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2008 Sojourn Theatre One Week Summer Institute
for adults working in Theatre, Education &
Community settings
in Portland, Oregon (July 27-August 2nd)
at Lewis & Clark College
Housing Available
Workshop Leader:
Michael Rohd
***This summer's Institute happens alongside/as part of Sojourn's research/rehearsal for our Summer site specific production BUILT***
Devising Civic Theatre: Performance, Social Practice & Dialogue
Now in it's 9th summer, this 6 day workshop/training offers participants from around the nation (and the world) an opportunity to explore the techniques & strategies Sojourn Theatre artistic director Michael Rohd uses in collaborative work with groups in a variety of settings to:
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- devise performance material
- build community
- examine the potential of site-specific activity
- explore social & political issues through collaborative conceptual, improvisational & physical investigations
In Portland, Oregon at Lewis & Clark College
&
at Portland's South Waterfront
July 27- August 2, 2008
9:30am- 4pm &
evenings 6:30-9:30 (see below)
This summer's institute meets as a training cohort during the day on Sunday July 27 through Thursday July 31st, enabling those going to ATHE to make it to Denver by Evening One. In addition, the cohort will have the option of working during the weekday evenings and participating in a public physical theatre performance Sojourn is creating as part of BUILT on Saturday afternoon August 2. Friday August 1st and Saturday, the institute will shift from workshop/training to final phase of preparation for this performance event on August 2nd. Participants will declare their interest/availability in the performance aspect of the week as part of registration. The Institute fee covers either/both levels of participation
Limit: 30 participants
Fee
$450
Register early, space is limited.
For information or registration email sojourntheatre@aol.com.
For housing on campus (availability begins Saturday evening July 26), contact Sally Earll at ccps@lclark.edu or 503.768.6040- NOT Sojourn Theatre.
More information on the workshop
'Civic theatre' aims to bring an adventurous theatricality to a focused interrogation of contemporary issues by offering spaces for civic engagement throughout the process of developing new performance- it's a porous series of events combining research, participatory activity, and studio (artist-focused) sessions that allow, invite and demand community members and community expertise into the dramaturgy before and after production in a variety of ways. This institute offers sequences of physical activity, solo to group work, and devising strategies that investigate the relationship between story, idea, perspective and fact.
Influences reflected during the workshop/training week include Ping Chong, Pina Bausch, Cornerstone Theater, Augusto Boal, ensemble theater practice, Dwight Conquergood, the growing field of site-responsive/social practice performance, Lynn Blom, Dorothy Heathcote, Living Stage & Paolo Freire.
Workshop Leader Bio
Michael Rohd has been exploring the intersection of theatre and democracy for years with Sojourn Theatre and through his projects with collaborators and universities around the nation. He is founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre in Portland, Oregon, a 2005 recipient of Americans for the Arts' Animating Democracy Exemplar Award. His work there as creator/director/performer includes GOOD (his critically acclaimed site specific Brecht adaptation at a car dealership), The War Project (2005 Drammy, Best ensemble), 7 Great Loves (five 2003 Drammy awards including Best Production and Best Director), and Witness Our Schools (9 months of Oregon and national touring). Rohd is a recipient of Theatre Communication Group's 2001 New Generations Grant, and their 2002 Extended Collaboration Grant with Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. An associate artist with Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles and an artistic associate with Ping Chong & Co in New York City, in Fall 2007 he began a two year Visiting Professorship at Northwestern University as the Ethel M Barber Chair in Theatre with a focus on Devising Performance & Civic Engagement. His work has been supported by Ford Foundation, the NEA, Rockefeller's MAP Fund, Doris Duke Foundation and Arts Councils in states around the nation including CA, OR, LA, NE & VA, He is author of the book Theatre for Community, Conflict, and Dialogue, and has recently premiered new work in Illinois, Idaho, New York & Australia. He has an MFA in Directing and Public Dialogue from Virginia Tech, where he studied with Bob Leonard.
The Project we are working on: BUILT
Sojourn Theatre is the August Artist-in-Residence at Portland's South Waterfront. With a focus on Portland, Sojourn Theatre's BUILT explores the changing United States City and the challenges/opportunities that infrastructure, sustainability and equity all present as our nation's population dramatically increases beyond estimated housing capacity in the coming years.
BUILT is a place-based summer series of research, installation, dialogue and performance events leading up to a site-specific performance production at Portland's South Waterfront Development site. Following a drafting/research/lab period in Chicago during Spring, 2008, the heart of the project is a 5-6 week residency in Portland July- August 2008 and a culminating 5 day performance event/production.
The public conversations will examine issues of ethics and responsibility, hope and vision. How is community created? Who is served by development? What public perceptions and assumptions shape policy? What are the ethics of urban planning in complex, economically stratified cities? Do green values include human rights as well as environmental stewardship? What is the experience of being a settler in an urban area? On being the first to live somewhere new? What do people, all kinds of people, want from the place where they live?
With BUILT, Sojourn continues its pursuit of actions and practice that make use of complex research and cultural context to move beyond documentary, beyond civic dialogue, and create compelling, engaging theatre that demands presence and actual exchange from everyone involved.
Register early, space is limited.
For information or registration email sojourntheatre@aol.com.
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