SCHOOL HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS 2012

26 June 2012 - 29 June 2012

Four day intensive workshop and performance program for young actors aged 15 - 18 years.  A deep investigation into the craft of theatre making culminating in a performance event at the JUTE Theatre.

Held during the June school holidays, the JUTE School Holiday Professional Theatre Program consists of a four day intensive workshop and performance program for young actors aged 15 - 18 years. 

During the four-day program, students will be taught several different skills to help them create a performance for the theatre.  Participants will develop their acting, writing, directing and dramaturgical skills and explore a number of different performance methodologies including Viewpoints, Pulse, Laban and Improvisation techniques.

Starting with Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a point of inspiration, participants will work in groups and alone to develop new text, movement pieces and scenes that explore the ideas and themes of this classic play as it applies to their lives in 2012. At the end of the week participants will present a work in progress showing for family and friends.

This is an intermediate course and students (aged 15 – 18 years) are required to have had some previous drama training and skills (i.e. school drama students, performances).

The June workshop will be facilitated by Victorian College of the Arts graduate, professional actor and facilitator Ella-Watson Russell.

BOOKINGS FOR THE JUNE SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM ARE NOW CLOSED

DATE

JUNE
Tuesday 26 June – Friday 29 June, 2012

TIMES

9.00am - 4.00pm daily

VENUE

JUTE Theatre
Centre of Contemporary Arts
96 Abbott St. Cairns, QLD 4870

PARKING

Off street parking is available at the rear of the Centre of Contemporary Arts building; access is via the driveway. Free on street parking is available on Abbott Street in front of the building.

WHAT TO BRING

Students are required to bring their own lunch, water bottles etc.

WHAT TO WEAR

Comfortable clothes that allow students to move and stretch.


WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

The schedule for the four-day workshop will be as follows
Subject to change

Day 1 - Tuesday 26 June
9.00am – 9.30am          Welcome and introduction to the week
9.30am – 10.00am        Warm up
10.00am – 11.00am      Introduction to Theatre Making
11.00am – 12.00noon   Hamlet introduction and discussion
12.00noon – 12.45pm   Lunch
12.45pm – 1.45pm        Improvisation skills
1.45pm – 2.45pm          Ensemble actor exercises
2.45pm – 3.45pm          Movement explorations
3.45pm – 4.00pm          Reflection

Day 2 - Wednesday 27 June
9.00am – 9.30am          Warm up
9.30am – 10.30am        Movement explorations
10.30am – 11.30am      Writing explorations
11.30am – 12noon        Improvisation skills
12.00noon – 12.45pm   Lunch
12.45pm – 1.45pm        Ensemble actor exercises
1.45pm – 3.45pm          Group & individual generation of material for performance
3.45pm – 4.00pm          Reflection


Day 3 - Thursday 28 June
9.00am – 9.30am          Warm up
9.30am – 10.30am        Movement explorations
10.30am – 11.30am      Writing explorations
11.30am – 12noon        Group & individual generation of material for performance
12.00noon – 12.45pm   Lunch
12.45pm – 1.45pm        Group & individual generation of material for performance
1.45pm – 2.45pm          Reflection on & selection of generated material
2.45pm – 4.00pm          Performance making – putting the pieces together

Day 4 - Friday 29 June
9.00am – 9.30am          Warm up
9.30am – 10.30am        Group & individual generation and/or rehearsal of material
10.30am – 12noon        Rehearsal of generated material
12.00noon – 12.45pm   Lunch
12.45pm – 3.30pm        Rehearsal of generated material
3.30pm – 4.00pm          Family & Friends Showing



WORKSHOP CURRICULUM

The four day workshop will cover the following
Subject to change

Warm Up

Each day will start with a physical and vocal warm up along with games designed to energise, focus and prepare the participants for the day.

Theatre Making

Through hand outs, examples, discussion and engaging in exercises students will gain a deeper understanding of the theatre making processes. Participants will explore what makes strong theatrical moments and the subtle adjustments they can make to their acting to create powerful engaging performances. Students will undertake a series of different exercises to generate performance material and will work together to select the best material to present to friends and family as a performance at the end of the week.

Hamlet

Using Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a starting point of inspiration, students will investigate the how the themes of love, loss, revenge & procrastination are relevant to their lives in 2012. Students will draw on images, sounds, music, objects and text related to these themes along with the story of Hamlet to inspire them in a series of movement, writing, and ensemble and individual acting exercises.

Improvisation

Using Theatre Sports style games and through the process of responding to theatrical provocations, students will develop their ability to make creative offers on the floor.

Movement

Drawing on the performance methodologies of Pulse, Viewpoints and Laban students will explore how movement can powerfully reveal complex ideas and the inner worlds of a character. Students will explore gesture, literal and abstract movement, storytelling through movement and create movement sequences for performance.

Writing

Students will explore a range of techniques to help in the creation of new text. Students will explore different forms of textual storytelling including the monologue, a scene, poetry and stream of consciousness.

Acting

Students will begin to explore how to work as an ensemble to engage their subconscious minds and instinctual inner actors to create theatre that is free of ego and self consciousness. Students will experience the difference of moving between ‘major’ and ‘minor’ states of action, playing leading and supporting roles, and how to best work as a team and individually to serve the work being created.

Reflection

Students will be asked to reflect on their own and others work throughout the week and learn how to articulate their thoughts and direct their feedback in a positive way that is useful to the making process. Students will reflect on the material that has been generated through the week and be involved in the selection and putting together of the strongest material for performance.

Rehearsal and Performance

Students will rehearse and further develop material for a short presentation to family and friends at the end of the week. This presentation will take the form of a ‘work in progress’ showing that provides the audience with an insight in to what students have learnt through the week and their capabilities as theatre makers.

About the workshop facilitatorS


JUNE - ELLA WATSON-RUSSELL

Ella trained as an actor at the Victorian College of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts in 2005. She has worked in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Victoria and New Zealand as an actor, theatre maker, producer and drama tutor. 

Her acting credits include work for JUTE Theatre Company (At Sea, Staring Up, Night, Next G Project, Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset), Darwin Theatre Company (A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Jerusalem), Festival of Darwin (Andandte, Fixer, The Sound of Waiting), Optic Nerve Performance Group (YES, Five Kinds of Silence), Melbourne Fringe Festival (Bash), National Gallery of Victoria (Dora Dolorosa), La Mama (Shhhhhh!), Corrugated Iron Youth Arts (Pirates of the Arafura Sea, Shakespeare’s Fools), as well as work in film, tv and voiceovers and for the corporate sector. 

Ella has trained in a number of different physical theatre disciplines and is particularly interested in the development of new theatre works in a collaborative context.


APRIL - Rachel Terry 

Rachel Terry has been a professional actor for 15 years after having graduated from NIDA's acting course. Since that time she has performed in productions for JUTE (The Breast Project, The Impossible Dream - Cairns and Karnak), Gestation Productions (After Dinner, A Foetal Moment) and the Darlinghurst Theatre Company (Fuddy Meers, Dinner with Friends). She has appeared in the feature films (The Sugar Factory, SOS, Picture This) and had guest roles in Home and Away, Blue Heelers, All Saints and various other Australian television shows.

The last couple of years have seen her choreograph and direct musicals at Ascham Girls College and Cranbrook Boys School in Sydney, as well as teaching acting, mime and improvisation units for these schools.

In 2007 she was fortunate enough to receive a grant to teach performance in Primary Schools around the Cook Cluster region of FNQ. In 2010 she reprised her role of Margarita Paronella in M and J Productions, "The Impossible Dream".