Butler International Theatre Exchange 2009
Guest Artist
Phillip Zarrilli, internationally known for
training actors in psychophysical processes through Asian
martial/meditation arts, and as a director. Phillip Zarrilli:
Psychophysical Acting
2009 Project
Making The Body All Eyes
Body, breath, activation and performance
An intensive psychophysical training process applied to the
plays of Samuel Beckett, with reference to the work of Sarah
Kane.
Dates
May 25 - June 6, 2009
Daily six-hour workshops
Participation
The annual BITE project is open to Butler theatre majors,
minors, and alumni, and to professional actors in Indianapolis, or
by permission of the Department Chair. No auditions
necessary.
Enrollment
Current Butler Students
Current Butler students enroll in Special Seminar:
TH380, TH381, TH382 Butler International Theatre Exchange
Project (1, 2, or 3 credits)
This class is listed in the first session (Summer 1) of Butler's
Summer Classes for 2009, under JCFA Theatre.
Alumni and Professional Actors
The participation fee is $350. Checks made payable to:
Butler Theatre
Limitations
Enrollment limit: 20
Reserve Your Place Now
Reserve your place now by contacting LuAnn Baker (lmbaker@butler.edu). Please confirm
your participation even if you have previously indicated
interest.
Workshop Overview
This workshop introduces participants to a psychophysical
approach to awakening the actor's bodymind for performance. It
focuses on developing the contemporary actor's interiority, i.e.,
how the actor might discover, awaken, shape, understand, and deploy
'energy' awareness, focus/concentration, and feeling to the
'matter' of performance - the impulses, structure, contours, and
texture of the tasks or actions that constitute a specific
performance score shaped by particular dramaturgies. Participants
will be required to purchase Zarrilli's book Psychophysical
Acting: an intercultural approach after Stanislavski which
will be available at the Butler Bookstore, textbook area.
The Workshop begins with psychophysical
training to prepare and awaken the bodymind through Asian
martial/meditation arts - Chinese taiqiquan, Indian yoga,
and the closely related martial art, kalarippayattu.
The first three days will concentrate on basic
psychophysical training through repetition of exercises and
introduction of underlying principles.
We then begin to 'apply' a few of the
principles-in-practice through structured improvisations -
exercises in which the elements and principles of the
psychophysical training are applied to exercises that start looking
like performances.
During the final part of the workshop,
participants will explore application of the principles and
techniques of training to the specific dramaturgies of the shorter
plays of Samuel Beckett. Everyone will work on the physical score,
Act Without Words 1 in order to experience the application
of the training to a non-verbal series of progressive actions.
Participants will also select a specific piece of Beckett text on
which to work: Eh Joe, Piece of Monologue,
Not I, Footfalls, or Play.
Workshop Outline
Phillip Zarrilli conducts actor training
workshops throughout the world - including recent workshops at the
Centre of Studies on Jerzy Grotowski (Poland), Seoul International
Theatre Festival, International Workshop Festival (London),
National Theatre of Greece, Tainan-Jen Theatre Company (Taiwan),
TTRP (Singapore), Gardzienice Theatre Association, and Passe
Partout (Netherlands), among many others. His recent productions of
Samuel Beckett's plays in Los Angeles (2000), Austria (2001), and
Ireland (2004) have won critical acclaim and awards. He recently
directed a new translation of Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis
in Seoul, Korea. Zarrilli is also noted for his work with Indian
dancers and choreographers.
In addition to his professional work, Zarrilli teaches
psychophysical process as part of the BA and MA/MFA Theatre
Practice program at the University of Exeter, UK. His numerous
books include (editor) Acting (Re)Considered, When the
Body Becomes All Eyes (1998), Kathakali Dance-Drama: Where
Gods and Demons Come to Play (2000), and (editor) Martial
Arts in Actor Training (1993), and his new book with
interactive DVD-Rom on his approach to training actors and
performance, Psychophysical Acting: an intercultural approach
after Stanislavski (2008).