[e-drive][WORKSHOP: EQUITY DISCOUNT, CLOWN THROUGH MASK FOR CLASSICAL SINGERS, TORONTO]

[Kaethe Yanovsky]

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An Equity Professional Development Fund grant has made possible a subsidized Clown Through Mask course with master teacher Sue Morrison, specifically for classical singers.

The Clown Through Mask workshop, because of the subsidy from Equity's Professional Development Fund,  is available for $200.

Clown is a theatrical form derived from commedia dell'arte, which focuses on connecting with a performer's vitality - with simplicity and spontaneity.  Clown Through Mask incorporates the European practice of clowning and elements of Native North American tradition in an exciting, potentially explosive mix guaranteed to lift the lid off your limits and inhibitions.  Clown opens the door to a sacred space - inventive, naked, frightening and freeing - in which we can discover/re-discover playfulness, mischief and joy.

Could clown be the perfect counterbalance to the formal structure and years of dedication and discipline required for bel canto vocal technique?

We wondered too...

Master teacher Sue Morrison is a director, improviser, performer and a prolific creator of new clown theatre productions.  Sue trained in Clown and Buffon with Theatre Resource Centre founder Richard Pochinko, with the renowned improvisation teacher Keith Johnstone, and with French clown master Philippe Gaulier, as well as working with the originators of the Second City Company.  She has been the Artistic Director of the Theatre Resource Centre since 1993 and is now in increasing demand as a teacher and director both in Toronto and internationally.

In addition to teaching in Toronto at the Theatre Resource Centre, Second City, and the newly founded Clown Hall, Sue has taught at the National Arts Center in Ottawa; Lume Theatre, Brazil; The Movement Research Center, New York City; The Dell¹Arte School of Physical Theatre, California; and in Sweden, England, Scotland, and France.

Sue has the ability to extract unparalleled presence, availability and vulnerability from her actors. The development of the performer is foremost in her creation process of new work, and, as a result, she has worked as a director and consultant for actors and theatre groups throughout the world.

The Clown Through Mask course uses improvisation and the making and wearing of masks as a route to the discovery of each individual performer's personal clown.  In this workshop - for the first time focused specifically for opera singers - we will add work on music and text once we have our feet under us in the clown work.  (Each singer should be prepared with one aria they like and know well for this stage of the work.)

The workshop is proposed to run:

March 31 - April 23 (3 1/2 weeks)
May 26 - June 14 (3 weeks)
Mondays & Wednesdays 6:30-10:00 p.m.
Saturdays 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

If you are interested in this course, but the currently proposed schedule is a problem for you, please contact us (ASAP!) anyway, as at this point we still have some flexibility.

If you are interested in the workshop, please contact: 

Trish O'Reilly 
by Monday, March 17, 2003
with a resume and a brief letter explaining your interest in the workshop 
by e-mail to: madrigal at idirect.com  
or by mail to: 30 Kenwood Avenue, Toronto, Ontario  M6C 2R9

Come play! 
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Please direct all responses and inquiries directly to the theatre or association listed in the e-drive notice.