etb English
Theatre
Berlin International Performing Arts Center

During this workshop we will explore various ways of tuning ourselves to the living organism of the ensemble. How can we collectively develop a physical language of communication?

We will investigate how the group can support and inspire the individual and how the inspiration of the individual can in turn contribute to the group. We will draw from Viewpoints, Ensemble Thinking, Action Theater and more.

Andrew and Liz have performed together at various venues around Berlin, including the Sophiensaele, ada Studio, ETB and K77 Studio. Andrew has studied directly with Mary Overlie and Anne Bogart (Viewpoints), and Nina Martin (Ensemble Thinking). He has been a member of the performance collective, Lower Left since 2002. Liz has worked in various physical theater and dance collectives since 1997, including Broom Street Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, Phfffft! Dance Theater Company (Viewpoint-based work) and Akropolis Performance Lab, a Grotowski-based performance company. She has been creating her own work since 2003.

The workshop explores elements of identity using Augusto Boal’s games and Forum Theater. Forum Theater is an interactive theater form that aims at creating a forum for social change and empowerment in communities. The workshop focuses on the basic techniques of Forum Theater while it opens a platform for discussion and exchange. The workshop will also introduce a myriad of Boal’s classic games and exercises which create a playful, open environment that allows the ideas to be released. The participants will create their own Forum Theater scene work which will be facilitated by the workshop instructors.

Liz Erber is a dance artist and educator, with a background in dance, theater and music, who has been living in Berlin since 2008. She was born and raised in the United States. She is a certified Theater of the Oppressed Forum Theater facilitator.

Minna Partanen is a drama educator living and working in Berlin. She is specialized in applied theater and trained under Theater of the Oppressed pioneers in Finland. She’s used Forum Theater in the context of organizational development and innovation research at Lappeenranta University of Technology. She has facilitated numerous Forum Theater performances and workshops at upper secondary schools in Lahti and Helsinki, Finland.

The Find Your Voice Workshop is dedicated to helping people  learn to express themselves through their voice. It is my mission to pass on the joy of Your Voice, to increase the confidence of the individual whilst also focusing on the technical aspects of singing.  Participants can choose from a variety of styles – jazz, classical and contemporary, depending on their personal goals and interests.

Find Your Voice provides people with the opportunity to express themselves through music.

Two different Master Classes are offered:

For teenagers – it is suggested that participants bring along three options of music that they would like to work on and that they enjoy singing.  Music will also be provided.

For adults –  it is suggested that participants bring along three options of music they would like to work on and that they enjoy singing.  Music will also be provided.

Rose Nolan is a classically trained professional singer who holds a double degree Bachelor in Arts (music) and Science (psychology) from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She completed the Preparatory Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music in London (2006) where she was awarded an Alex Templeton entrance scholarship. During her time at the Royal Academy of Music, she held a William Gibbs Trust scholarship and was a resident alto scholar for St John’s Church in Hyde Park. She was one of five finalists who sang at the Sydney Opera house for the Metropolitan Opera Award in 2005.

She has an excellent understanding of how students learn and how to teach them effectively. She is familiar with the content of the AMEB, the ABRSM and the British GCSE and A Levels music curriculum.

Rose is currently teaching singing at Tagtigall Musikschule in Berlin. In 2011 she taught at the Karen Leonard Music School in Melbourne, Australia. From 2008 to 2011 she worked as a peripatetic singing teacher at Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington, London. She teaches a wide variety of styles including classical, jazz, pop, folk and blues. She has experience teaching singing, acting and music to people of all ages, from adults and adolescence to children and young children.

Performing:

In August, Rose will be performing in Berlin’s Hof Klang festival in Sergey Khismatov’s Voice Quartet.  She is currently performing Il Festino by Banchieri in Berlin and has worked with UnterwasserOpera in both Berlin and Düsseldorf. She was a soloist for Surrey Opera’s end of year soiree concert and an Emerging Artist for Opera Danube where she performed, amongst other works, Brahms’ “Liebeslieder-Walzer Op. 52” at St John’s Square London and in their production of The Merry Widow. She covered the role of Cunaide in Surrey Opera’s production of Iernin and performed with Fernando Montano, soloist from the Royal Ballet, at the Cafe de Paris in London, as the headline act for the LUKAS awards which were presented by Vivienne Westwood.  Rose performed with Kiez Opera Berlin in their production of Insanity at the Stattbad in Wedding.

Rose performed and toured the role of Orlofsky from Die Fledermaus and also the role of Nancy in Albert Herring for Surrey Opera; which also appeared in the Canterbury Festival (Review from December issue 2011 of Opera Magazine “[Paul Sheehan] was partnered by a delicious Nancy in Rose Nolan, who sang with rich-toned relish, acted with poise and sensitivity, and looked exquisite.”) She has performed the role of Mercedes with Co-Opera Co. UK for their Carmen covers production and was a member of the 2011 Buxton Festival Company UK where she covered and performed scenes from the role of David in Handel’s Saul with conductor Harry Christophers. She performed the role of Tessa from The Gondoliers for Surrey Opera UK and covered it for Opera Australia.

Rose was invited by the 70 piece Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra on a concert tour through numerous cities in China.  She performed the role of Oreste in La belle Hélène with Lyric Opera of Melbourne (online review from Theatre People: “Other standouts in the large company include a cheeky Rose Nolan singing up a storm in the ‘pants’ role of Prince Orest”). She covered Adalgisa in Norma with Grange Park Opera UK and spent the previous year singing with Scottish Opera in numerous productions. She performed the role of Sara in Roberto Devereux in Spain and worked for two years with OzOpera (Opera Australia), touring Australia performing Hansel in Hansel and Gretel (Review from The Age “Indeed, the singing at times is breathtakingly wonderful. Rose Nolan plays Hansel and her voice is rich and silky with mellifluous tones.”).

In Melbourne, she regularly led her own jazz band which played at various venues such as The Hilton Hotel, The Carlton Crest Hotel and held various residences such as an 8-month residency at the Stork Hotel in Melbourne’s Central Business District.

Rose regularly works with Opera Australia.

Matthew Toogood is an Australian conductor currently working at the Komische Oper Berlin.

He has conducted a range of symphonic and choral music, but it is in opera that his true passion lies. Since completing his Masters of Music in Conducting in Melbourne, he has conducted performances of Puccini‘s Turandot, Tosca, La Boheme and Madama Butterfly and Verdi‘s La Traviata, Macbeth and Nabucco. His great interest however is in the operas of Strauss and Wagner.

Since joining the music staff at the Komische Oper Berlin he has conducted performances of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and the Puppet Show Der gestiefelte Kater (Puss in Boots), conducting the backstage orchestras of  Strauss‘ Der Rosenkavalier, Mozart‘s Don Giovanni, Wagner‘s Die Meistersingers von Nürnberg and assisting on Reihman‘s Lear, Dvorak‘s Rusalka, Janacek‘s Cunning Little Vixon and Prokofiev‘s The Love of Three Oranges. As a repetiteur he has worked on over thirty opera productions, from Monteverdi‘s Orpheus to Porter‘s Kiss Me Kate to Strauss‘ Salome.

Matthew was a semi-finalist at the 2011 Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition and winner of the 2007 Stonnington Symphony Conductor Prize.

He has participated in master classes with Jorma Panula, Colin Metters, Johannes Fritzsch, Christopher Seaman, Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Geoffrey Lancaster. He completed his Master’s degree with John Hopkins OBE in 2008.

“CARPE DIEM” is the fascinating essence of improvisation. It’s the latin expression for “SEIZE THE DAY”.

In this workshop we’ll play several games that will introduce you into the mood of improvisation.

Here is a short list of improv principles we’ll experience:

• PLAY! Enjoy the moment.
• TRUST. Trust yourself. Trust your partner. Trust your intuition. Trust the moment.
• LISTEN with every part of your being: LISTENING is the WILLINGNESS to CHANGE.
• SAY “YES”. Accept offers.
• SAY “AND”. Bring a brick to the scene instead of a whole cathedral. Build together.
• LIVE IN THE MOMENT! Experience your senses.
• MAKE YOUR PARTNER LOOK GOOD! And both of you will look wonderful.
• KEEP IT SIMPLE. Less is more.
• DARE. TAKE RISKS. Allow yourself to explore beyond your comfort zone.
• FAILING is the only way to learn. Have a good attitude towards it.
• RELAX and HAVE FUN !!!

Improvisation is interdisciplinary. It can open up new visions in creative experiences as well as in business and personal relationships.

Tune your senses, power your intuition and let the adventure begin!

The IMPROPRIATE team has been working together since 2012.

Robert Rodgers is a performer, stand-up comedian, acrobat, director, writer, clown. He had the privilege of attending Keith Johnston’s Improv classes. He has performed and toured with Cirque de Soleil. He is a long form improv performer specialized in the style of Tennessee Williams, Shakespeare, Film Noir with Scratch Theater, Four on the Floor, San Francisco. He teaches and directs in Germany, Amsterdam, and in Paris. You can find more info at his personal page: www.portmantoe.com

Javier Avila learned improv by doing performing weekly shows with Comedysportz Berlin and Impronauts. He recently began doing improv in German as well. He regularly offers improv workshops in Berlin. Javier’s philosophy: If you put passion and creative thinking on top of an analytical mind, the sky’s the limit. Learning step by step is his specialty. His approach is very systematic; isolating the different skills for training purposes and putting them together afterwards.

Michela Bellino bumped into improv theater in 2007 and it was love at first sight. Besides improv theater in any forms, she has attended classes on acting, playback theater, psychodrama, commedia dell’arte, clown, expressive reading, play reading, playwriting, screenwriting, comedy writing, storytelling, burlesque, voice technique, dubbing, singing in Italian, France, Spain and Germany. She is author of several short movies and documentaries. Michelle regularly offers workshops in improv, storytelling and voice lab in Berlin.

In this workshop we will cover all aspects of the hoop. We will begin by learning and refining fundamentals technique including: how to spin the hoop on all parts of the body, how to dance with the hoop, the fundamental maneuvers for transitioning planes, and of course a few flashy tricks to impress your friends.

Then we will get creative with the hoop developing some choreography which we will later have the opportunity to perform! No experience is necessary, only a good attitude.  If you are already a hooper, I will provide you with advanced maneuvers to keep you challenged and moving forward. If you are brand new, I will provide you with the basics. Open to all levels. Hoops provided.

We all have a story to tell. The art is in the telling.

The events that have most profoundly shaped our lives can become a springboard for creating compelling and dramatic stories for the stage. This writing workshop will introduce participants to techniques specific to the process of this unique form of theater. These include basic dramatic structure, the three narrators, the transformational arc, creating strong characters and finding the theme in your life experience. All participants will be required to write and read their work aloud.

Frederick Johntz is a screenwriter, director and story-consultant from Los Angeles. He has taught at UCLA, The American Film Institute, Hollywood Film Institute, Promenade Playhouse, Travis-Johntz Studios, Die Tankstelle, Actors Space and Lucid Body Space Berlin. He has developed and/or directed a number of one-person Shows that have been performed in Los Angeles, New York, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and elsewhere. He has directed theater in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York and Berlin. He has worked on numerous films, ranging from studio feature films to independents. He most recently directed Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Actors Space Berlin and Verlängertes Wohnzimmer in Berlin. His film The Last Cemetery in Berlin is scheduled to go into production in the fall of 2014.