Shakespeare and Character Workshops with British Director Pia Furtado

The Internationalists launch their educational workshop series with British Director Pia Furtado. Pia will be teaching two intensives, the first a Shakespeare delivery workshop, and the second a character creation workshop. Pia currently works at the Royal Shakespeare Company and has assisted, trained and been resident at theatres including Royal Court, Young Writer’s Program, Young Vic and Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Visit our website for more info.

Shaking Up Shakespeare: The Actor and The Audience
Saturday, May 3, 2008
10:00am-6:00pm
TACT Studio, 900 Broadway, Suite 905 (at 20th Street)
Limit: 18
$75
Click here to purchase tickets.

Led by British director Pia Furtado, currently working at the Royal Shakespeare Company, this workshop will impart some valuable techniques in helping you unlock your Shakespearian delivery, through a series of exercises focusing on voice and verse. In the morning, you will look at the practicalities of tackling Verse, Prose, Monologues and Dialogue through the style of individualised text work that would be undertaken in a rehearsal process. In the afternoon you will concentrate on how the work translates in performance, particularly playing with the relationship constructed between the actor and the audience; experimenting with both Stanislavskian ‘fourth wall’ delivery and ‘direct address’ audience engagement. Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a piece of memorized verse to this session. (8-10 lines of Iambic verse. Also bring a hard copy of the text or email it to us so we can make copies.)

Creating Character: A Short in a Night
Monday, May 5, 2008
6:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Theatre Row Studios, Studio #1, 411 W. 41st St, (bet. 9th and Dyer)
Limit: 14
$50
Click here to purchase tickets.

Three dimensional characters and unique voices are important ingredients in great drama, and we all know that a beautifully-crafted character is an actor's dream. This workshop, led by British director Pia Furtado, will be spent exploring the nature of character. You will write a short piece in a night, using discoveries made through a series of writing exercises. We will dissect elements that constitute character and re-construct these building blocks to give life to original characters: imagined and observed. We will give voice to them through a series of free-flow writing exercises and by the end of the evening, should have performable playlets!