The Makings of the Actor

Hosted by Michael Cacoyannis Foundation

Post-doctoral Researcher Dr Kiki Selioni, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Labanarium and MCF have taken the initiative to organize a Conference in Athens. The conference The Makings of the Actor aims to offer a platform to dialogue about the skills and knowledge necessary to develop the contemporary actor. The Conference will be the pilot event towards the establishment of the International Centre for Actor’s training that will officially open the next year 2020 in Athens supported by many institutions. Its mission is to gather international practitioners and researchers to discuss the needs of contemporary performance practice through Conferences, performances, and workshops taking place internationally.

Towards Contemporary Acting Techniques, Practices & Methodologies

The conference takes as its points of departure Duncan Ross provocations that there is still a need for a comprehensive actor training.

Duncan Ross (1968), British actor and one of the well-knowing acting teacher, in his paper Towards an Organic Approach to Actor Training A Criticism of the Stanislavski Scheme points out that there is no actual acting method and what have been exploring in the history of acting is only the structure of the character and the analysis of the text. Duncan puts a crucial issue on the table mentioning that still there is no such thing as an acting method that deals with the interpretative art of acting:

The most important topic for actor training, by the general consensus of the panel at this conference, seemed to be the problem of “integration:” how should the bodily skills be combined with work on imagination, textual analysis, etc., etc. A more comprehensive question was only touched, the problem of style: the direct and all-pervasive influence of the individual author’s form on the actor’s creation of a role. But what never reached discussion was the consideration of how to teach acting which has the quality of spontaneity, no matter how formalized the structure of the dramatic text. In the opinion of the writer, this is the prime topic from which the others depend (Ross 1968: 258).

Duncan considers that there is a lack of certain training for acting, although for him the theatre world has now all ‘the sufficient knowledge’. Duncan notices that there is a solution to that question:

Lastly, it is a frequent observation that outstandingly talented actors seem to operate in a different way from the general body of performers. It is the writer’s belief that teaching theory must account coherently for this achievement. An attitude of mystic reverence for “talent” is no answer. Either we must teach how these actors do, or we are not teaching the subject (Duncan 1968: 258-259).

Ross Prior in his book Teaching Actors published in 2012 puts the same questions as Duncan Ross. The need to reconsider the actor’s training as well as how actor’s teachers should be trained (Prior 2012: xi). Benedetti admits, like Ross and Prior, at the end of his book The Art of the Actor in 2005 that there is no any research attempt for specific training method for actors that is universally recognized (Benedetti 2005: 233). Mark Evans (2015) in his book The Actor Training Reader questions ‘how to train for a global performance economy and in response to global challenges to the nature of theatre and performance’ (Evans 2015: xxx). Zarrilli, Sasitharan, and Kapur (2016) discuss the same issue in their recent article in the edition of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training on ‘intercultural’ acting and actor/performer training:

Contrary to the between-ness of our global realities, the vast majority of professional/conservatory-based training programmes in Europe, the UK, US, and Australia with a few exceptions have not yet embraced these multi-, inter-, intra-cultural realities in their structure or pedagogical practice. Assumptions about what acting ‘is’ continue to be shaped by conventional modes, models, techniques, and structures that often resist both critical and/or creative self-examination (Zarrilli, Sasitharan and Kapur, 2016: 336).

The conference wants to address these perspectives and invites contributions addressing the following questions:

what constitutes outstanding acting?
The role of ‘talent’ in acting training
How to train skills and dexterity
How do we train and teach to reach all of the above

Our main goal is to open the discussion about this crucial issue of how to develop an actor today and to open a platform where for the first time we can as practitioners discuss our practices in order to create a community that can reach solutions.

PROGRAM

Keynote Speakers

Pr. Sergei Tcerkasckki Head of an Acting Studio in Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (he will also deliver an intensive week Workshop about Stanislavsky’s system) 100 years of the Stanislavsky System and Modern Actor Training

Pr. Andy Lavender in Theatre & Performance at the University of Warwick. Head of the School of Theatre & Performance Studies and Cultural & Media Policy Studies, University of Warwick.

Dr. Tom Cornford Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Sulian Vieira Pacheco Assistant Professor, Department of Performing Arts, University of Brasilia

Avra Sidiropoulou Assistant Professor at the Μ.Α. program in Theatre Studies at the Open University of Cyprus

Pr. Nikos Geladas School of Physical Education and Sports Science National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Dr. Katia Savrami Assistant Professor of Choreology at the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras, Greece.

Pr. Rob Roznowski Head of Acting and Directing in the Department of Theatre. Professor Michigan State University, USA.

Ramunė Balevičiūtė Associate Professor in Theatre Studies, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre

Call for papers, Teaching demonstrations and Performances

We welcome submissions from acting/voice/movement teachers, actors coaches, theatre practitioners, actors, directors, training practitioners, theatre researchers, practice and academic researchers within varying aspects of practice.
For papers please send your abstract of 200 words for your oral presentation (20 min) in a Word doc form, including title, institutional affiliation, your brief CV and email address. The paper presentations will be 20 min they are followed by a 10 min discussion with the audience/participants.
Submissions of teaching demonstration must be in English and can be up to 4 pages (including references and figures) in a Word doc form, including title, institutional affiliation, your brief CV and email address. The first 2 pages are expected to describe your system. The third and fourth pages are expected to be used for images, references, and technical requirements. You should expect wireless network access. A number of 8-10 students will be provided for all accepted demonstrations. The Demonstration allows practitioners/researchers to demonstrate their works in teaching in a dedicated session of 60-70 min. they are followed by a 20 min discussion with the audience/participants.
Performances will take place in Michael Cacoyiannis theatre place. Proposals must outline the planned work accurately in 2 pages in a Word doc form and must include title, brief Cv, technical requirements, images and video. Performances running must be 20-90 min. and they are followed by a 20 min discussion with the audience/participants.

Please send your submission until 10th April 2019 to: kiki.selioni@cssd.ac.uk

If an official invitation is required earlier for research funding purposes, please contact kiki.selioni@cssd.ac.uk and ensure that you submit your abstract as early as possible.

Submissions based on an implemented and tested system that innovative approaches related to conference’s areas of interest, (including but not limited to):

Acting techniques/systems/methodologies
Voice speaking training
Dance and movement training for actors
Martial arts, stage combat
Acting coaching on screen
Actor and musical productions
Improvisation techniques and rehearsal process
Theory and/or Practice
Performance as Training
Psychology of the Actor
Presence and Truth on Stage
Ecstatic and Ritual Acting
Metaphysics and Physics in Actor’s presence
Acting in Education
Actors in Industry and their continuous training
Amateur/Professional Actors skills.
Skills and dexterities in Acting
Acting/Coaching Teachers and their skills.
Choreography in Acting

Registration Fees

Participants Fees:
Papers: €150
Demonstrations: €300
Performances: €100-300
Conference Attendance Fees: €200
Student and unwaged €100

Workshop Description

Sergei Tcherkasski is Professor of Acting and Directing, Head of Acting Studio at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, est. 1779). He is a director, teacher and theatre researcher and holds Ph.D. and D.Sc. (Theatre Arts).

Modern Stanislavsky System in the Mirror of Chekhov’s “The Seagull”

This two-part workshop gives an experience of work according to the different phases of Stanislavsky’s System development. Starting from the intensive practical overview of different approaches to work of an actor on himself/herself it moves forward to scene work.
Rehearsal techniques (Etude technique, Method of Physical Actions, Action Analysis) are discussed and experienced. Closer examination of Treplev’s play in play reveals how Action Analysis might be applied not only for psychological drama but to the nonrealistic playwriting (here, to symbolic drama) as well.

Workshop fees:
Participants: €400 Student & unwaged: €300
Attendants: €200 Student & unwaged: €100