movement art of Taijiquan. He has taught at the National Voice Intensive at
Simon Fraser University. He instructs actors via two programs; Love and
Hate, Sex and Violence¹ which explores scenes demanding explosive and
passionate chemistry between performers, and Grace on Rage on Stage¹, a
contemporary stage combat program, which focuses on creating the illusion of
violence on stage.

Having trained and taught for a quarter century, Sam has studied with
several of the great Taijiquan masters of his era from both North America
and China. His work as a full time instructor has taken him to over 100
cities in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe.

3. Who Can Apply:

Performers of all levels of experience are invited to apply.

4. How to Apply:

Please send a letter of intention and a current CV to
ruthie at magneticnorthfestival.ca.

5. Application Deadline:

The deadline for submission is April 15th, 2008. The fee for the intensive
is $100.00. Applicants accepted for the program will be asked to send a
$30.00 deposit to reserve their place.

6. Food and Lodging:

Light refreshment will be provided during the workshop, but participants are
responsible for the cost of their own food and lodging. Students from
outside the Ottawa area should inquire about the possibility of being
billeted by a local artist or in the University of Ottawa residences

7. Course Hours:

The workshop will run from 9:00am-5:00pm from May 18-23rd. There will be a
1.5-hour lunch break and shorter pauses throughout the day.

We look forward to seeing you in Ottawa!

Daniel Mroz, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Theatre / Professeur adjoint de théâtre
University of Ottawa / Université d'Ottawa

135 Séraphin Marion #304C
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 6N5, Canada
613.562.5800 #1265

dmroz at uottawa.ca

www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/theatre/eng/mroz.html

Director, One Reed Theatre Ensemble
www.onereedtheatre.org

The Dancing Word/la Parole qui danse homepage
www.dancingword.wordpress.com

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