International Theatre Summer Academy

Festival Story:

European Association for Theatre Culture — Founded in 1995 under the artistic direction of Professor Dr. Jurij Alschitz, EATC links together international theatre centres to provide a framework for continuous learning, experiment and research. The EATC is an unusual network - namely a network of ideas - with the shared objective of acquiring, accumulating and disseminating knowledge and theatre expertise. The “Team Teaching” model enables a European ensemble of teachers to teach a self-enclosed pedagogical system in a fully multi-lingual environment; this puts the theoretical quest for a new theatrical language into practice and in particular brings together theatre cultures worldwide.

Masters Programmes, laboratories, colloquia and the international festival “Methodika” have the objective of exploring and imparting methodological principles for actor training.

The co-ordinating centre in Berlin, AKT-ZENT was appointed Research Centre of the International Theatre Institute. AKT-ZENT conducts with partner organisations and universities World Theatre Training Laboratories for methodological practice-based research in all continents; the results are to be published in all UNESCO languages in the 10-volume WORLD THEATRE TRAINING LIBRARY.

Festival Events:

Stanislavsky — Program dedication 2013:

• This year’s International Theatre Summer Academy is dedicated to the great Russian theatre teacher Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky, born 150 years ago on the 17th January 1863, yet still alive today. There is not one theatre practitioner who does not measure him or herself in relation to Stanislavsky - working with one or another aspect of his “system”, being an obedient follower or in constant debate, developing his ideas for modern theatre or out rightly denying his approach. However, we are all children and descendants of this one big theatre family. Isn’t that a reason for celebration?
  How shall we celebrate Stanislavsky?
  To continue innovative work and research for theatre we must look at his ideas and proposals with new eyes, examining what is relevant for theatre in the 21st century.
  For this International Theatre Summer Academy the artistic director Jurij Alschitz invites actors, directors, dramaturges, playwrights, theatre teachers and students of all these professions to enter the cosmos of Stanislavsky’s work. Jurij Alschitz himself was a student of Prof. J.N. Malkovsky, one of Stanislavsky’s pupils before his death. Today Alschitz is regarded as one of the main innovators for theatre training, not only in Russia but worldwide.
  Any system has its limits; to keep heritage alive we need to understand the complexity of its ideas and the philosophy behind them. The aim of this Theatre Summer Academy is to give participants an insight into the fundamentals of Stanislavsky. If one understand these, it is possible to continue and develop them forever, and in the most diverse directions. The participants of the International Theatre Summer Academy will work on different levels; through the shared lectures of Jurij Alschitz on the main themes of Stanislavsky’s work with special emphasis on the theme “Theatre Ethics”, and in three separate practical courses. The lectures will enlighten the subjects of the three courses, each of them starting from the original idea and practice of Stanislavsky, before proposing a new development and methodology for today’s theatre. The first course will begin with:
• Stanislavsky and the Birth of Ensemble - My Life in Art in the 21st Century An Actor’s Work on a Role - The Vertical of the Role The Method of Analysis through Acting - the Method of Explosion
  In the evenings, there will be films, colloquia, presentations of the practical work and performances at La Corte Ospitale; in short - three weeks of intensive life in art.

Course Programme 2013:

• FOR ACTORS — I. Stanislavsky and the Birth of Ensemble - My Life in Art in the 21st Century (teacher: Riccardo Palmieri) Following the ideas of Stanislavsky in the book MY LIFE IN ART our work will be focused on the creation of one ensemble. How this can happen? What does it mean - ensemble? What exercises, which ways of training and rehearsal could develop it? The ensemble is a “live organism” composed by the artists who created it. As a live organism it has a special life, with special rules. We will try to open this subject by following the idea that the ensemble is related to Pause, Ritual and Energy. Our aim: The birth of an ensemble as an action played by artists.
• FOR ACTORS — II. An Actor’s Work on a Role - The Vertical of the Role (teacher: Christine Schmalor) The Vertical of the Role, developed by J. Alschitz, is a method of the actor’s self-preparation; a logical continuation of Stanislavsky’s work in times of shortened rehearsal periods, such as TV and movie productions. Moreover it opens a spiritual connection between the character and the author’s ideas. The encounter with a new role is an exciting and intimate moment, which belongs to the actor. To create of a new life on stage means to decipher the different parts of the role. Meeting the character is a special process full of secrets. In one instant something new and unique might appear, as it does alchemy. Specific training on energy and composition will support you to build and to act your Vertical of the Role. Material: A. Chekhov THE CHERRY OCHARD.
• FOR DIRECTORS AND TEACHERS — III. The Method of Acting Analysis - the Method of Explosion (Jurij Alschitz)
  In his last years, Stanislavsky created a new mode of rehearsal, which he shared with his students: analysing through acting. One of them, the great Russian teacher Maria Knebel, developed the Method of Analysis through Acting and shaped a whole generation of Russian theatre directors. This method gave life to different modifications in rehearsal methods practiced today all over the world. Jurij Alschitz will propose directors and teachers several rehearsal methods: how to work with the play, the scene, the text and the word; principles and rules for the analysis of the text and the analysis of acting; how to guide actors to use “etude” and improvisation for analysis and creation. Introduction to the Method of Explosion. Material: A. Chekhov THE CHERRY OCHARD. The participants of this course will chose for their Training “Ensemble” or “Vertical of the Role” All courses will be held in English; on stage: mother tongue.

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