Actor Training

Offering a radical re-evaluation of current approaches to performer training, this is a text that equips readers with a set of new ways of thinking about and ultimately 'doing' training. Stemming from his extensive practice and incorporating a review of prevailing methods and theories, Frank Camilleri focuses on how material circumstances shape and affect processes of training, devising, rehearsing and performing. Frank Camilleri puts forward the 'post-psychophysical' as a more extended form of psychophysical discussion and practice that emerged and dominated in the 20th century. The 'post-psychophysical' updates the concept of an integrated bodymind in various ways, such as the notion of a performer's bodyworld that incorporates technology and the material world. Offering invaluable introductions to a wide range of theories around which the book is structured-including postphenomenological, sociomaterial, affect and situated cognition-this volume provides readers with an enticing array of approaches to training and creative processes.

En décembre 2019 j'ai soutenu à l'Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne ma thèse de doctorat intitulée "La Performativité dans l'oeuvre et la pratique artistique de Gao Xingjian". Dans ce document, on peut lire une courte présentation de ma thèse.

Le lien du SUDOC permet de  télécharger ma thèse.

Este artigo refere-se ao uso de abordagens contemplativas no contexto do ensino superior de teatro, considerando minha experiência junto a alunos do curso bacharelado em Artes cênicas da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria e junto ao Centre For Psychophysical Performance Research na Universidade de Huddersfield onde realizei estágio de pós doutoramento financiado pela CAPES no ano 2015/2016. Meu objetivo é apresentar algumas noções iniciais sobre esse tema considerando a singularidade das práticas citadas para o processo pedagógico ligado às artes da presença.

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

RESUMO: A pesquisa ora apresentada possui caráter de revisão bibliográfica e dedica-se à investigação da formação atorial, da Antiguidade à Contemporaneidade, ancorando-se na análise reflexiva a respeito das pedagogias do ator, que congregam o entendimento histórico reconstruído sobre o artista cênico e a sua formação. Desse modo, a argumentação considera as notórias transformações das concepções metodológicas do processo de profissionalização atorial, que em seu transcorrer histórico vieram a balizar as perspectivas contemporâneas de aprendizagem sob o viés do trabalho do ator sobre si mesmo, e, portanto, a de um artista da cena que opera a partir da criação de si. Nesta esteira, este estudo ancora-se em um primeiro momento no rascunho histórico evolutivo das teorias do ator, em seguida busca identificar os aspectos operativos cogentes ao suporte de sua qualificação formal/informal nos espaços contemporâneos de formação. E, finalmente, propõe possíveis caminhos de realização atorial ao artista da cena que venham a lhe possibilitar a sua permanência no campo atuacional pelo viés da formação de um ator-emancipado. ABSTRACT: The research presented here has a bibliographic revision character and is dedicated to the investigation of the actorial formation, from Ancient times to present days, anchoring itself in the reflexive analysis about the actor's pedagogies, that bring together the reconstructed historical understanding of the scenic artist and his formation. Thus, the argumentation considers the notorious transformations of the methodological conceptions of the actor's professionalization process, that in their historical course came to mark the contemporary perspectives of learning under the bias of the actor's work on himself, and therefore that of a scene artist who operates from the creation of oneself. Consequently, this study is initially based on the evolutionary historical sketch of the actor's theories, it then seeks to identify the operative aspects that support its formal or informal qualification in contemporary training spaces. Finally, it proposes possible ways of realization to the scenic artist that will enable him to remain in the acting field through the bias of the formation of an actor-emancipated.

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.

Throughout the ages, from ancient Greek theatre to the postmodern, acting styles have been changing, adapting and developing. In order to understand what these approaches meant to both performer and audience, it is important to understand the various theories of the self which inform these approaches to acting. By delving into the assumptions about the self that underlie any approach to acting we can reveal that such theories are not absolute or universal, but on the contrary, are informed by practitioners' changing cultural, historical and personal contexts. Arjun Appadurai  in his "topographies", Phillip Zarrilli in his "implicit theories of the self", Joseph Roach in his discussion  of celebrity and stardom in America as being privileged above text and even performance  , and Thomas Khun, are all theorists who have attempted to identify and explicate the phenomenon of changing epistomologies in their re-evaluation of their respective disciplines. Two approaches to acting which can be informed and explained by such theories are: Vsevolod Meyerhold’s system of Biomechanics in Bolshevic Russia, and Lee Strasberg's Method in the USA. Both The Method, and Biomechanics, although in many  ways diametrically opposed, developed systems of acting which assumed an empirical and objective science of absolute self that was accepted as a given in the Platonic dualism of mind and body.

The form of actor-training known as The Viewpoints has emerged in recent years from being a relatively unknown practice to become a standard curriculum in actor training programmes, particularly in the US. Originated and developed in the 1970s by the choreographer, dancer and teacher, Mary Overlie, the term ‘Viewpoints’ is most commonly associated with the theatre director Anne Bogart, who has long stated that she ‘stole’ Viewpoints after collaborating with Overlie at New York University in the 1980s. Based on my own training with Overlie, Bogart and SITI Company as well as a study of the two approaches, I argue that the differences of the two methods are so vast and fundamental, that it is more appropriate to say that Bogart did not steal The Viewpoints, so much as she stole their name. While Overlie’s approach consists of a horizontal structure of six performance ‘languages’ which the actor learns to speak with, Bogart’s ‘VPs’ is a hierarchical taxonomy of named elements over which the actor is learned to wield control. Focusing on the two Viewpoints eliminated from Bogart’s figuration – Emotion and Story – I show that Overlie’s radical postmodern approach for the production of ‘Original Anarchists’ has become obscured by Bogart’s ‘efficient’ system for control. While the ‘Viewpoints’ name has no doubt been stolen, The Viewpoints itself cannot have been, as it is an approach constituted by the resistance to capture and control.

At the beginning of the twentieth century two masters, Rudolf Steiner and Michael Chekhov, dedicated themselves to the actor’s pedagogy and to the work on the character, with particular attention to the development of the imagination through meditation and concentration exercises. The recovery of images in the unconscious memory and their elaboration - together with the study of the correspondence between sensations, moods and movements - gave life to the so called Gestures of the soul Steiner’s method and to the Psychological Gesture in the Technique of the actor of Michael Chekhov: two methods hinged upon on the functioning of the cognitive system for creative work on the character. The essay illustrates the fundamental principles on which the actor’s creative work is based and how some of these are relevant to the anthroposophical vision of Rudolf Steiner. Key words: Subconscio - Rudolf Steiner - Michael Chekhov - Attore

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]

EX-亞洲劇團藝術總監江譚佳彥於近年發展「本質劇場」的劇場美學論述和
表演方法，落實於劇團開辦的劇場演員培訓課程中。該系統從傳統亞洲表演架
構出發，汲取印度情味理論的要旨，並結合當代情緒理論和展演方法，致力培
養演員不同的身體質感，為當代劇場創造新的表演語彙。本研究歷時 3 年，通
過觀課、訪談、文獻回顧和論壇與會者意見的往復觀照，嘗試爬梳 EX-亞洲劇團
本質劇場表演方法學的理論內涵，並從教育的觀點評估演員培訓課程的實踐意
義。
關鍵詞：EX-亞洲劇團、江譚佳彥、本質劇場、演員訓練、情味理論

Abstract
Chongtham Jayanta Meetei, the artistic director of EX-Theatre Asia, has recently
developed a series of actor training courses with the "theatre of essence" as the core
principle. Widely drawn from Bharatas' Nāṭya-śāstra, Asian performing legacy, and
contemporary psychological/physiological theory of emotion, the praxis aimsto polish
actor's physical quality and create alternative means for performing on the modern
stage. The research juxtaposes the information collected from observations,
interviews, literature review and forum discussions over the past three years. It is
hoped to grasp the substance of the emotion-centered method for performing, as well
as to evaluate EX-Theatre Asia's systematic construct of actor training from an
educational perspective.
Keywords: EX-Theatre Asia, Chongtham Jayanta Meetei, theatre of essence,
actor training, Nāṭya-śāstra

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.

Blue Sky Body: Thresholds for Embodied Research is the follow-up to Ben Spatz's 2015 book What a Body Can Do, charting a course through more than twenty years of embodied, artistic, and scholarly research.

Emerging from the confluence of theory and practice, this book combines full-length critical essays with a kaleidoscopic selection of fragments from journal entries, performance texts, and other unpublished materials to offer a series of entry points organized by seven keywords: city, song, movement, theater, sex, document, politics. Brimming with thoughtful and sometimes provocative takes on embodiment, technology, decoloniality, the university, and the politics of knowledge, the work shared here models the integration of artistic and embodied research with critical thought, opening new avenues for transformative action and experimentation.

Invaluable to scholars and practitioners working through and beyond performance, Blue Sky Body is both an unconventional introduction to embodied research and a methodological intervention at the edges of contemporary theory.

https://www.routledge.com/Blue-Sky-Body-Thresholds-for-Embodied-Research/Spatz/p/book/9781138608559

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.

Esta dissertação, concluída em 2014, discute a influência do Yoga nos discursos e técnicas de Konstantin Stanislávski. A pesquisa revela relações entre o desenvolvimento do Sistema de preparação de atores de Konstantin Stanislávski e seus estudos em Yoga, advindos principalmente dos livros de Yogi Ramacharaka. Além disso, utiliza diferentes edições das obras de Stanislávski e analisa o conteúdo de seus escritos e de seus comentadores, incluindo pesquisas recentes que tiveram acesso a registros de Stanislávski censurados ou não publicados. Este estudo também apresenta autores que verificam a relação de Stanislávski com o Yoga em diferentes aspectos práticos e teóricos. São citadas publicações de diversos autores e mestres de Yoga, tanto da época de Stanislávski como da atualidade, que consideram o Yoga em sua diversidade de aspectos históricos, práticos e filosóficos. Pretende-se com isso refletir sobre formas de atualizar a compreensão do discurso e das técnicas de Stanislávski a partir de um novo ponto de vista que reinsere o Yoga como uma das bases do desenvolvimento do Sistema Stanislávski. A dissertação se estrutura a partir de três segmentos: a contextualização necessária para compreender as motivações de Stanislávski em sua investigação; a reconstituição dos fatos que possibilitaram a Stanislávski aprender princípios do Yoga e experimentá-los com seus atores; e, finalmente, a demonstração de pontos específicos em que o Yoga influenciou o discurso e as técnicas do Sistema.  |  The present study, written in 2014, discusses the influence of Yoga in speeches and techniques of Konstantin Stanislavski. This research reveals some relations between the development of the Stanislavsky’s System and his studies in Yoga, particularly through Yoga books from Yogi Ramacharaka. In addition, it uses different editions of the Stanislavski’s works to analyze the content of his writings and his commentators’, including recent research which had access to Stanislavski’s unpublished and censored notes. This study also presents a variety of authors verifying the relations of Stanislavski and Yoga in both practical and theoretical aspects. This particularly applies to references from Yoga publications, considering the diversity of Yoga in its historical, philosophical and practical aspects. The aim is to reflect in ways to update the understanding of the Stanislavski’s discourse and techniques from a new point of view that reinserts Yoga as one of Stanislavski’s System foundations. This dissertation is structured through three segments: the needed context to understand the motivations of Stanislavski in his research; reconstitution of the facts that made possible to Stanislavsky learn Yoga principles and experience them with his actors; and, finally, demonstration of how Yoga has influenced the System’s discourse and techniques.

One of the events of The S Word: Merging Methodologies International Symposium held in Prague, 2017 was the presentation of Sergei Tcherkasski’s expansive book, "Acting: Stanislavsky – Boleslavsky – Strasberg: History, Theory and Practice" (St. Petersburg: RGISI, 2016). With its 816 pages, clear logic, accessible language and 403 rare archival photos from Russian, Polish, American and French archives, this book has become a milestone in today’s discussion of the contemporary state of the Stanislavsky System. It creates a map of the current development of Stanislavsky-based actor training and explains connections and divergences among many contemporary pedagogical approaches to acting both in Russia and internationally.

The book received many enthusiastic reviews in Russian theatre publications and was awarded the National Prize for the Best Theatre Book’2016 «Театральный роман» (this title means both Theatrical Novel and Romance with Theatre, and is also the title of Mikhail Bulgakov’s famous novel about the Moscow Art Theatre), and the International Stanislavsky Prize’2017 (awarded alongside with Tcherkasski to Valery Gergiev of Mariinsky Theatre, Kirill Krock of Vakhtangov Theatre, English actors Jude Law and Anthony Cher, and Dutch director Ivo van Hove).

Among the book’s many merits, reviewers emphasized that Tcherkasski reintroduced the figure of Richard Boleslavsky, an important if not fundamental link between Russian and American theatre, and a key figure in the international dissemination of the Stanislavsky System. A large section of Tcherkasski’s book presentation at The S Word Symposium was devoted to Boleslavsky. This article provides a brief analysis of the development of Boleslavsky’s acting pedagogy.

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'.

This essay considers the processes of affective attunement in The Viewpoints, Mary Overlie’s theoretical and practical structure for actor training and artistic practice.  Developed by Overlie in the interdisciplinary arts scene of New York City’s SoHo district in the 1970s, The Viewpoints operates as an approach to performance, rather than a method, attuning the performer to six key ‘materials’ present in any performance ecology – Space, Shape, Time, Emotion, Movement, Story.  The Viewpoints approach addresses these materials not as objects for the performer to control, but rather as a practice attune to them as languages being ‘spoken’ by those materials.  Through the consideration of simple physical gesture used by Overlie in her teaching, I describe how The Viewpoints pedagogy and practice operates in the minor key – a ‘minor gesture’ for the production of minor gestures that is enabled by the actor as what Overlie calls, ‘The Original Anarchist.’

O riso tem sido motivo de reflexão de diversos teóricos e filósofos. Contudo, no campo das artes cênicas, são raros os trabalhos que abordem o ofício do ator na cena cômica sem restringirem-se a formas, gêneros ou estéticas específicas. Diante disso, esta pesquisa busca investigar possibilidades de construção ou potencialização dos efeitos risíveis no trabalho do ator dentro de uma cena cômica através dos gestos. Para isso, são tomados como referencial teórico os pensamentos do filósofo francês Henri Bergson a respeito do riso. A partir dos estudos do pensador e de sua teoria do mecânico colado no vivo, traçam-se paralelos com as reflexões de encenadores como Stanislavski, Burnier e Dario Fo, encontrando neles aproximações com a prática teatral. A partir daí, observa-se no gesto do ator a possibilidade da utilização das reflexões bergsonianas na cena cômica. Do ponto de vista metodológico, são analisadas duas oficinas realizadas com os atores-alunos dos cursos de graduação em Interpretação da Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) e de Licenciatura em Teatro do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia (IFCE). Estas incursões práticas foram estruturadas a partir de exercícios criados pelas relações entre as ideias de Bergson e a prática teatral. Por meio delas, analisam-se as implicações que a utilização do gesto trouxe à prática destes atores-alunos nas oficinas e suas possíveis contribuições para a cena cômica

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.

This research deepens our understanding, as animators, actors, audiences, and academics, of how we see the practice of acting in performance capture (PeCap). While exploring the intersections between acting and animation, a central question emerges: what does acting become when the product of acting starts as data and finishes as computer-generated images that preserve the source-actor’s “original” performance to varying degrees? This primary question is interrogated through a practice-led inquiry in the form of 3D animation experiments that seek to clarify the following sub-questions:

• What is the nature of acting within the contexts of animation and performance capture?

• What is the potential for a knowledge of acting to have on the practice of animating, and for a knowledge of animation to have on the practice of acting?

• What is the role of the animator in interpreting an actor’s performance data and how does this affect our understanding of the authorship of a given performance?

This thesis is interdisciplinary and sits at the intersection between theories of acting, animation, film, and psychology. Additionally, this thesis engages with phenomenology and auto-ethnography to explore acting in performance capture from the perspective of a single individual as the actor, PeCap artist, and animator. This type of first-person experience-based insight is often missing from purely theoretical discussions about acting in performance capture and animation, and helps to provide a clearer understanding of the contributions of each creative role to the final PeCap result. This research provides a strong basis for the necessity of a paradigm revision for how acting is produced within a PeCap context.

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), already known as the founder of anthroposophy and of the Waldorf School, actively pursued throughout his life a strong interest in theatre, for which he invented eurythmy – a spiritual dance serving as a method to bring words and music on stage - and also for training actors. His research followed a path that went from his early experience as a theatre critic for the "Magazin für Literatur" (1898-1900) to the performances of the Berlin Drama Society, which he staged together with Frank Wedekind.
In the early Twentieth Century (1907-1913), Steiner’s interests turned to Theosophy and then towards the newly conceived Anthroposophical Society, where he helped set up many lectures in which he also directed plays written by him and by other authors.
From this period onward, Steiner continuously devoted himself to developing his method, working along with actors in lectures and lessons, gradually making it more structured and specific.
Starting from the teaching of Sprachgestaltung (creative speech), of diction and declamation, he elaborated as series of lessons for actors. In 1924 he offered his last course, which summarized his thoughts on theatre.
The specific object of this essay is the study of the anthroposophical principles that Steiner taught in his last course in Dornach and then put into practice in a series exercises for actors, aimed at developing their creativity and defining images on which characters could be built.
Through meditation and Sprachgestaltung, the Steinerian actor works on the objectivity, on the justification of actions and on the correspondence between color, sound and sensation. Working in their own esoteric dimensions, actors create the character through their training on dreams and on the unconscious, outlining the character’s identity through the Sprachgestaltung.

This paper fοcuses on theatrical activity in Greece during WWII and
more specifically on theatre education in Athens during the German
Occupation of the country (1941-1944). As theatre is a form of human
expression, shaped by social, economic, personal and artistic factors, the
experience of the Occupation forced theatre people to seek new ways
to teach the art of acting. As a result, new dramatic approaches were
proposed and new Drama Schools were founded (Drama School of Art
Theatre, Giannoulis Sarantidis’ School of Drama, Vasilis Rotas’ Theatre
Laboratory, Marika Kotopouli’s Drama School, Kostas Bastias and the
Theatre of Athens’ Drama School. The demand for “the new” in acting
and drama teaching was steady. Drawing on a detailed survey of the daily
and periodical press of the time, the paper traces the development of
theatre education by shedding light on the establishment, operation and
achievements of these drama schools.

This article considers Rudolf Steiner's cultural legacy in twentieth century theatre in the English speaking world. It focuses on practical, aesthetic and spiritual indications given by Steiner for a renewal of speech and drama and how these lead to a training of the actor

This article discusses the cultural contexts in which yoga, tai chi and Feldenkrais currently take place and traces the way in which the ideologies that underpin the practice of these disciplines may affect the trainee’s process. It aims to complement accounts that have explored these disciplines in terms of the student/actor’s individual development, and argue that the efficacy of these regimes needs to be viewed and explored in relation to the social, cultural and economic circumstances under which they and actor training programmes operate. The article is informed by both scholarly sources as well as the author’s own practice of yoga, tai chi and Feldenkrais within various actor training contexts.

En prenant appui sur une enquête que nous avons menée entre 2006 et 2013 auprès de groupes d’acteurs ayant participé à une formation professionnelle intitulée « Autonomie de l’Acteur » et conduite par le centre Ayn Seyir, nous avons tâché de décrire la discipline théâtrale européenne contemporaine dans sa complexité, à travers un filtre analytique métadisciplinaire. Par le regard de ces artistes déplacés entre France et Turquie, nous voyons se dessiner l’esprit d’une culture des acteurs professionnels de théâtre, à deux niveaux : interne et externe. L’on remarque ainsi, au niveau interne, une faille entre pensée et pratique, qui semblerait vouée, d’une certaine manière, à sa propre insolvabilité. Lorsqu’on envisage la discipline en ses aspects externes, l’on note que celle-ci semble prise dans un vertige entre phénomènes de singularisation et de globalisation. Et si tout cela n’était que la marque d’un fait culturel en train de se réinventer par ses hiatus, pour ne (re)devenir que la paraphrase de ce qu’il était déjà ? Le théâtre ne semblerait plus être alors pour ces acteurs qu’un art au fonctionnement aporétique, conduisant à l’anomie. Mais ce métier ainsi éprouvé, s’oppose à la somme des idéaux que ces artistes évoquent et qui semblerait faire sens vers un désir de réalisation quasi-anagogique : une voie poétique. Entrer dans cette voie supposerait, en premier lieu, un abandon des illusions présidant à leur approche factuelle de la discipline : la démarche raisonnée d’un tamisage, pour peut-être tenter de résoudre certains des aspects du défi posé par la complexité du théâtre en tant que fait culturel en permanente mutation.

At Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts, English is the Lingua Franca (ELF) of artistic exploration. With a non-conformist approach to the use of ELF, highlighting a body-mind insight into the language over correctness, a latent, expressive potential of ELF is explored through a psycho-physical training. The predominant technique is Movement Psychology (Laban/Malmgren), which examines the interdependence between, on the one hand, text, language, and narrative and, on the other, the embodiment of the Jungian unconscious.

The paper analyses the process and the methods of staging the production entitled Re: ORESTES, based on Mee's play Orestes 2.0, applying the described methodo-logical exploration. The play was rewritten and remoulded by the performers throughout a rehearsal process, which focused on interlacing the performers' highly diverse cultural horizons (Gadamer) in a common mega-text, in an attempt to fuse the familiar with the alien, the personal with the collective, and to channel, shape and articulate the material within ELF.

The paper details two different examples of this transformative remoulding process. One actor wrote a completely new text, which was performed in the heightened style of "the Queen's English". Another actor performed a part in a poly-glottal combination of Ancient and Modern Greek (her mother tongue) and ELF. In this process, both performers sought to transcend the preconceived limitations of their individual cultural horizons as well as of the English language.

Este artículo establece relaciones de semejanza entre los conceptos concentración, yo soy y autoestudio, presentes tanto en las obras de Konstantin Stanislavski como en estudios y prácticas de yoga, con la finalidad de percibir de que formas los estudios de Stanislavski sobre el yoga influenciaron el desarrollo de su Sistema. Entiéndase el yoga como una práctica ascética milenaria, estudiada y experimentada por Stanislavski con sus actores tanto en el Teatro de Arte de Moscú como en los Estudios de Teatro organizados por Stanislavski y por Leopold Sulerzhitski, su asistente. El artículo se estructura a partir del abordaje de tres factores fundamentales: la comprensión de lo que es el yoga, las motivaciones de Stanislavski para investigarlo y emplearlo, y la identificación de algunos de los puntos específicos en los cuales el yoga influenció el Sistema Stanislavski.  |  Este artigo estabelece relações de semelhança entre os conceitos concentração, eu sou e autoestudo, presentes tanto nas obras de Konstantin Stanislávski como em estudos e práticas de yoga, com a finalidade de perceber de que formas os estudos de Stanislávski sobre o yoga influenciaram o desenvolvimento de seu Sistema. Compreende-se o yoga como uma prática ascética milenar, estudada e experimentada por Stanislávski com seus atores, tanto no Teatro de Arte de Moscou como nos Estúdios de Teatro organizados por Stanislávski e Leopold Sulerjítski, seu assistente. O artigo se estrutura a partir da abordagem de três fatores fundamentais: compreender o que é o yoga, examinar quais as motivações de Stanislávski para investigá-lo e utilizá-lo, e identificar alguns dos pontos específicos nos quais o yoga influenciou o Sistema Stanislávski.

Grotowksi’s use of yoga for theatrical purposes is well-known not only through the exercises that travelled across the Atlantic and infiltrated American actor training, but also because he finally dismissed yoga as inappropriate for acting and actor training purposes. This article traces the sources of Grotowski’s encounter with yoga and examines them through the lens of scholarship on Modern Yoga. It thus attempts to shed light on the way Grotowski used the discipline and examine the caution he voiced in regard to yoga’s incompatibility with acting. Maria Kapsali is a qualified Iyengar Yoga teacher and this research forms part of her PhD in Performance Practice at University of Exeter investigating the use of yoga in actor training.

Popularized by the Theatre-in-Education movement in England and the work of Jerzy Grotowski in Poland, Collaboratively-Generated Devised Theatre has developed into a major movement in contemporary theatre. However, scholarship in this area has been weak due to a reliance on anecdotal analysis rather than using a comparable rubric. For this paper, the processes of three Massachusetts-based devising companies were analyzed to define three different approaches toward collaboration and devising, and present new terminology to aid the discourse surrounding companies and groups that create work in a collaborative way.

The application of Laban's method in actor training has a long history that extends beyond his work in dance, and it is this area that this paper focuses on. Although Laban himself applied his method to the training of actors, it was mainly left to his followers to develop-often erratically, or this is what this paper suggests-Laban's insights. Practitioners such as Jean Newlove (1993), Yat Malmgren (Mirodan, 1997), Geraldine Stephenson (McCaw, 2009), Brigid Panet (2009) and others have all continued developing Laban's work by offering movement classes for actors that are based on his principles; moreover, each of these individuals has developed a specific method based on Laban's principles. It is worth noting that these methods do not differ from one another, and all of their practitioners agree in principle that the philosophical foundation of Laban's theory and practice is to be interpreted according to Platonic precepts. I will argue that this Platonic foundation underpins each of the above practitioners' own development; furthermore, notwithstanding the differences between them, it is Platonism that unifies them all under a common philosophical approach. This paper is a theoretical enquiry into the proposition that there is a strong link between Laban's movement theory and Aristotle's Poetics. More specifically, it proposes that Laban's analysis of human movement is inextricably linked to Aristotle's concept of mimesis perceived as a ζώον (life force).

In this article theatrical performance is considered from the point of view of the bodily performance of an actor. The way actors act, how they view their art and how it is estimated by others, is dependent on our shared understanding of human agency. “What is human and how does it appear?” is a philosophical question to which every theatrical performance offers one possible answer. Most often this happens unnoticed. But even there where this question is faced most consciously in contemporary theatre, we may still remain captured by a certain “anthropocentricism”. Drawing most centrally on the Le paraxode sur le comédien by Denis Diderot and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe´s reading of it, the article is dedicated to the deconstructive analysis of acting.

Yoga is one of the most popular leisure activities that flourish in contemporary western societies as well as one of the most common non-theatrical disciplines used in performer training. This article is concerned with the pedagogy that underlies the practice of yoga poses and outlines two different ways of practising: the active and passive. It draws links between the pedagogy of modern yoga and the conceptualization of the human body in the pre-modern religious doctrine of Ramanuja. Based on this account, it presents the ways in which yoga can inform the actor’s work with different dramaturgies. In this manner, this article aims to examine modern yoga from a perspective that has been so far neglected as well as propose additional ways in which yoga may be employed in actor training.

Essa dissertação teve como objetivo estudar os procedimentos técnicos que envolvem o trabalho a interpretação para cinema. Para isso, tivemos como objeto de pesquisa a filmografia do ator Marlon Brando (1924 – 2004), com enfoque nos filmes “Uma Rua Chamada Pecado” (Elia Kazan, 1951), “Sindicato de Ladrões” (Elia Kazan, 1954), “A Face Oculta” (Marlon Brando, 1961), “O Grande Motim” (Lewis Milestone, 1962), “O Poderoso Chefão” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) e “Apocalipse Now” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979). Verificamos, ao longo desses filmes, os procedimentos de construção de cena e personagens apoiados nos escritos de Stella Adler (2002) e Constantin Stanislavski (2001) sobre o trabalho do ator, com enfoque nas ações físicas no uso da imaginação e observação. Além disso, analisamos os temas e personagens recorrentes na filmografia de Brando identificando uma padronização de seu aparecimento na tela. Tal padrão está intimamente ligado à própria personalidade do ator e chega em duas figuras essenciais: o “jovem rebelde”, presente nos filmes dos anos 1950 e caracterizado por sua postura contra o sistema vigente e o “padrinho”, consolidado nas obras da década de 1970, marcado por sua relação de mentor de um personagem ou grupo de personagens. Para investigarmos essa padronização, utilizamos o conceito de ator-autor proposto por Patrick McGuiligan (1975) e desenvolvido por Luc Moullet (1993) e Pedro Maciel Guimarães (2012), com o qual se analisa a filmografia de um ator em busca de aspectos formais e temáticos que o possam nomeá-lo como co-autor de um filme.

This dissertation aim was studying the technical procedures of acting in cinema. In order to do this, we took as research material the filmography of the actor Marlon Brando (1924 – 2004), focusing in the films “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Elia Kazan, 1951), “On The Waterfront” (Elia Kazan, 1954), “One-Eyed Jacks” (Marlon Brando, 1961), “Moutiny on the Bouty” (Lewis Milestone, 1962), “The Godfather” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) and “Apocalipse Now” (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979). Through those movies, we verified the procedures of creating a scene and a character supported by the writings of Stella Adler (2002) and Constantin Stanislavski (2001) on acting, focusing on physical actions, imagination and observation. Furthermore, we analysed the recurrent themes and characters on Brando’s filmography investigating a pattern in his appearance on screen which is linked with the personality of the actor himself. Thus, we find two essential figures, the “young rebel”, in the movies of the 1950s and characterized by his position against the hegemonic system, and the “godfather”, consolidated in the 1970s, characterized by his relation as a mentor of a character or a group of characters. To investigate this standardization, we used the concept of the actor-author, proposed by Patrick McGuiligan (1975) and further developed by Luc Moullet (1993) and Pedro Maciel Guimarães (2012), in which one analyses an actor’s filmography searching thematic and formal aspects that can categorize the actor as a co-author of a film.

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.