Category: 2019
-
Staging Week
When creating a performance for the workshop, whether it be a small exercise or a scripted play, three important questions are asked: What will you say? How will you say it? And what will you do while saying it? With the completion of writing week, we have the first question answered. But the latter two…
-
Tickets for MXTW 2019 Now Available
This summer, Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop presents speaking thunder: theater. Featuring pieces inspired by the target story, Rapunzel.
-
Writing Week
The third week of the workshop marks a shift in the kind of work we do. No longer are we exploring our abilities and interests through exercises and reading. Instead, with our target story and author techniques chosen, it is time to begin creating. But just how do we start this new work? The writing…
-
Session 8: Letting Our Hair Down
Ahhhh, breathe it in folks. That is the smell of Target Story Decision day. Debate hangs deliciously in the air as we look over our impressive list of ninety-four suggestions for the Target Story. We are all beyond excited to get to the end of the session when we will know which of these stories…
-
Session 7: How Far We’ve Come
“It’s always incredible how much you can learn and the number of skills you can acquire over these three-hour sessions.” Gwethalyn said this to the participants today, and it is really amazing when you think about it: The actors met for the first time less than two weeks ago, they have had only six sessions…
-
Session 6: Colliding Images
“It was a wordless world she gave me.” The participants started today’s session by disrupting everyday speaking patterns using this line from the Diane Glancy play we would be reading later. First, they tried manipulating the speed of the line: saying it as fast as they could, as slow as they could, and speeding up…
-
Session 5: Making Music
Megan called today’s rehearsal “the best day of the year” because we were scheduled to play Word Jazz–her favorite game. Every participant, past and present, could tell you their favorite exercise from the workshop if you asked them (mine is Quartets). But why do we get so excited for the same games over and over…
-
Session 4: Problems and Solutions
Today we temporarily moved from our usual rehearsal space to the JNT Company office space. A little disoriented, but ready to keep learning, we started our session by exploring our new space. How is the size and shape of the room different? How is the sound different? How does the concrete floor feel on bare…
-
Session 3: The Task is Masks
I’ve realized that after today’s workshop, we are halfway through the reader! It’s always surprising to me just how quickly the workshop goes. But clearly, we are not stopping for anybody as we rolled through the day’s exercises with gusto and a new sense of focus. We began with an exercise in which the participants,…