Actor Training and Working Practices

Este artigo pretende apresentar o aikido e a capoeira, artes marciais japonesa e brasileira respectivamente, como fontes de estímulo para a criação de procedimentos para o ator que o preparem, estimulem sua criação e ampliem seu repertório, visando a concepção de um espetáculo. Como suporte à pesquisa, recorremos a Armando Sérgio da Silva e seu conceito de anteparo, à Rudolf Laban, especificamente no que diz respeito à qualidade do movimento e a Martin Buber, filósofo que focou seus estudos na relação entre os homens e as coisas que o cercam.

This article aims to present aikido and capoeira, Japonese e Brazilian martial arts respectively, as sources of inspiration for the creation of procedures for the actor that prepare him, stimulate his creation and expand his repertoire, in order to create a theatrical performance. As a support for this research, it has been used Armando Sérgio da Silva and his concept of screen/shield, Rudolf Laban, specifically about quality of movement and Martin Buber, philosopher whose studies focused relationship between men and things around him.

A partir da experiência de Anne
Bogart como diretora, a pesquisadora
propõe seis aspectos fundamentais que
deveriam ser estimulados nos atores
em um curso de interpretação. São eles:
atitude, atenção, violência necessária,
controle físico e expansão das emoções,
desequilíbrio e desorientação, e interesse.
Ao explicar cada um destes aspectos, Bogart
questiona de que maneira eles podem ser
ensinados a atores e mostra como são de
uma importância crucial para o processo
de criação de uma obra artística.

From Anne Bogart’s experience as
a director, she proposes six necessary
qualities that should be encouraged in
actors in an acting program. They are
attitude, attention, necessary violence,
physical containment and emotional
expansion, imbalance and disorientation,
and interest. By explaining each one of
them, Bogart questions how an actor
can be taught those qualities and she
also illustrates why they have a crucial
importance to the process of creating an
artistic work.

Viewpoints are a structural approach to both training and devising. Originating from the innovative, inventive and exploratory approach of Mary Overlie and the self-confessed scavenger approach of Anne Bogart, Viewpoints offers a practical philosophy of working. As a training approach it begins with a disciplined engagement of the body in space and time; yet it similarly generates spaces for both invention and innovation and for scavenging, appropriating and adapting. The tangible elements of Viewpoints provide a set of tasks on which the student can focus, thus freeing the imagination and spirit to improvise. Yet at the same time the systematic logic of Viewpoints supports young makers to begin to question their perception, invest in creative practice that demands action and exploration, and to deconstruct, re-organise and rebuild scores and sequences in the pursuit of theatre that is visceral and visual. Examining ways in which embodied engagement in training in tandem with the multiplicity of subject positions of observer/participant/creator/reflector/director/composer/actor are utilised and accessed the essay discusses undergraduate training in Viewpoints with particular interrogation of the demand on non-dancers in the embodied learning of a movement/structural system within the university context.

LATVIAN ACTORS’ SPEECH IN THE POSTMODERN THEATRE SPACE
The eclectic specifics of contemporary theatre dictate the use of actors’ speech in its broadest amplitude, ranging from forced declamation to realistic household chat and from the classically resonant grasp of an idea via articulated sound through to a monotonous string of impersonal words. Although large auditoriums often demand the use of traditional speech for the stage, this study focuses on its non-conventional use. Small auditoriums and various unusual acting environments specifically adapted for plays provide fertile ground for an actor to freely experiment with his speech.
There are many reasons for such diversity of which the following are the most important:
1) In Latvian theatre, the dominance of the documentary genre (in its most diverse forms) demands a hushed voice and a casual everyday manner of speech,
2) The large proportion of small viewing auditoriums dictates cinematographic close-ups with the consequence that the viewer, accustomed to an actor’s completely credible organics, also comes to expect this same everyday manner of speech on bigger stages,
3) The use of modern technology, i.e. video and optically zoomed in close-ups, etc., demands relaxed and frivolous expression in stage speech,
4) The use of microphones produces a nuanced acoustic resonance, more often than not negating the need to address the last row of the balcony resonantly and powerfully.
5) A change in the interpretation of the intention of the text decrees that an actor must be creative in a dramatic sense, thus dictating that less attention is paid to the quality of the spoken word. The goal of the talk is to clearly answer the following questions: 1) which characteristics of voice, articulation and thinking does the postmodern environment demand from an actor in the Latvian theatre? 2)  which phenomena from daily life have irreversibly changed the forms and role of the manifestation of theatre in society and 3) how does this situation change the methodology of teaching stage oratory in regard to the preparation of young actors?
This study draws on semiotician Jon Whitmore’s characterisation of the multidimensional nature of a theatrical performance and his postulation of the place of actors’ speech within the gamut of linguistic, visual, aural and olfactoral means of theatrical expression. The theoretical rationale is also based on the analysis of the contemporary theatre conducted by theatrical art theoreticians and cognitive scientists John Lutterbie and Rick Kemp.

Keywords: theatre, performance, actor, speech.

En Revista Digital Telóndefondo.org. Revista de Teoría y Crítica Teatral, Año 12, Nro. 24, Diciembre, Buenos Aires: UBA, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
http://www.telondefondo.org/numero24/articulo/624/treinta-anios-despues-oscar-ferrigno-y-el-teatro-argentino.html

Born in Surakarta, W.S. Rendra (7 November 1935–6 August 2009) was an Indonesian theatre director, actor, playwright and poet. A complex personality in a difficult period, Rendra represents one of the most important, and loved, figures in contemporary Indonesian theatre and literature. He remains barely known outside Indonesia. Crucial to consider is Rendra’s public criticism of Soekarno and Communism, and later of Suharto’s dictatorship. He was arrested several times during the early 1960s. In 1978 he was imprisoned for several months and then banned from performing until 1985. These events reflect both this delicate political period in Indonesia as well as Rendra’s involvement in the cultural and political scenes.
From the early 1960s, Rendra began adapting Western plays for the Indonesian context. He was experimenting with a mixture of theatrical traditions and intercultural techniques. His Yogyakarta-based drama club Lingkar Studi Drama Mahasiswa was a crossroad of experiences, a workshop involving other individuals who also became later prominent figures of the Indonesian culture, as Arifin C Noer and Putu Wijaya. Together with his social commitment, public speaking, and perform- ing, Rendra was already being noticed as rebellious by the authorities. The political tensions in the country and Rendra’s arrest on several occasions during the early 1960s influenced his decision to depart for the US in 1964. He joined an international humanities seminar for anti-communist youth at Harvard University, then studied social sciences and humanities at New York University “where he began to think of art related to ‘structural analysis’ and communal activism” (Winet 2010, p. 152). He attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA), which represents the first and only formal training he ever received in theatre and performing.
The American period between 1964 and 1967, and in particular his experience at AADA, were crucial to Rendra’s human and artistic development. Little previous research has investigated this dimension of Rendra’s development. Moreover, at that time,American theatre was interconnected with European theatre, and the interest in cross-cultural and multi-ethnical ensembles was growing exponentially. Given his interest in the avant-garde in his early career, while in the US Rendra had the opportunity to touch those trends.
Considering the above, this essay explores certain dimensions of Rendra’s back- ground to highlight specific facets of his work, compare it to others better known, and thereby contribute to a better international appreciation of his work. I choose here to focus on the actor, training and the human processes that precede the creation of a character. In this attempt to understand certain features of Rendra’s work, I collect, consider and interpolate relevant information.
I begin by exploring important aspects regarding the AADA, and highlight key influences Rendra could have received. I do so through pertinent bibliographical sources and via direct email correspondence with the Academy and reputed US acting coach Harry Mastrogeorge. I contextualize some information directly collected through discussions and interviews with key people via email, phone calls, or in person. Particularly important are Rendra’s eldest son, Teddy and senior actors of the Bengkel Teater, especially I Gede Tapa Sudana. Interviewed at several stages during the research process, we discussed theatre, meditation and other aspects of Rendra’s work. The language used for interviews was English, along with some Indonesian phrases. Quotations most relevant to this investigation are provided with minimal “editing” to preserve each voice.
I suggest correspondences between the American and Indonesian debates around Stanislavsky. I confront some aspects of Rendra’s theatre with facets of Stanislavsky. I then discuss the possible presence of, or similarity with, some of Stanislavsky’s principles in Rendra’s works. I compare Rendra with other prominent personalities of twentieth-century theatre. Historical documents and press are reported where appropriate. Finally, I glimpse at the significance of Rendra’s work today in Indonesia.

תקציר
המאמר מנתח את מאפייני המשחק הקומי באמצעות התמקדות במשחקה של שחקנית מובילה
בתיאטרון ובקולנוע היידיש- מולי פיקון )8181 -8881 .)ניתוח יצירתה נשען על היבטים מרכזיים
של האפקט הקומי כפי שהם מופיעים בסרטו הארס פואטי של פדריקו פליני - הליצנים )8898 .)
לפי המוצג בסרט, הקומיות קשורה לעיוות גופני או התנהגותי, לניגוד בין ליצן לבין נורמטיבי
לליצן אדום פרוע, לשבירת טאבואים ולאנרגיה משחקית עצומה. המאמר מוכיח כיצד מאפיינים
אלה מתבטאים במשחק של מולי פיקון. בנוסף לכך, המאמר עוסק בדרך בה המשחק הקומי
מהווה אמצעי להתמודדות עם פצע פנימי של השחקן. הניתוח מקשר בין החזרה האובססיבית של
דמויות של ילד ואבא בסרטים של מולי פיקון, לבין החסר שהיה קיים בחייה הפרטיים. נקודה זו
מתחברת לתפקיד המרפא של ההומור, שהופך את הסבל לשמחה. המאמר מציע דרך לאפיין סגנון
של יוצר קומי דרך החשיפה של הפצע הפנימי שלו שמהווה דלק ליצירתו הקומית.

The article analyzes the characteristics of comic acting by focusing on the acting career of a leading actress of Yiddish theater and film- Molly Picon (1898- 1992). The analysis  relies on key aspects of the comic effect as they appear in the ars poetic film  of Federico Fellini,  The clowns (1971). According  to the film the comic  effect is associated with physical or behavioral distortion, with conflict between the normative white clown  and the wild red clown, with the breaking of  taboos and with a huge acting energy. I show how these characteristics are expressed in the Molly Picon's comic acting. In addition, the article deals with the way the comic acting is a way to cope with a performer's internal wound. The analysis connects the obsessive repetition of  characters of  a child and a father  in Molly Picon's  films with  problems in her private life. This phenomena is connected with  the healing role of humor, which transforms suffering into joy. The article  proposes a way to characterize the style of a comic creator  through the exposure of his internal wound  that feeds  his comic creation.

In the 20th century, one of the most widespread of the voice training methods that start with the concepts “natural voice” and “the rediscovery of voice” is the Linklater Method. The primary target group of this method is actors. With its exercises designed for the "reconstruction of the body, the voice and the mind", this method aims at utilizing the innate voice capacity. As a multidisciplinary method fostered by many a scientific discipline and Eastern teaching, Linklater method comes with a language that is imbued with sophisticated and metaphorical expressions, scientific terminology and acting jargon, which makes the method prone to false and/or superficial references.
The target of the present study is to explicate with a “trainer's perspective” the fundamental concepts and propositions of the Linklater Method, most notably the “natural voice”. Also, the present study aims at analysing the relation between the basic practices of the method and recent scientific data, thus examining the mental substructure these practices are based on and their physical/technical goals.  In this direction, the present study involves the adopting of a general framework with respect to the inclinations and scientific sources of voice training in the 20th century that affected Linklater's propositions, a simplified summarisation of the neuro-anatomic process producing the voice, the selection of exercises on which the principles and goals of the method can be seen concretely and the grouping of these exercises under titles pertaining to the four basic steps of voice production.
In the conclusion part of the study, it is argued that this method, despite being regarded as “alternative/experimental” when compared to conventional methods in Turkey, is one of the mainstream methods in contemporary voice training and that it is shaped through a multi-purpose system whose aim is not only voice training but also to develop the creativity and originality of the actor. 
Keywords: voice, voice training, actor training.

The term ‘fragging’ originated during the Vietnam War to describe the killing of an incompetent or unpopular commanding officer. An equivalent phenomenon can occur when the cast of a production loses confidence in the director. The director is ‘fragged’ and the cast members either ignore, or explicitly refuse to obey her/him for the remainder of the process. This paper will examine the power dynamics that arise between actors and directors – in particular when they go wrong. How is authority assigned and accepted in the rehearsal process? What factors confirm or erode the actors’ trust in a director?
As Simon Shepherd puts it: “[the director] is under obligation to possess certain skills and to be able to relate to others in a particular way. […] By agreeing to be observed and led, the directed allow the director to have existence.”  Thus it is the actors who endow the director with her/his authority and are, therefore, in a position to withdraw it if necessary.

By exploring the actor/director power dynamic, this paper will shed light on the actor’s psychological journey through the process of rehearsal to performance.

[Originally presented at the Australasian Drama Studies Association Conference, Sydney, Australia, 2015]

A phenomenological perspective on the effects of karate training on awareness in the actor's body. How does the body of the martial artist differ from that of the performer, if at all? What elements or ideas from martial arts training can be borrowed, modified, or applied to an actor's training to enhance their awareness of the bodymind in action? This paper approaches the intersection of my personal experience as performer and teacher and that of other performers in the landscape between the dojo and the stage.

Actor training requires students to learn and practice creative skills that overlap with abilities necessary for high emotional intelligence (EI).  In this study, the researcher looked at three groups studying actor training: Sanford Meisner actor training, non-Meisner, and those interested in actor training who had not studied it before to determine if skills of EI are impacted through having participants take the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT v2.0) before and after actor training.  Results from the between-subjects analysis indicated that no significant difference existed in the average of two test scores between groups (Meisner, non-Meisner, and acting interest), F(2, 79) = 0.240, p = .787, partial eta-squared (ηp2)= .006. That is, on average the Meisner group (M = 2.506, SD = 0.219) did not score significantly different from the non-Meisner group (M = 2.518, SD = 0.197) or the acting interest group (M = 2.515, SD = 0.191). The second area of this study examined gender within the Meisner group, which indicated that a significant difference in EI posttest scores did not exist between male and female students, after controlling for EI pretest scores, F(1, 29) = 0.117, p = .735, partial-eta squared = .004.  The results of this study suggest that EI cannot be impacted in less than 16 weeks by engaging in creative or imagined character exploration, through Meisner or other actor training.

The dissertation is a 'critical edition' of a system of actor training based on three main sources: a vocabulary of movement analysis developed by Rudolf Laban in the last years of his life and mostly unknown until now; C. G. Jung's theory of psychological functions and types; and the acting system of C. Stanislavski and his main followers. The three strands were brought together by the British acting teacher Yat Malmgren, who has taught his system for over forty years to some of the major figures of world theatre and film: Peter Brook, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Callow, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Adrian Noble among others. b. Energy Defined (Jung) 57 i. The nature of energy -the four Functions 58 ii. The direction of energy -the Libido 76 iii. The movement of energy -Inner Participations 79 c. Energy Measured (Laban) 84

W swojej praktyce scenicznej Wsiewołod Meyerhold rozpoznał zapotrzebowanie na „nowego aktora”, obdarzonego nową świadomością miejsca, jakie zajmuje w wieloskładnikowej kompozycji spektaklu. W jego koncepcji aktor, operując świadomie dostępnym mu materiałem (ciałem i głosem) ma być odpowiedzialnym współtwórcą przedstawienia. Biomechanika powstała jako odpowiedź na to zapotrzebowanie, zmieniając fundamentalnie paradygmat pracy aktora. Stworzony eksperymentalnie trening jawi się nie jako skończona, dana do opanowania i naśladowania technika gry aktorskiej, ale jako scenariusz „przygotowanego doświadczenia”, który może zostać odtworzony i zaktualizowany, pozwalając aktorowi w praktyce, na poziomie doświadczenia somatycznego, zrozumieć generalne zasady rządzące zawodem i według nich komponować swoje działania w dowolnej estetyce i dowolnym kontekście.

Nous travaillons depuis plusieurs années dans le but d'élargir et d'influencer la façon d'enseigner le jeu théâtral aux États-Unis en y faisant découvrir la biomécanique théâtrale de Vsevolod Meyerhold. En même temps, nous reconnaissons que le jeu à la manière américaine a ses forces et que de n'en pas tenir compte serait de la folie. Ce jeu est imprégné de vigueur et de vérité émo-tive, mais les acteurs américains sont souvent incapables de se servir du corps d'une façon expressive et convaincante, de créer des images vives qui dépassent les limites de l'identification subjective et émotive. Le défi 1. Cet article est une adaptation d'une communication donnée en anglais au congrès « L'acteur, l'actrice en scène : corps, jeu, voix », de la Fédération internationale pour la recherche en théâtre, en 1995, à l'Université du Québec à Montréal. La traduction de cette communication et celle des citations en anglais sont de Jane Baldwin.

Against Cartesian dualism and in line with the general twentieth century rediscovery of body and perception, this paper aims to examine the role of senses for the performer, as presented by Richard Schechner’s theory of performance. Such a theory finds its legitimacy in the pages of the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, and in the priority the philosopher assigned to perception and senses as sources of knowledge, as well as opening of consciousness to the world.

This thesis examines how mental illness has been represented in British theatre from c. 1960 to the present day. It is particularly concerned with the roles played by space and embodiment in these representations, and what emerges as bodies interact in space. It adopts a mixed methodology, drawing on theoretical models from both continental philosophy and contemporary cognitive and neuroscientific research, in order to address these questions from the broadest possible range of perspectives. The first part of the thesis draws on the work of Michel Foucault and Henri Lefebvre to explore the role of institutional space, and in particular its gendered implications, in staging madness. The second part introduces approaches to the body drawn from the cognitive turn in theatre and performance studies. These are connected to the approaches of the first section through phenomenology’s concern with lived experience. Dan Zahavi and Shaun Gallagher’s work on ‘the phenomenological mind’ provides important context here. In addition, Emmanuel Levinas’s critique of ontology offers a solid basis from which to think about how to act ethically as both a producer of, and an audience member for, representations of mental illness. Through these explorations, this thesis suggests a model of madness, not as something to be bracketed as ‘other’ and belonging to a deviant individual, but as emerging between bodies in space – there is no madness outside of social, spatial and embodied contexts. This in turn suggests a new approach to understanding the role theatre can play in addressing the lived experience of mental illness. While many productions currently attempt, unilaterally, to reduce the ‘stigma’ of mental illness, this thesis suggests that, in fact, discrimination against people experiencing mental illness is more likely to be reduced through the interaction between an ethically minded production and an ethical spectator. Such a model does not claim to be able to reduce the experience of madness to a totalising concept which can be communicated through theatre, but rather insists that it is only through an embodied, empathic interaction that a true concern for the (‘mad’ or ‘sane’) Other can emerge.

This dissertation explores the concept of the actor's presence in the context of Western actor training and performance driven by physical and psychophysical practice. Drawing upon published texts on and by Constantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Jerzy Grotowski, Ariana Mnouchkine, the author argues that learning through both physical and psychophysical actor training is central to the understanding of presence. Using the framework of 'embodied cognition', the writings of Margaret Wilson's theories of 'cognition is situated' and 'cognition is time-pressured', and personal experience, the author explores how human beings perceive the world in relation to body, mind, environment, and time. The author demonstrated how qualities of 'embodied cognition' relate to the work of above practitioners and presents the possibilities for the actor to grow, regardless of which tradition they work within. This demonstrates the weight that physical and psychophysical approaches have in contemporary actor training when searching for presence and how these two approaches can be incorporated into Wilson's theory of 'embodied cognition'.

À minha família: meu pai, Jaime; minha mãe, Isoldi e minha irmã Fabiola, por todo amor na vida; flores para vocês! Aos meus colegas do PPGAC e queridos amigos em Salvador: , um abraço de sol. Aos alunos do curso de Bacharelado em Artes Cênicas -Interpretação da Escola de Teatro, que participaram desta pesquisa. Aos meus amigos-família, sempre presentes amorosamente na minha vida: Cíntia Bloise (Dayita), Carlos Pinheiro, Jane Bruggemann, Michel Smeja, Karin Veras, Cláudia Santos, Cláudia Russo (Dinha), Marquito, Viviane e Maini Narciso. Agradeço a irmandade e os laços verdadeiros de amizade. À Samantha Lopez pela amizade e tradução do abstract. À Edson Menezes pelos coloridos de sua arte, na tese e na vida. À comunidade do Vale do Capão, Chapada da Diamantina, pela acolhida nesta natureza esplendorosa. Especialmente agradecimentos à família Marcelo e Plisia, à família Fernando, Esdras, Raissa, Luana, às meninas da Pousada do Capão (Cassinha, Cida, Bartira), à Marilene Vaquer, à Zelice das Danças da Paz, ao Grupo do Coral, ao Grupo do Circo. Ao Vale do Capão: cachoeiras, florestas e flores. Aos pássaros pelos cantos sonoros de amanhecer. À CAPES, pela bolsa de estudos.

This thesis offers an evolved methodology of practice that acknowledges and utilises difference in performance, and offers a potential way forward for theatre practice. This methodology is addressed primarily to directors and teachers in both training and professional theatre environments, and therefore offers specific guidance on rehearsal room practice.  In 2016, state funded theatres in the United Kingdom and Australia (the territories in which I locate this thesis) are still largely monocultural, both in terms of the people on stage and the people watching the work created. While there are theatres that serve varied communities and engage with international and intracultural arts, there is still an imbalance whereby cultural representations reflecting society’s diversity are not seen on a consistent basis. The pace of change remains slow. Why is it that theatre has not yet moved beyond a homogenous world view to presenting a world that more accurately reflects society’s heterogeneity?

I have developed a methodology for directors, teachers and actors that seeks to speak back to these discriminatory practices by opposing the idea of ‘neutral’; in which actors’ differences are stripped away and “the assumption of a shared universality” (Bharucha, 2000: 35) is favoured. After all, the category of ‘neutral’ more often than not overlaps with the identity of the cultural authority, and so is not in fact politically neutral.
The methodology described in this thesis offers a pathway to step beyond notions of identity as “fixed” and instead engage with identity as something that is fluid and ever changing. For individuality to flourish, teachers and directors need to develop an understanding of how to embrace and play with difference on the rehearsal room floor and move their focus away from a “one approach fits all” mentality. The methodology outlined in this thesis offers teachers and directors the skills and freedom to work courageously with multifarious personalities and diverse historical narratives as a rich resource in the realisation of work for performance.
 

The intention of this thesis is to arrive at a better understanding of the nature of emotion in Western performance using three specific theories/approaches to emotion in performance – Alba Emoting, Emotional Access Work, and Impulse and Awareness Work. I utilize these approaches to examine, from the perspective of a director working with actors, how they can be applied effectively to different dramaturgies and to discover if these approaches can shed light on the elusive nature of emotion in performance. In a series of case studies, I apply these methods and/or their core principles to different dramaturgies, to investigate how each can address the ‘problem‘ of emotion with regard to text, characterization, imagination and the performance itself. The Introduction highlights some of the problems and challenges around the topic of emotion in performance and outlines the research project including a discussion about practice-as-research and methodology.
Chapter One is in three sections. Section One explores the controversy surrounding Diderot’s Paradoxe and how his polarization of ‘real’ emotion and ‘performed’ emotion has problematically influenced and dominated the discussion of emotion in Western performance. Section Two outlines the underlying problems of understanding the nature of emotion in everyday life, primarily the difficulties in defining emotion and the predominance of Cartesian dualism in Western society. The third part of the chapter explores the problem of emotion in Western performance, and how Diderot’s Paradoxe continues to inform the conflicting ideologies of 20th century theatre practitioners. Chapter Two introduces the theories/approaches to emotion that I will be using to examine my research questions and is divided into four sections. Sections one, two and three outline in turn Alba Emoting, Emotional Access Work, and Impulse and Awareness Work. Chapters Three, Four, and Five discuss the specific case studies – Excerpts from Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Samuel Beckett’s Play and Footfalls, and Helena Enright’s Less than a Year.
This thesis is accompanied by five DVDs, which contain rehearsal footage as well as the actual performances. When appropriate, the reader will be directed to the DVDs for specific examples of the practice.

Encarnar los caracteres molierescos es siempre un reto interpretativo por varias cuestiones. Hablamos de un autor en el que convergen el clasicismo, los mitos, el imaginario popular francés, la gestualidad característica de la Commedia dell’ Arte –forzando, si se quiere, una interpretación expresionista y lejana al ya tan abusivo y mal entendido naturalismo posmoderno–, en enredos disparatados que esconden latigazos al poder, azotes a la pedantería, al vicio y a la hipocresía y que ensalzan a la vez el amor universal, la fuerza agresiva de humor como regenerador de sociedades y la belleza como motor universal. El personaje te arrastra por su creatividad, por la precisión de su línea de acción y la concreción de su discurso. Sus textos contienen esa trabazón literaria en la que es imposible no dejarse llevar hasta el final.

Wlodzimierz Staniewski, director of the Polish Centre for Theatre Practices Gardzienice, considers directing as a praxis pertaining to the field of musical composition. His pieces have been theorised as either “ethno-oratoria” or “village operas,” while the pedagogy developed by the group is a territory for the exploration of the tensions between the physical and the vocal. Building on my recent fieldwork with the company, this chapter problematizes the separation of vocality and choreographic/movement practices in performer training and uses Gardzienice’s example as a case study in physiovocality. Meanwhile, the core principles of Staniewski’s work, namely mutuality, musicality and chorality, are analyzed as points of departure from music theaters towards a theater of musicality.

People are the source of all productive effort in any organization. Organizational performance depends upon individual performance. If the efforts of every single individual are co-ordinate and directed towards the realization of well-established objectives, the synergy so achieved would demonstrably transcend the sum total of individual performances. Training is one of the most important tools to develop employee’s performance in the organization. The purpose of training is basically to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee. In this study the researcher analyzes the employee’s perception on how the training practices help to improve their performance. 100 employees were randomly selected as sample in HOV Software Company, Chennai. For analyze of the data SPSS software package was used. The statistical tools such as descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and U-Test, H-Test and correlation analysis were also used. The result of the study shows ...

Co-editor of book collection gathering numerous essays as well as contributed an essay on Japanese theater-maker Tadashi Suzuki. A compilation of the most significant and insightful essays, articles and interviews from American Theatre magazine’s first quarter century

This is a presentation in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, Monash University in 2010. It is a overview of the actor training method of Phillip Zarrilli, who uses Asian notions of body and performance to work with western actors.

Australian actress, Julie Forsyth has, by any measure, an extraordinary work history, as the number and range of works she has performed over the last four decades attests. Few Australian actresses are offered the opportunity to test their mettle against the canon of European classic theatre, or to work at the heart of an ongoing ensemble for more than a decade. In this interview we discuss the role of actor training in Australia,  the contribution of the ensemble to Australian theatre history, the changes in understanding around the idea of an ensemble, the lived experience of Australian actresses, and the place of the 'veteran' actress in the contemporary artistic and industrial environment.

People are the source of all productive effort in any organization. Organizational performance depends upon individual performance. If the efforts of every single individual are co-ordinate and directed towards the realization of well-established objectives, the synergy so achieved would demonstrably transcend the sum total of individual performances. Training is one of the most important tools to develop employee’s performance in the organization. The purpose of training is basically to bridge the gap between job requirements and present competence of an employee. In this study the researcher analyzes the employee’s perception on how the training practices help to improve their performance. 100 employees were randomly selected as sample in HOV Software Company, Chennai. For analyze of the data SPSS software package was used. The statistical tools such as descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and U-Test, H-Test and correlation analysis were also used. The result of the study shows ...

– The Realistic Acting Method as a Mechanism of Attenuation of the Actor's Presence in Theatre and Cinema – We have analyzed the realistic acting methodology as a mechanism of attenuation of the actor's presence. We consider that Stanislavski's system constituted the first technical resolution to an old aspiration for the transparency of the scene toward the referent. For that, the realistic acting method proposes the reduction of the disruptive nature of the public exhibition of the actor's body and action through a series of procedures that will be analyzed in this paper.

The concept of Guru Shishya, the traditional Indian/Kathakali teacher/learner training methodology, was primarily a mirroring process where in, for a number of years the learner was learning the craft, receiving knowledge and skill by mirroring (and not imitating or mimicking) a realized teacher and practitioner of Kathakali. This mirroring process involved an observation of the teacher’s action by the learner and then a performance of that observed action. This intimate encounter, often in a small room within the teacher’s house, over months and years, was and still is an extremely sophisticated system of human transaction that sets up both the subjective and objective growth of the learner and the art. Over time, and through a sustained social interaction, understood best I suggest within the framework of an intersubjective “trading of places,” the learner gains the skills and ability of the teacher. In this article I examine what Richard Schechner suggests is a “deep brain” penetration in Kathakali learning. I attempt to de-mystify this “deep brain” process through a sampling of a number of significant neuroscientific discoveries potentially laying the ground for a deeper interdisciplinary enquiry. At the core of these arguments is my own subjective experience as a learner and my journey to becoming a Kathakali teacher or Guru. My personal experiences, neuroscientific ideas and Husserlian intersubjectivity are all harnessed to validate Kathakali mirroring as a significant actor training methodology.

Nos proponemos analizar la actuación en el cine y el teatro del retorno democrático argentino, con el fin de destacar su dimensión política implícita. Merced a la voluntad por representar el pasado reciente, la actuación en los filmes se limitó al realismo. Pero paralelamente, surgieron en el teatro nuevas expresiones de jóvenes artistas basadas en la irrupción del cuerpo y de la sexualidad. Consideramos que este agresivo despliegue de una corporalidad revulsiva, descentrada y joven, constituía una afirmación vital frente al horror de la dictadura. Pero además, estas experiencias reaccionaron a la imposición de un desempeño actoral al servicio de la transmisión de un mensaje, imaginario del “cuerpo productivo” presente en el realismo, pero también en las agrupaciones militantes de los setenta.

One of the most frequent comments I get is, "Acting? Oh my God, I could never do that. All that rejection!. The daily dust-off from pounding pavement is discouraging and I can only pass on the things I eventually learned to survive it myself. One of the secrets to tenacity is reverse psychology -I choose to look pragmatically at all facets of the cycle as opportunities. And this is a stretch for me as I'm naturally cynical. These things keep me grounded:

This paper was a joint paper, delivered with Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Simon Murray (University of Glasgow) at the International Platform for Performer Training conference in Zurich in January 2015. The presentation was delivered in the form of a conversation, interlocution and exchange. We focused on the theme of curriculum and played with the idea of what a ‘year zero’ might look like if we were to invent an actor training programme for the 21st century. Our presentation glanced backwards down the 20th century so as to identify key tropes and ideas which we wanted to ‘salvage’ for our new model(s). Our paper included reference to digital technologies, internationalism (the global and the local), and responded critically to key questions: training for what? Training for whom? How to train? Central to our presentation was be the claim that we cannot productively discuss future models of training without speculating on trends and movements in 21st century theatre, dance and performance.

The greaTesT accolades given To acTors is often those of 'bravery' and 'risk-taking', rather than that of technical competency. We admire actors who appear to (or may claim to) 'lose themselves' in a role or who 'expose' themselves through their vulnerable portrayals. In my research of acting schools I have observed one teacher comment that ".. . it affects the audience to see the lines take the actor somewhere, rather than see the actor controlling the delivery, the package" (de-identified teacher cited in Seton 2004). Furthermore, various stakeholders in Western performance contexts, whether actors, teachers of acting, agents, directors, critics or audiences, are often invested in the pursuit of such demonstrable vulnerability. It would be reasonable to argue that the majority of Western acting schools are committed to enabling actors to be intentionally vulnerable; that is, they demonstrate the ability to affect and be affected by others. But at what price, to the actors, does vulnerability come in using their own embodied experiences as tools, mediums or channels? While some actors move from playing role to role with apparent ease, others seem to 'live out' their latest roles. Cheryl McFarren, in her doctoral thesis Acknowledging Trauma/Rethinking Affective Memory: Background, Method, and Challenge for Contemporary Actor Training (2003), interrogates the wisdom and ethics of training techniques that intentionally enable students (consciously or unconsciously) to tap into trauma as a resource for the development and enactment of characterisation. McFarren notes that acting teachers are neither trained nor necessarily equipped to recognise hyper-arousal and dissociative responses in students or help process traumatic experiences so that these do not leave a harmful residue (184, 201). While acting schools are effective in shaping actors in 'taking on' a role, there is far less guidance, if any, about 'removing' a role or debriefing after a season of performances. Actors may often prolong addictive, co-dependent and, potentially, destructive habits of the characters they have embodied. In fact, as Burgoyne, Poulin and Rearden (1999) have observed, many acting students are taken by surprise in the process of character creation. Yet, Burgoyne et al argue, they remain silent for fear of being judged odd or incompetent for not coping when they experience trauma as they embody 'characters' and their fictional lives. As I've indicated above, McFarren specifically interrogates actor training techniques that either trigger prior traumatic experiences of student actors or that impose new traumas on students. In terms of actors' embodied sustainability, I'd like to extend the consideration of how acting practices (training for, enactment of and debriefing from roles) impact on actors' lives by coining the term 'postdramatic' stress. I deliberately coin this term, not as a diagnosis, but as both an evocation and a Being There: After

In the 21st century, it is hard to imagine actors’ speech tools without technical aids. Society’s rapid adoption of life on the Internet furnished by modern technologies is creating a fast progressing explosion of knowledge. These new standards undoubtedly influence and determine the development of theatrical language, and thus actors’ speech.
In none of the periods of history to date has it been possible to separate understanding of an actor’s speech from the prevailing scientific opinions. “As scientific paradigms change, so too do paradigms of acting ”,  argues director and theatre historian Joseph R. Roach. Once they are perceived through the looking glass of contemporary media, the meaning of terms like the real, the natural, the imitative, and the truthful, which thus far served as landmarks within actors’ speech, changes. Autobiographical solo performances on social media, reality television, various shows and mass consumption entertainment products, which integrate live and digitalised components, change their existing forms in the present and influence the course of the future.

A History of Collective Creation examines collective and devised theatre practices in Europe and North America, beginning in 1900. Long associated with U.S., British and French theatre collectives of the 1960s, collective creation in fact has its roots in the theatrical experiments of the early 20th century, emerging just after the rise of the modern director.  Tracing a lineage from explorations of collective creation in the work of Meyerhold, Stanislavsky, Copeau, St. Denis, Piscator, Reduta, Grotowski, and early documentary theatre, through mid-century manifestations as a theatrical expression of the New Left, A History of Collective Creation proposes that collective creation played a pivotal role in the evolution of the modern theatre.

Le théâtre dramatique met en oeuvre, à travers les moyens expressifs dont dispose l' acteur, différents types d' émission vocale. En tant qu' art inextricablement lié à la littérature et même bien souvent assimilé à elle, puisqu'il en représente un genre particulier d' un certain point de vue, le théâtre est considéré comme l'art de la parole et se confond même parfois avec la rhétorique et l' art oratoire. C'est à Aristote que nous devons cette distinction fondamentale d' avec les autres genres littéraires (dans lequels il n' y a pas de mise en action du texte), qui par la suite, aura des conséquences complexes et importantes dans la manière dont l'acteur appréhende son rapport à la voix. Dès lors que le théâtre est considéré comme un genre de la littérature, en effet, son aspect spectaculaire devient formalisation d'une idée par le moyen de la parole. Faire entendre au spectateur le sens du texte dramatique d'un point de vue intellectuel et émotionnel apparaît, dès lors que le théâtre est formulé comme un genre, l'objectif nécessaire de l' acteur. Le comédien parle, psalmodie, récite, déclame, crie, ou chante, dans cette perspective. Et la déclamation, durant des siècles, a même été considérée comme la clef permettant de définir de son art.