International Theatre Intensives

Training You Won’t Get Anywhere Else

THALATTA! Theatre International is proud to host a series of unique workshops led by four of the most accomplished theatre makers on the planet. From Hong Kong, Rome and Bucharest, these acclaimed artists will share their techniques and perspectives for the first time in America. This is a singular opportunity for New York based theatre artists to gain a global advantage without having to spend the money on a plane ticket!

Indy Lee (Hong Kong) - Pleasure in Play
Chun Leung (Indy) Lee is an actor, teaching artist, producer and director in Hong Kong. He trained as a stage director in the School of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). He received his Masters degree in Applied Theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. In the past, he worked as an independent actor and director in over 60 productions for different professional companies such as Springtime Production, Prospect Theatre, No Man’s Land, Chung Ying Theatre Company, Sammy and Kitty Drama/Opera and Shunning Presentation Unit. In 2005, Indy joined Theatre Ensemble (Hong Kong). As a director and arts project officer, he established a young theatre program – PIPPOP and directed U & I. PIPPOP combines the aesthetic direction of the company and elements from popular culture in order to bring the creative and theatrical experience to the participants. He is currently in New York as a recipient of a grant from the Asian Cultural Council.

Indy Lee does not think the purpose of training is to destroy the old self in order to build a new one. He believes it is his job to help the actor rediscover his instincts by way of joy and freedom. In this workshop, Indy will explore the relationship between pleasure and performance. Freedom, improvisation and creativity are essential to an actor on the stage, and the state of actor’s body and ability to communicate with an ensemble is critical. Indy will conduct exercises exploring the physicality of actor, the relationship between text and body, and the spatial usages between actors and their performance space. Humor is one of the important elements in Indy’s work and he believe that without actors, there is no theatre.

Mon. July 30th & Tues. July 31st - 6:30pm-10:00pm
Limit: 16 participants
$75

Matteo Tarasco (Italy) - A Dream (But Perhaps Not)
Matteo Tarasco is one of Italy’s most successful and influential young directors. He received his Master’s Degree from Bologna University. For the stage, he has worked as director and adaptor on such productions as Cleopatraccia, Goethe’s Affinita Elettive, Homer’s Odissea, The Song of Songs, The Taming of the Shrew, Virgil’s Eneide, The Opportunity of the Night, The Marriage of Figaro, Questo Spettacolo Non Ha Titolo and Captive of Myself. His television productions with Raisatshow include Hamlet, Die Danton Tod, A Woman from the Sea, Oedipus the King and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Matteo is an associate professor of Modern and Contemporary Theater at Bologna University and is also the author of 'Una Speciale Provvidenza', an essay about the theatre of Anton Chekov He was the winner of the European prize for best young director in 2005 (Personalita Europa 2005 Per Il Teatro).

This international workshop is a cross-cultural exchange for American actors that want to know more about the Italian theatre and how the contemporary Italian Theatre works. Matteo believes the contemporary theater speaks only one language: the language of the heart. The tongue is only the instrument we use to speak. And so if you are dumb in your heart, how can you speak? We will try to find the way to be not dumb in the heart. Using Pirandello’s one act play A dream (but perhaps not) as a basis, we will investigate the relation between dream and reality, reality and truth, stage and life. We will use some psychophysical exercises and training to locate and express the emotions on the stage. We will focus on the actor’s relationship to the play, their body and the stage.

Sat. and Sun., August 18 & 19 - 1:00 – 5:00pm &
Mon. and Tues., August 20 & 21 - 7:00-10:00pm
Limit: 20 participants
$150

Ana Mărgineanu & Peca Stefan (Romania) - Very True Lies
Ana Mărgineanu is one of the most acclaimed Romanian new directors, having to her credit numerous awards. She staged the critically acclaimed and box office Bucharest hit, 89, 89… hot after ’89, which won seven awards in 2005, including Best Show, Best Actor, Best Actress (Romanian Drama Festival Timisoara) and The Jury Award for Innovation (Contemporary Drama Festival Brasov). She is also the director of The Dead and The Living, and Garbage. Ana is one of the directors of the biggest MEDIA Pro TV productions – the one hour drama, Cu un pas înainte (One step ahead).

Peca Stefan is considered to be one of the most innovative and powerful playwrights in new Romanian drama. He won the dramAcum prize (the Romanian award for best new playwright) in 2002. His education includes New York University and he was one of the Royal Court International Playwriting Residents in 2005. He has productions of seven of his plays in Bucharest, Romania. His plays have been presented in the US, the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Russia and many national festivals in Romania. In the fall, he will be a resident at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven.

If during communism, Romanian theatre artists used fiction and metaphor to speak about true life, nowadays the same process is inversed in creating very true lies that speak about contemporary issues. Ana and Peca will use their experiences working on The Sunshine Play and Bucharest Calling, two plays being presented in the FringeNYC this summer, to demonstrate what it is like creating contemporary theatre in Romania today. Their constant work with actors in creating performance is at the basis of the two plays. As a director, Ana has worked numerous times with actors and their biographies, but she uses their real lives in a very special way – it’s about creating "emotional cues" for the actors that help them in any performance. The workshop is not about basing a story on the real actors’ lives, but taking relevant and insightful details from their experience and character in order to construct a completely fictional story.

Thurs., August 23 - 1:00 – 5:00pm
Followed by The Sunshine Play at 7:00pm
Limit: 25 participants
$75 (ticket to performance included)

SPECIAL OFFER: Attend all three workshops for just $250!

Visit http://www.thalattatheatre.blogspot.com/ or www.myspace.com/thalattatheatre for more detailed info about the artists and their workshops.

To register, email theatre.international@gmail.com with your name, phone number and which workshop(s) you would like to attend. Once we receive your request, we will send you a confirmation including information about workshop specifics and payment details. All sessions will be held at TACT Studio, 900 Broadway at 20th.

A Little Sunshine from Bucharest

Mark your calendars for the FringeNYC event of the year. THALATTA! is proud to be a part of getting these fantastic plays written by Peca Stefan and directed by Ana Margineanu seen in the United States. Be sure to come at least one, if not both, of these remarkable pieces. Check out http://www.thesunshineplay.ro/ or http://www.bucharestcalling.ro/ for more information, and be sure to stay tuned for more details about a special workshop on August 23 with Peca and Ana, followed by a performance.

better LATE than never

Now that I'm done the Lab, I can get back to actually seeing theatre and not just talking about. And not a moment too soon. I got a chance to see Passing Strange at the Public last night at 11pm. Got in on a $20 rush ticket. The house was packed and the band was pumping. From the second Stew stepped on the stage, the whole audience knew it was going to be different event. The crowd was younger and more diverse than I'm guessing the typical subscription audience, and it was noticed. The performers (De'Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Stew) were, from what I could gather, in rare form and gave us the performance of a lifetime. I haven't had such unadulterated fun in the theatre in quite some time. I am not one who normally enjoys musical theatre but this was in a class of its own. It's a shame such an amazing production wasn't more affordable to the generations it was intended for. Old, rich, suburban white people just aren't gonna get it. Time to pull out another tired Shakespeare with Liev Schreiber (who was also in the audience) to appease the blue hairs. (My bet is on Richard III.) I don't know if they're going to have a cast album, but I sure feel luck to have seen it in person. As much as I would go out and buy the CD, nothing will compare to being there live.