SUMMER PHYSICAL THEATER INSTITUTE 2013

MTS is proud to announce a three-year summer residency hosted by the Brooklyn College Theater Department at their beautiful Flatbush campus. Focusing on the Actor as Creator, this four week full-time program is based on key elements of the Lecoq pedagogy in approaching the creation of original and physically-told narratives. The four weeks are taught by a world-class faculty and take the student on a voyage built around three areas:

• The Playful Actor: Using Clown and le jeu to find pleasure on stage in order to be free from physical and psychological doubt.
• The Physical Actor: Studying the Neutral Mask to gain a greater control over the body in movement, and bringing a dynamic quality to the actor's presence on stage.
• The Actor/Creator: Creating original theater through an understanding of character, dramatic motor, rhythmic mount and the dynamic of text.

All classes will run alongside each other and during the second half there will be considerable 'studio time' for participants to start to use the tools they have gained in creating an original piece of theater that will be presented to a small invited audience.

This workshop addresses the role of Director in an ensemble setting. A seeming contradiction, how does a director inspire joint ownership of the generation of new material and at the same time maintain creative autonomy in order to sculpt the final product? We will look at the tools of devising where the traditional boundaries between actor/director director/writer are blurred and where the ensemble enriches the creation of original material, giving rise to a joint vision.

Throughout the workshop students will work in small groups to create original material, alternately wearing the hat of director, writer and actor. We will look at the ideas of theme, structured improvisation, creation and use of space, character, narrative arc and mise en scene.

Questions asked include:

• How can you best provoke and inspire actors to serve your vision?
• What exercises will best illuminate the themes you are exploring?
• What games and approaches can help create trust, playfulness and inspiration within the group?
• How do you "quiet your brain" while material is being created and surrender momentarily to the actor's instinctive impulse—knowing that your chance to organize and edit will come?
• How do we create trust and creative equality in the room while still adhering to the guiding role of director?
• What are the stages of ensemble creation? — Provocation, Development and Organizing

Lurking in the shadows of our proper selves is the Bouffon—our outcast brethren. Tortured but hilarious, they assemble to the beat of screeching mockery. They seduce us and hold a mirror to the underbelly of human greed, power, sexuality—nothing is out of bounds. How do they speak such truth to power and make us laugh at the same time? This is social parody at its most grotesque.

In this one-week workshop, actors focus on developing a fearless, playful presence in front of an audience. Using the whole body as a mask, the bouffon work pushes the actor out of his comfort zone to rediscover the pleasure of play. This fantastic world takes the actors to places and territories unsuspected. The creation process is engaged. Actors will also hone their improvisational skills and develop an ability to underpin heightened play with truth.

For the actor who thinks with their body. This workshop will help students develop a physical approach to character creation. Working from the outside-in, students will learn how to create fully realized, unique, living characters at service to any style of performance—from farce to film.

Starting with the concept of archetype, the actor will learn how to transform physically as well as capture truthfully the emotional impulses of the character. We will ask what the rhythm of a walk can say about the character's inner life. With what part of the body does she lead? Is there more fire or earth in the character's movement? How can the body lead us in our understanding of a character's desires, fears, history and habits? This class aims to provide students with a practical set of tools they can transpose to the rehearsal of any play. Specific exercises will ask the actor to create characters in response to an intense observation and playful interpretation of animals, nature, objects, music and color. Prolific improvisation using various spaces will then serve to activate the character as the actor finds their response to the different environments in order to confirm or contradict their impulse.

MTS is delighted to announce the participation of the inimitable Norman Taylor in this summer's Physical Theater Institute at Brooklyn College! Norman will be a part of the larger faculty teaching the four-week intensive but we are also staging a one-week Lecoq Master Class. This is an advanced class for those with extensive physical theater experience. Students do not necessarily have to have studied Lecoq before.

Norman Taylor is widely regarded to one of the finest international ambassadors of the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq. As a first generation Master Teacher he taught alongside Lecoq at the famed Parisian school for almost 20 years. He has taught in over 30 countries at some of the world's finest theater conservatories and is currently on the faculty at the Lassaad school in Belgium.

Creation relies on two things: form and spirit. If "Movement Analysis" is a study of form, the poetry of how our bodies move through space, then "Jeu" is a study of the ineffable sense of life that brings meaning to that form, the poetry of our innate divine madness. This class focuses both collectively and individually on what Jacques Lecoq called "Jeu." It is a word that means both "game" and "joy." It is the focused inspiration that fuels the presence of the actor. Through game-playing and improvisational exercises, students will discover "complicité" (how to work together), "disponibilité" (openness / generosity), and "jeu" (the pleasure of playing). This class focuses on identifying the rules of a given game, a given world, playing within them or against them, and ultimately realizing that "there is always a game afoot!" This class will lead students toward creation with passion and zeal.

Trey Lyford is an award-winning actor and creator whose notable successes include all wear bowlers and Elephant Room.