Directing Devised Creation Workshop

Directing Devised Creation

Workshop with Mason Rosenthal

Oct. 2nd, 2:00-4:30

Open to all members of the Penn community.

In devised theatre, artists start with an idea instead of a script, and build the piece from scratch. This allows for unique interdisciplinary experiments in form and content. It's grassroots approach to making is also empowering for artists who don't want to wait for someone else to give them permission to work. It's no wonder devising is on the rise! Especially in Philadelphia, a home to many up and coming companies, along with more established groups like Pig Iron, New Paradise Laboratories, and Headlong. 

This workshop will provide strategies for thinking and making to directors interested in devised performance. The 2.5 hr session will start with physical and vocal warmups, and will be followed by a study of the "creation assignment." We will send each other off to devise tiny performance pieces and reflect on what makes for a good creation prompt.

Mason Rosenthal is is an original performance maker from Skokie, Illinois. He is a Co-Director of Lightning Rod Special and a member of The Medium Theatre Company both devised theatre companies based out of Philadelphia. Mason holds a BFA from New York University where he studied with The Atlantic Theater Company. After graduating, Mason was on faculty at NYU from 2007 to 2011. In 2011 he moved from NYC to Philadelphia to be the Headlong Performance Institute's first teaching fellow. His original work has been supported by FringeArts as a 2012-2013 LAB fellow, The University of Pennsylvania, Wyncote Foundation, and by the Network of Ensemble Theaters.