Residencies and Workshops
For college undergrad and grad students, and professionals

For students of theater and communication, this workshop breaks down and demonstrates the elements of body language and non-verbal communication. Participants observe and qualify movement in others, learn to bring their unconscious reactions to body language into consciousness, change specific aspects of their own movement and observe how their feelings and thoughts change, create a character by making physical choices, and improvise in character.

For drama students and professionals who are working on a play, this residency guides them as they navigate the gap between text on the page and strong, believable, fully-physicalized characters. Students will experience a variety of physical approaches to character development such as image work, energy work, animals, honing kinesthetic awareness, sharpening focus, developing a physical presence, exploring rhythm and dynamics, and studying and practicing body language principles. Sessions begin with a warm-up followed by guided physical approaches to character, improvisations based on scenes in the play that incorporate the discoveries students make, reflections on character discoveries, and end with reflection on learning and growth.

Community artists and activists convene for a weekend learning exchange to investigate issues and resources for creating desired change in the community. Developed through Sheila Kerrigan's work as a lead facilitator with Alternate ROOTS' Resources for Social Change, the learning exchange incorporates principles of shared power, open dialogue, an aesthetic that embraces multiple perspectives, and equal partnership to effect personal and community transformation. The learning exchange is experiential and uses arts processes to explore issues and build community.

This residency leads participants through a collaborative creative process from choosing an initial idea and gathering material about it to performing their finished piece. They follow a structure for making progress on the piece. They practice positive critiques. They learn about group dynamics and healthy group practices such as equitable power-sharing and consensus building. As people progress from a simple idea to a composition in time and space that communicates intellectually, kinesthetically, and emotionally with an audience, they learn the fundamental, liberating truth that they can create their own worlds by using their bodies and releasing their imaginations. People who rely on others to create and perform together learn that they can recreate their lives together. This is the power, and the empowerment, inherent in participation in the performing arts.

"Thank you tremendously for giving so fully of yourself to our students. Your energy and enthusiasm were contagious and we were all inspired by your wisdom, insights and experiential knowledge shared with us all."

This is a semester-long interdisciplinary course for performing arts and public policy students that investigates the potential for performance as a catalyst for social change by pursuing the question, "How can the process of creating a performance clarify community conflict, create dialogue around issues, unite people to oppose oppression, and/or effect change in people's lives?" Working alongside a community group, students harness the power of performing art to create positive change around a social issue. This is a hands-on, participatory course.