Physical Theater Festival
2023 Workshops
Physical Theater Festival is pleased to offer workshops with visiting and local artists during the festival. Hone your skills, add to your artistic toolbox, pique your curiosity, and meet physical theatre practitioners in an engaging setting.
Workshop pass: $235
See below for this year's workshop offerings!
TBD
Wednesday, July 17th,10am-1pm | Taught by Theater Y
Location: Columbia College Chicago
72 E. 11th Street, studio 202
To be funny is to play from a place of pleasure and joy. But to be witnessed by a room full of strangers can provoke a fear response. In this workshop, we will explore how to increase our capacity for play by regulating our nervous system. As well, our identities (visible and invisible), play a role in our sense of safety. So we will work with an understanding that power dynamics are always at play and different bodies have different stress responses. This workshop is designed for seasoned performers, as well as folks just beginning.
Class size limited to 14 students.
Workshop Fee: $55
THE CLOWN AND THE SILENCE
Thursday July 18 ,10am-1pm | Taught by Chula, The Clown
Location: TBD
The workshop focuses on the potency of silence in clowning and the playful experience of the clown with its own poetic vision. By starting from a place of silence and stripping away preconceived notions, participants are encouraged to tap into a deeper, more genuine aspect of themselves. This journey involves finding one's own voice, truth, timing, and rhythm, allowing for a more meaningful connection with oneself and others.
In this way we can trust the journey and with total conviction accept the ride with no question. With physical expressions, participants will dig into a universal language that transcends words and connects directly with
emotions. Through this non-verbal communication, the clowns will awaken their imagination and internal fantasy.
Workshop Fee: $55
Planning on attending multiple workshops? Consider purchasing a workshop pass.
TBD
Friday July 19 ,10am-1pm | Taught by Clayton Nascimento
Location: TBD
TBD
Workshop Fee: $55
Planning on attending multiple workshops? Consider purchasing a workshop pass.
CINEMATIC DEVISING WITH VOLOZ COLLECTIVE
Saturday July 20 ,10am-1pm | Taught by Voloz Collective
Location: TBD
This dynamic workshop introduces participants to the fundamentals of collaborative, cinematic devising. Participants will learn how to create effective unscripted work in an ensemble environment, inspiring their audience’s imagination with nothing more than their bodies, voices and found objects. Using Lecoq-inspired techniques employed in our own practice, participants will work in groups to create imaginative narratives through guided improvisation. This empowers participants to find a common creative language and build surprising theatre by relying on their dramaturgical instincts, rather than intellectual processes. We will guide participants in exercises focusing on the use of their bodies and found objects, allowing them to transform themselves - for example - from the protagonist, to an ant, to an aeroplane in the blink of an eye. This cinematic style is at the heart of our own theatrical practice.
Workshop Fee: $55
Planning on attending multiple workshops? Consider purchasing a workshop pass.
THE SOUND OF IMAGINATION: THE GOTTABEES’ GUIDE TO MUSICAL COLLABORATION
Sunday, July 21st -12.30pm-2pm | Taught by The Gottabees
Location: Theater Wit
1229 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
Puppeteers, musicians, dancers and theater actors each speak their own creative and technical languages. So, just how do they communicate?
Learn how The Gottabees discovered their secrets of sonic success in this unique, interactive workshop featuring composers Brendan Burns & Tony Leva with performer Bonnie Duncan. We’ll step through the lessons learned from multiple internationally-touring theater productions. Along the way, we’ll explore what makes music and sound design theatrically powerful, while identifying terminology that enables collaborators to express their creative intent. Participants will have an opportunity to see collaboration in action, pitch their own projects, learn some music business basics, share observations and ask questions.
This workshop is recommended for musicians, composers, sound designers, and theater artists of any discipline who are interested in musical collaboration.
Workshop Fee: $55
Planning on attending multiple workshops? Consider purchasing a workshop pass.