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Summer 2008 Intensive Improvisation and on-Camera Acting Training Programs Build a Foundation Build Confidence - Improvisation Performance Workshop
- Acting for Film and Television- Part I
- Acting for Film and Television- Part II
1- Improvisation Performance Workshop The goal of this workshop is to teach the rules of improvisational theater, improvised storytelling, movement-based storytelling, and ensemble improv performance through group exercises and activities. In a safe and supportive learning environment, participants will learn how to create structured stories and narratives. Participants will learn how to create interesting and believable characters for improv shows and will learn how to write sketch comedy scenes. No experience is necessary.
WHAT YOU COME UP WITH • Fundamentals of Improvisational Theater: Learn how to be a good co-creator of stories and narratives spontaneously, imaginatively, and effortlessly.
• Build ensemble performance skills: Learn to be a good team player and functional co-creator.
• Develop genuine listening skills: Sharpen your intuitive feelings and listening skills while you are talking.
• Develop believable characters: Use your body and create the best versions of yourself on- and off-stage.
• Develop your own unique voice: Your experience is your reality and there is nobody like “YOU.” Unleash your creative side and rediscover your authentic voice.
• Build your acting foundation: Develop new practical tools and techniques and build new skills.
• Improv-based creative writing: Create original scenes/ monologues. Typical class activities in every session: • Physical and vocal warm-up
• Improvised group story-making
• Developing three-act improvised narratives/scenes
• Developing characters for ensemble and solo shows
• Fundamentals of sketch comedy writing
• Ensemble performance skills So to sum it up: 1. Classes are intensive, with a 4-week minimum commitment. Three sessions per week, four hours per session.
2. The training is geared toward public performance.
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2- Acting for Film and Television - Part I This learning-by-doing training provides participants with an overview of several powerful tools, including Meisner’s Technique, that are aimed to help the actor heighten his sensitivity to his relationship to self as well as to his partner. The workshop also covers the F. M. Alexander Technique, fundamental rules of improvisation and improvised storytelling, and the Vipassana meditation technique, as well as how the experiential understanding and ongoing practice of the learned techniques are important in tuning up the psycho-physical instrument for on-camera acting.
The authentic emotions of a character are revealed and expressed when the actor discovers the internal aspirations of the character and has the mastery of practical tools to bring the character to life. In this process-oriented training, the actor will experientially gain insightful perspectives with respect to using the mind-body for developing believable characters. The presentation of the techniques and principles is in such a way that they are applicable to an actor’s process, even after very limited exposure to the techniques. Participants will acquire usable tools so they can maximize their creative potential in an authentic and spontaneous way.
WHAT YOU WILL COME AWAY WITH
• Master a usable technique that can be systematically applied to solve your acting problems
• Develop on-camera acting skills
• Learn how to use your body to create new characters
• Learn how to break down and analyze a scene
• Learn how to emotionally prepare for a scene – being truthful and emotionally connected
• Learn how to use improvisational theater techniques in preparing a scene
• Develop your unique acting style / comic timing
• Learn how to perform a psycho-physical tune up as well as preparedness in acting
• Learn skills which will serve as a foundation for your acting
• Learn how to trust yourself in auditions
• Develop acting confidence Meisner’s Technique: Meisner’s powerful technique is one of the most effective ways of teaching a concrete way for actors to listen and spontaneously answer one another. It is improvisation-oriented. It starts with simple exercises and progresses to complex activities. These foundation-building drills are designed to help actors discover how important it is to pay attention to their partners, their behavior, and play off of what is observed and felt moment-to-moment in scene work. This means that the actor should bring awareness to the arising emotions and thoughts exchanged and spontaneously respond to them. Benefits:
This improv-based technique is an experiential learning process that helps actors sharpen their intuitive, authentic, and spontaneous responses in any scene that involves human interactions. They learn how the mind and body work as one unit. This participatory approach, along with other improvisational exercises, prepares actors for scene work. The process is very demanding and challenging. However, the hard work pays off. Participants learn how to use their instruments and create truthfully create believable characters. This training program is designed to help stimulate actors to tap into their own authentic physical, mental, emotional, vocal, and spiritual selves. All the tools and skills learned in this process are transferable to scene work. This training provides actors with the opportunity to effectively apply the principles of the F. M. Alexander technique to their creative work. Student actors gain the ability to "live truthfully" in front of the camera.
Principles of F.M. Alexander Technique:
Benefits: As Stella Adler – one of the world’s best acting coaches - reflects, "Every actor plays from his own body. The Alexander Technique gives you the control over your body so your body can express the character which is the most important aspect of interpretation." The purpose of learning the principles of the Alexander Technique is to help participants to be able to use the body and voice more efficiently – in a natural and effortless way - and create a stronger sense of presence and aliveness in one’s everyday interactions with people and the world around them. Vipassana Meditation Technique for Actors:
The use of meditation techniques has been gaining more popularity in the last few years. However, for the most part, the word “meditation” is used loosely and is basically interpreted as a tool for relaxation or relieving stress. It is a tune up for the senses and for sensation. The meditator learns how to calm down the physical body how attune to the internal world and the senses that are the original fuel for emotions. The actor brings awareness to his body, mind, and feelings and acts out from a center instead of being taken over by emotions. One develops a bird’s eye view of what is happening at physical and mental levels. It is indeed a scientific method to purify the mind, by observation of the on-going interaction between mind and body by meditators within themselves. This immensely effective technique improves people’s lives by transforming their attitudes. This transformation of attitude results in stress reduction, mental equanimity, and balance. The transformation at the deepest level of the unconscious mind helps the practitioners of this useful technique change their attitude and actions at the root level. The initiation of this change within has to do with the eradication of unproductive habits and past conditioning while purifying mind from all kinds of aversions or cravings. It awakens one’s senses and mind-body awareness in a unique way that is very helpful in developing mindfulness about things happening within and without.
Long lasting changes are from the inside out. The work of an actor on himself should be an ongoing process. Whatever the actor learns about himself and the world around him is manifested in his acting.
In addition to the above three focus areas, the following areas are covered in the acting for film and television: Rules of Improvisation:
Life is not rehearsed. We are all natural improvisers in our real life situations. Improvisation is about being creative, imaginative, spontaneous, and impressionable in a playful and effortless way. In improvisation we allow the mind and body to work as one unit without any major inhibitions. Benefits:
Along with learning major techniques that the actor hones, learning the fundamentals of improvisation and structured storytelling tunes up and sharpens the actor’s senses and prepares him for the moment-to-moment ongoing external and internal stimuli. In this introspective process he learns what works and what does not, what feels genuine and what does not. The actor truly understands that taking risks is nothing more than surrendering to one’s gut feelings without any inhibition as one goes through external and internal changes. In this process one finds one’s authentic voice.
Typical class activities in every session: • Physical and vocal warm-up
• Cold reading, scene analysis, and scene work/improvisation
• Learning principles of Meisner’s technique
• Learning principles of the F. M. Alexander Technique.
• Learning Vipassana technique
• Improvisation: Mind-body-intuition training
• On-camera solo and dual scene work
• Audition technique So to sum it up:
1. Classes are intensive, with a 4-week minimum commitment
2. Classes are 5 hours long, with two hours of technique included
3. There will be class-generated projects, either on film or on stage
4. Actors will participate in weekly solo- and group-presentations
For over a century, performing artists – musicians, actors, singers, and dancers - have used the Alexander Technique in order to effectively improve their creative presentations on the stage. Our emphasis in applying the principles of the Alexander Technique will be to help participants learn how to release tensions and restrictions while learning how to improve their movement, breathing, and the use of the voice.
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3- Advanced Group – Acting for Film and Television – Part II This hands-on training will focus on Michael Chekhov’s Technique that helps actors to deeply understand how the mind and body work as one unit. The training will also teach actors how to successfully integrate the physical with psychological components involved in creating characters. Also, the workshop covers principles of the F. M. Alexander Technique and improvisational theater technique. The ample participatory exercises help the actor to build new skills and develop practical tools in relation to scene preparation, scene analysis, and on-camera acting. Actors are storytellers. They will learn about screenplay structures and their vital role in creating believable characters as they master how to sustain a sense of continuity in the face of all the changes and transitions which occur from act to act and from scene to scene. Actors will have a chance to learn fundamentals of improv-based creative writing for solo or group presentations. WHAT YOU WILL COME AWAY WITH • Master a usable technique that can be systematically applied to solve your acting problems
• Develop on-camera acting skills
• Learn how to use your body to create new characters
• Learn how to break down and analyze a scene
• Learn how to emotionally prepare for a scene – being truthful and emotionally connected
• Learn how to use improvisation theater technique in preparing a scene
• Develop your unique acting style / comic timing
• Learn how to perform a psycho-physical tune up as well as preparedness in acting
• Learn skills which will serve as a foundation for your acting
• Learn how to trust yourself in auditions
• Develop acting confidence
Michael Chekhov’s Technique: There are two sides in every serious human behavior. One is the bodily or physical and the other one is psychological. In acting, the mind and the body should work as one unit. Michael Chekhov’s genius was in discovering the mind-body connection in dramatic creation and how it works as a unit. He stressed the integration of the physical with psychological, and focused on the use of the imagination rather than personal feelings. His technique is applicable to both film and television. Over many years, he created a systematic and practical approach to training the actor’s mind and body in order to help to revive one’s feelings effortlessly while using the body. Benefits: Great acting seems seamless, easy, and penetrating. It appears natural and spontaneous as if it is happening moment-to-moment before our eyes. Michael Chekhov’s technique helps actors prepare the mind and body through experiential learning. The learning-by-doing approach helps actors prepare the mind-body for natural moment-to-moment living, on stage or in front of the camera. Here they can intuitively, spontaneously, and imaginatively respond to the suggested atmosphere of the imaginary world of the story promptly and instinctively. Creativity demands relaxation, restful alertness, and mastery of various tools and skills. This mind-body training helps the actor build confidence and unleash his or her creative side. Movement-based storytelling:
Our bodies have many stories to tell. Every experience felt by the body and mind is imprinted on our muscles. We may not intellectually recall past events but there is a muscle memory of our experiences. Movement-based storytelling is an autobiographical process in which the actor learns to express his emotions and thoughts through the body. The actor discovers for himself that to perform well, it is not an intellectual process – thoughts flooding the mind – that holds the key to knowing. Rather, it is the body – the grand cluster of physical sensations, muscle memories, and impulses that arise – that leads the way to the heart’s release. Benefits:
This unique movement-based storytelling training is designed to help the actor to reconnect with the flowing inner impulses and learn how to honestly maintain this connection as he or she truthfully lives on stage or in front of the camera. In an intuitive way the actor can easily read his partner’s body language. If his partner is sad, happy, ecstatic, etc, one can instinctively know how to stay attuned to one’s partner’s quality of energy and allow this natural flow of give-and-take energy to continue spontaneously and fearlessly. This organic interconnection creates mesmerizing and believable acting. In this process the sheer playfulness of the body is rediscovered and the actor learns how to trust his instincts as he is acting through his body. The actor creatively and effortlessly responds with movement to impulses that arise free of preconceived ideas. Movement leads the actor to images that unveil whole stories and this goes on with the free association of one image at a time as the story unravels. Other areas of focus in this class:
Working through the body: developing unforgettable characters
Character development can be compared to creating an outfit that you eventually wear temporarily in front of the camera or on stage. You want to see that it fits you. It is not something that is measured and cut of a piece of garment with exact numbers and measurements and sewn together in sequence within a few hours. Rather, it is an imaginative, spiritual, and soulful process. Creativity and imagination are effortless as long as there is willingness on your part to playfully and voluntarily experiment with various choices until you find the right feeling. This “right feeling” is different for every actor and that is why acting becomes an artistic endeavor. It has to do with you as a person, with an authentic and unique way of perceiving things around you. Your pattern of thinking and feeling is not violating the truth of reality or humanness as long as you are genuinely making an attempt to connect with humanity. It has to do with communion more than anything else. It has to do with kindness. Art conveys and teaches invisible worlds, the knowledge and meaning that are not learned through math or science. An actor, as an authentic artist, explores and conveys the complexity of human behavior in a simple and meaningful way. Character creation is not merely about coming up with a new face, voice, and posture. As Meisner says, “character comes from how you do what you do.” It is inside-out flow. It has to do with the actor’s imagination and re-creation of a world within that is not his own but one he chooses to believe and make his own as if he truly lived, thought, and felt that life. When an actor is able to create such a soul, only then does he become an artist. It is because he is using his imagination in order to bring something nonexistent, at least on a physical plane, into existence. This breed of actors are truly character actors, otherwise they are what the Webster Dictionary defines as performers. Theories of Humor: What is funny and what is not funny
Typical class activities in every session: • Physical and vocal warm-up
• Cold reading, scene analysis, and scene work/improvisation
• Learning principles of Chekhov’s technique
• Learning principles of the F. M. Alexander Technique.
• Learning Vipassana meditation technique
• Improvisation: Mind-body-intuition training
• On-camera solo and dual scene work
• Audition technique
So to sum it up:
1. Classes are intensive, with a 4-week minimum commitment-with three sessions per week
2. Classes are 5 hours long, with two hours of technique included
3. There will be class-generated projects, either on film or on stage
4. Actors will participate in weekly solo- and group-presentations * * * * * * * * A word from Ali Reza Razavi An important component for preparing actors for on-camera work ….the adventure of the hero is the one he is ready for…the adventure he is ready for is the one he gets…
--Joseph Campbell As an actor, teacher, and director over the last thirty five years I have observed that actors build a strong acting foundation through learning practical tools and techniques, as well as through discovering their authentic voices. In this way they are eventually able to genuinely and organically relate to what the character and story are truthfully about. Dramasports Ensemble Improvisation Performance Training can effectively and efficiently assist actors in order to act out what they learn and in the process discover for themselves what works and what doesn’t work. It is an introspective experiential learning process that engages all of the natural faculties of the actor. In another words it is a self discovery, self improvement, and self actualization journey. It includes many joyous and painful moments. One learns to drop one’s guard in the process of playing to learn, and the paradox is that what is expressed or acted out is coming from no one except the actor while simultaneously it is perceived as if it is the character that apart from the actor is responsible for what ever is depicted on stage or in front of the camera. The ultimate goal is to help the actor go through a metacognitive process and awaken all of the senses. This self-realization connects the actor to the ongoing happenings at physical, mental, and emotional levels in connection with other actors. I believe that studying about acting should be an experiential learning process. I don’t see learning a series of distinct classes and unrelated topics, but an integrated enterprise. This happens differently for every actor and I respect that immensely. True learning takes place when the total human being is involved in exercises and enactments of scenes. Acting is more related to singing and dancing than to intellectualism, literature, or psychoanalysis. Our bodies and voices become malleable and more conscious of the changing energies within a scene faster than our brains. We need to train this mind-body instrument in way that acts as one unit. Improv-based training provides that kind of opportunity to sharpen kinesthetic and heart intelligences. My ultimate joy is when actors project their own authentic voices. They literally become creative free souls who are not afraid to be transparent, courageous human beings who unleash their creative sides. They magically, as if they are in trance, connote a power of innocence as they surrender themselves to the different tones of the human soul. Finally, I am rewarded when I see great human beings who have a sense of honor and loyalty when it comes to human values. True prosperity belongs to the above breed of actors even though they may not be "rich." Workshop Requirements: 1- Punctuality: Please be in the studio 5 minutes before the starting time.
All student actors need to do the vocal and physical warm-ups together. This is crucial in relaxation, concentration, and creativity. Additionally, these vigorous warm-ups help everybody to create a unique synergy and group mind that is crucial for spontaneous creativity in live theater. 2- Interest and enthusiasm: I like what Charles Kingsly says: “We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” Student actors must remain in the workshop until the last minute (unless excused by the instructor for health reasons). 3- Participation: Student actors are expected to participate in all assigned and suggested activities. If you are, due to an emergency, unable to attend a workshop, make sure to call our workshop coordinator. This is the best time and place to establish good habits. To receive information on dates/times and fees contact us at: info@dramasports.org
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