KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE in Amherst, MA

UNIQUE theater WORKSHOPS OFFERED THIS SUMMER
AT THE KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE
July 7 – August 9, 2008
on the Amherst College campus in Amherst, MA – USA

In keeping with our mission of presenting innovative performances, the Ko Festival also offers up an array of theater workshops not available elsewhere. Students come to stretch their creativity in a supportive environment and immerse themselves in an artistic environment. It’s an opportunity to collaborate with interesting group of people, half of whom are local and half of whom come from all over the country. The Ko Festival’s master teachers are adept at gearing their classes for participants of all levels of experience, whose ages have run from 18-80.

We still have spots left in each of these workshops, and are able to offer discounts to members of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Actors Equity and the TCG member theaters. We also have a small pool of funds set aside for scholarship assistance.

Workshops meet from 10 am – 4 pm, Monday through Saturday, in Studio 1 of Webster Hall (handicapped accessible) on the Amherst College campus in Amherst, MA. Workshops cost $350. Room and board are are also available for VERY reasonable rates. For further information or to download a registration form visit www.kofest.com. You can also email info@kofest.com or call (413) 427-6147.

Remember, the Ko Festival also has a fascinating lineup of performances and special events this summer as well on the theme of “FOOD: appetites, attitudes and politics.” So check out the Ko Festival details at www.kofest.com today!

So, what’s on the workshop menu for this season?

(July 7-12)

THE ART OF COLLABORATION: devised theater and ensemble practice

with Temple Crocker and Barbara Lanciers

Discover the art of building an ensemble to create original theater. This workshop explores the intimacies and intricacies of the collaborative process while engaging in various strategies for generating material for the stage. Temple Crocker and Barbara Lanciers guide students through a unique actor training process allowing them to develop their own distinctive presence and style while engaging in the dynamics of ensemble performance.

The training – both highly physical and deeply contemplative – draws on the principles of various actor training methods and physical disciplines including Viewpoints, Suzuki, Yoga and The Alexander Technique. Throughout the week the group will create theatrical compositions utilizing elements provided and generated by the participants, including original and appropriated texts, songs and movement, objects and installations. The mornings will be devoted to ensemble training and the afternoons will be dedicated to the creation of theatrical compositions.

Temple Crocker creates interdisciplinary and collaborative performance works as well as objects and installations. In 1996 she co-founded the experimental ensemble STRANGEFRUIT which makes handcrafted performances. Weaving together personal and universal mythologies STRANGEFRUIT explores the intersection of whimsy and insight addressing themes such as the curious nature of identity, and the phenomena of presence and memory. Temple is currently a member of the theater faculty at Towson University and University of Maryland.

Barbara Lanciers is a company member and the resident choreographer for The Theater of a Two-Headed Calf in New York City. She has trained extensively with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company and served as Anne Bogart's assistant on Death and The Ploughman. Barbara is an Anne Bogart endorsed teacher the Viewpoints training method for theater practitioners. She holds her MFA in theater from Towson University and is currently in Budapest, Hungary on a Fulbright Scholarship. This will be her 3rd season at the Ko Festival.

(July 14-19)

FINDING THE THEATRICAL SOUNDSCORE: with voice and non-traditional instruments

with Katie Down

This workshop is open to theater professionals and enthusiasts simply interested in our relationship to and with sound. The soundscore in a theatrical context can be as present as any character in a play or as a sonic support to the trajectory of the story. Sound comes from many different sources and how sound is created, manipulated and used in theater will be explored through improvisational vocal and instrumental explorations as well as recording and mixing techniques. Sound walks will take place daily with the use of portable recording devices and open discussions about sound design, "sound-scapes" and composition will be fodder for collaborative creations and a final presentation at the end of the week.

Katie Down is a composer, performer and sound designer for theater, film, and dance. She performs with the infamous ukulele group The Ukuladies, and was the director of the Sephardic ensemble Adelantre, which appeared at the Ko Festival's 15th Anniversary Celebration, The Ko Kabar
et. She also wrote the music for and performed in The House Not Touched by Death in the 2000 Ko Festival. She has traveled extensively throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans (Macedonia, Slovenia, Poland, and Croatia), and most recently South Africa as a performer, sound designer, and teacher in voice, improvisation, and clown. She plays flute, ukulele, guitar, didgeridoo, and glass harmonica as well as a host of homemade instruments, percussion, and found objects. She works regularly as a sound designer in New York and regionally and has composed soundscores and original music for Off, and off-Off Broadway productions. She will be the guest curator at the arts colony Music Omi in August, 2008, and has been an artist in residence at The Watermill Arts Center, Music/Omi, Makor Artist Network, chashama AREA Space Grant, and The Composer Librettist Studio at New Dramatists. Those wishing to find out more about Katie Down can visit www.katiedown.com or www.myspace.com/katiedownmusic

(July 21-26)

PHYSICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES TO CLASSICAL TEXTS

with Ellen Beckerman

Workshop participants will work to bridge the divide between language and physicality in this intensive, on-your-feet workshop, led by Ellen Beckerman of LightBox focusing on scenes from Macbeth. Learn the basics of the LightBox Approach, which integrates movement techniques from around the world, including Butoh, Suzuki, Viewpoints, and Commedia dell'Arte, into one unified approach to physical theater-making. Each class begins with meditation and ensemble-building before moving into a rigorous exploration of Shakespeare's classic play. Explore character through Butoh movement. Discover character and generate staging through physical improv. The LightBox Approach is applicable to any performance style, and can help directors and actors uncover the contemporary resonances in classic plays. The Approach teaches the art of collaboration, ensemble-building, and whole-body listening skills that are as important in life as they are in art. Open to all theater artists, including actors, directors, writers, dramaturgs, designers, and technicians.

Ellen Beckerman is the founding artistic director of LightBox, and director of Milk-N-Honey, (performed at the Ko Festival this summer). She has also directed for The Public Theater, Soho Rep, the Ontological theater, New Dramatists, Chicago Dramatists Center, the Playwrights’ Center, New Georges, New York Theater Workshop, Louisiana State University, New Dramatists, Syracuse University. She is a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors, a Drama League Directing Fellow, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, a 2005 member of the Soho Rep writer/director lab, and a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Ellen was the first literary manager of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and spent 8 months living in Thailand, creating new Thai language plays and teaching at Patravadi Theater and Chiangmai University.

(July 28-August 2)

CREATING CABARET: styles stories and songs

with Deletta Gillespie

Many cabaret singers have backgrounds in music and singing, but lack the theater training required to making a successful cabaret performance. Directed by performer Deletta Gillespie, the workshop will focus on the art and craft of cabaret and will include : developing a persona for performance, choosing music, singing, creating spoken material relating to the audience, and structuring an act. Students will explore a variety of performance styles, considering the optimal way to engage audiences and convey meaning. There will be opportunities to share work in a risk-free environment. This workshop is suitable for first-timers, as well as professionals who want a chance to either hone or shake-up their work.

Born into a show-business family, Deletta Gillespie has spent nearly twenty years in the entertainment industry. Her mother played keyboard backup for the Ink Spots, the Shirelles, and others. Her father played bass in the Army and in jazz bands on the West Coast. Deletta made her professional debut at age six, when her mother gave her a cameo in her nightclub act. She has performed in a myriad of situations; clubs, theaters, casinos, cruise ships, and resorts as a singer, dancer, actress, choreographer, and entertainment coordinator. She performed for Michael Jackson, and opened for jazz legends Al Jarreau and Patti Austin. Additionally Gillespie served as entertainment coordinator for Destination Dockyard, a seasonal street festival jointly produced by The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, RF Communications, and Royal Caribbean International. She has vocal pedagogy certification (Levels I & II of Somatic VoiceworkTM, The LoVetri Method) in Contemporary Commercial Music, as well as ABRSM certificates in Vocal Music.

(August 4-9)

FUNDAMENTALS OF PUPPET PERFORMANCE: performer, instrument and score

with Robert Smythe

The Festival’s final workshop, led by master puppet artist Robert Smythe, will use a variety of techniques and games to develop an awareness of the three fundamentals of puppet performance: the performer, the instrument and the score. The class will use LeCoq mime technique and other theater exercises to develop performance skills; found objects to create hand-puppets and Japanese-style bunraku puppets for instruments; and simple improvisational exercises to open the exploration of developing works for puppets. Participants will work solo and in pairs and will learn how to create their own work through exercises designed to increase control of the elements of theater.

Robert Smythe is the Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Mum PuppetTheater, the company he founded over two decades ago, and has created over 20
original productions. According to the Puppeteers of America he is one of the most influential puppet artists in the United States today. His work with Mum has taken him all over the world while winning three UNIMA Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry and four Barrymore Awards. He was won numerous awards, including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2006 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. He is the recipient of one of the last Solo Theater Fellowships ever awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and six Solo Performer Fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He has directed and designed puppet work for the Arden Theater, the Wilma Theater, Interact Theater Company, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis.

This message was sent from Sabrina Hamilton/Ko Festival to rlevitow@folkloreproductions.com. It was sent from: Ko Theater Works, 498 South Gulf Road, Belchertown, MA 01007. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below.