Fabrizio Paladin
Fabrizio Paladin is an award winning actor, playwright and musician who comes from the small town of Treviso, just outside Venice, Italy. With an expertise in Commedia dell Arte and improvisation, he holds a graduate degree from University of Bologna in Literature and Philosophy. He has worked with Aldo Sassi, Claudio Morganti, Luca de Fusco, and Commedia master Antonio Fava - a collaboration that took him as far as Honolulu and Tokyo. Fabrizio performs his original productions in Italy, and often tours throughout Europe and the United States.

Fabrizio's book about Commedia, mask, and improvisation, Teatro E La Maschere, has just been published by FIRENZELIBR

JUST ANNOUNCED!!!!!!

Master teacher Fabrizio Paladin returns to AMS for a 6-Day intensive workshop on the traditional art form of Commedia dell'Arte!

August 5th - 10th
Tue-Fri Evenings, 6pm-9pm
Sat-Sun All Day, 9am-6pm
Price: $500

Fabrizio will walk you methodically through all of the necessary techniques and understandings needed to effectively and authentically perform Commedia and create your own performances. You will learn the history of Commedia, how to work effectively with the masks, the essential shape and movement of the classic Characters, like Arlecchino, Columbina, and Pantalone, the stock Canovaccio (plot outlines), Lazzi (stage gags), the secrets of good comic timing. You will also learn the techniques to create Canovaccio of you own.

Fabrizio’s workshops are physically intensive, immersing the students in the physical world of Commedia from day one. Each day of the workshop ends with the students presenting what they have developed to the class in the form of a “show.”

About Commedia dell’Arte: Commedia is the famous masked comic theatre tradition which originated with groups of travelling players in Renaissance Italy. Known for its classic stock characters and scenarios, improvisatory style, comic gags, it was also one of the only outlets for political satire of the day, and also provided the first opportunity for women to perform on stage. For actors, directors and teachers, Commedia dell'Arte is an invaluable skill, endowing performers with newfound control over their physical presence, adding clarity and power to their choices, freeing the improvisational spirit, and promoting listening and presence through ensemble collaboration. The influences of Commedia dell’Arte are felt even to this day and can be seen in the work of our greatest comedians on television, film, and theater, from Chaplin to Seinfeld, Buster Keaton to Jack Black and Jim Carey. Don’t miss this second chance in 2008 to work with master Fabrizio Paladin!

Catherine Fitzmaurice Technique
Voice Labs with Ilse Pfeifer

Summer Institute
Fall Workshops TBA


Visiting, Guest Artist Catherine Fitzmaurice
Fitzmaurice Voicework is a comprehensive approach to voice training that can include, as needed, work on breathing, resonance, speech, dialects, impromptu speaking, text, singing, and voice with movement. While the training is specific, it is also compatible with other approaches.

MAIN FEATURES:
Physicality: we develop awareness of patterns of vocal effort through a series of gentle and/or rigorous exercises, accessing the body's own healing systems for deep release.
Breath: we explore the central role that breathing plays in both voice production and the imagination, encouraging whole body oxygenation without forcing the breath.

Vocal Quality: we cultivate the ability to accurately communicate our thoughts and feelings while meeting the demands of text, space, and the immediate moment, through both spontaneity and choice.

Practical Results: we reduce strain in the voice, increase vocal range and expressivity, make speech easy and clear, and communicate intention more effectively, allowing creativity to flow.

Vocal Rehabilitation: we can help to resolve many functional vocal difficulties.

BIO: Ilse Pfeifer
is Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework and has taught at the Actors Center, Gate Acting Conservatory, NYU Playwrights Horizons and as guest teacher at Eastern Connecticut State University, Fordham University, Eastern New Mexico University, University of New Mexico and Sioux Falls University. She has taught in Germany at the Freie Universitaet Berlin and Berlin School of Performing Arts. Ilse holds graduate diplomas from the Royal Academy of Dancing and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing in London. She received honors as a Pew Fellowship in the Arts Discipline Winner in Choreography and Dance - based Performing Art. Her work has been presented by Lincoln Center out - of - Doors Festival and PS 122 in NYC and Next Move Festival at Center, American Music Theater Festival, Movement Theater International, City Dances and PBS in Philadelphia.

BIO: Catherine Fitzmaurice
teaches voice and text to private clients in New York City, as well as around the United States and internationally. She has taught voice and text at Yale School of Drama, Harvard/A.R.T., the Juilliard School, NYU's Graduate Acting program, ACT, UCLA, USC, New York's Actors Center, London University, the Central School of Speech and Drama, in workshops and seminars, and in theatre and medical conference presentations for voice professionals. She is Professor of Theatre at the University of Delaware, where she teaches acting to undergraduates.

Catherine's article, "Breathing is Meaning," describing the origins and methods of her approach to voice training, is published by Applause Books in THE VOCAL VISION, ed. Marian Hampton, New York, 1997; her article, "Zeami Breathing," is published in the Internet Journal, "Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts," Vol. 1, #1, March 2000, and in "The Voice and Speech Review," Vol. #1, August 2000; and her article, "Structured Breathing," is published in the VASTA Newsletter, Spring 2003,Vol. 17, #1.

One night with World Acclaimed Master Teacher

Summer Institute Facilty
To Register: ams@actorsmovementstudio.com

Voice and Classical Text “Shakespeare”

Andrew Wade was Head of Voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 - 2003.He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 as Assistant Voice Director to Cicely Berry. When he took over the Department his responsibilities involved overseeing all the voice work for the RST, Swan and TOP and for all touring, residences and up until the Company leaving the Barbican in 2001, the work in London as well. He co-directed and devised with Cicely Berry Journey's, Words, Words, Words, More Words and Lifespan - a poetry and prose collection collated into a theatrical program, being commissioned by the BBC World Service and winning a Bronze Medal at the International Radio Festival in New York in 2000.Andrew has a particular interest in exploring language practically, which he fulfills by working with youngsters, students, teachers and academics. Andrew has traveled widely, lecturing, leading Master Classes and Workshops, as well as coaching with theatre companies and actors abroad - Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Singapore, Switzerland and extensively in the United States of America. He has published several articles on his work. In conjunction with Cicely Berry, they have recorded WORKING HAKESPEARE, a series on voice and text work with Helen Hunt, Samuel L Jackson, Toby Stevens, Clare Danes, Blythe Danner, Emily Watson and introduced by Jeremy Irons. He is currently working with Source Books on SHAKESPEARE EXPERIENCE, editions of Shakespearean recordings, plus audio excerpts with contemporary actors, currently As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet. Andrew trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama from 1973-1976. He has worked in many different drama schools including Mountview Theatre School, the Rose Bruford College, the Arts Educational School and was Head of Voice at East 15.Andrew was Verse Consultant on the film SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. He also coached Courtney Love for the role of Lady Macbeth, which is currently in the making. Andrew has just returned from Toronto after working on the new musical LORD OF THE RINGS

Lecoq Workshop A Technique for an “Actor-Centered Theatre”

Master Teachers TBA

Jacques Lecoq believed in movement-based training for actors that would equip them to be playful, spontaneous and creative. His training also holds that the generation of ensemble is crucial to a working process that is collaborative. His emphasis is on the actor-as creator rather than an interpreter of text. Lecoq work is somatic and openly connected to the spectator. It is through this visceral connection that events occur that can only happen in the medium of live theatre. This workshop will focus on “actor-centered theatre” – with the actor-as-creator and collaborator; by practicing the exercises and group explorations somatically; and, finally, by maintaining an open and direct relationship with the audience.

Solo exercises and small group work include:

1. Exploration into the 4 principle elements – water, fire, wind and earth with use of the neutral mask.
2. Neutral mask encounters with unlikely elements.
3. “Gestural Language”, silent and vocal, including figurative or transformational mime.
4. “Profound Mimage” in connection with the genre, style and text of the summer intensive: for example, finding the inner gestures of primary Edwardian characters.

MASTER MASK CLASS

Taught by Master Teacher
Shelley Wyant

Summer Institute Faculty
Workshop
Mask Class Curriculum

T H E    N E U T R A L    M A S K

PART ONE
Exploring Transformation

• Transformation Exercise: A comprehensive hands-on introduction into the world of the mask.
• Explore the Room: Further discoveries using the freedom provided in the mask world.
• Chairs: Integration of the full body and the mask.

PART TWO
The Four Stages of Man
• Toddler. Adolescent, Adult, Elderly
• Scales

PART THREE
Hinge Moments
Using the breath and focus finding the elements that allow the body to speak. Choreography of grand moments of change from Shakespeare, Mythology, The Bible and Fairy Tales.

C H A R A C T E R    M A S K
PART FOUR
(pre-requisite, two of preceding three sections)
This section utilizes the 3/4 or half mask with the actor's own mouth exposed. With the return of the voice, a vast array of characters that populate the classroom. Actor muscles flex and develop.

 Shelley Wyant
Founding Artistic Director of internationally acclaimed mask & puppet performance company Mask Work Unlimited, Shelley has taught classes and workshops for NYU, Yale, Circle in the Square, Smith, Brown, Stella Adler Conservatory, The Actors Studio MFA Program, and Bard College, among many others. She worked with Jacques LeCoq, studied in Bali with Idi Bagnus Anom, and apprenticed for years to Pierre LeFevre of The Juilliard School. Shelley’s recent directing and coaching credits include shows for Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Terrence McNally’s A PERFECT GANESH at Manhattan Theatre Club

Mind –Body- Voice Connection                                               
A Psychophysical approach to Acting 

Michael Chekhov Technique
Williamson Technique

Click here for class schedule
Cost $300 8 weeks
Early Registration Discount 50.00

• 9 viewpoints
• Atmospheres
• Quality of Movement
• Kinesthetic Awareness
• Sensation
• Imagination

Summer Intensive Faculty
Tools for the Actor
Mime and Pantomime with BILL BOWERS offers an introduction to these art forms; include a brief history of Mime, physical warm-up, and movement improvisation. Participants will learn illusory skills, and have the opportunity to incorporate mime technique into their acting work. Ideally students will begin to gain an awareness of how pantomimic skill and corporeal style enhance and impact actor training. This workshop is open to all, movers and non movers.

Please dress comfortably and be prepared to move.

BILL BOWERS
He presently teaches at New York University, and is a teaching artist for the PaperMill Playhouse, Urban Stages, and the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education. He regularly presents workshops and master classes, and has studied with the legendary Marcel Marceau

As an actor, mime and educator, Bill Bowers has traveled throughout the United States. His original mime shows, ' NIGHT SWEETHEART 'NIGHT BUTTERCUP and UNDER A MONTANA MOON have been produced Off Broadway to critical raves.

Margo Jefferson of the The NEW YORK TIMES writes:
"To watch Bill Bowers was to see the technical elements of a style that brings Marcel Marceau readily to mind, joined to the American West. Mime can be wonderful - the air between him and us was his palette."

His Broadway credits include Zazu in THE LION KING, and Leggett in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. He has also appeared in New York at Ensemble Studio Theater, Here, LA MA MA, St. Anne's Warehouse, and the NY Fringe Festival. Bill's regional credits include Berkshire Theater Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Rep of St. Louis, Northshore Music Theater, Two River Theater, Arkansas Rep,George Street Playhouse, Montana Rep, PaperMill Playhouse, the Denver Center, Tennessee Rep, Seven Angels Theater, and the Eugene O'Neill Center.

Bill holds an MFA from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, and an Honorary PhD from his alma mater, Rocky Mountain College.