Epic Theater Citizen Artist Conference

August 27, 2009 by Carrie Edel Isaacman 

I attended an amazing and inspiring workshop few weeks ago at the Citizen Artist Conference hosted by the Epic Theater Ensemble. I appreciate Epic Theater’s approach to working with kids is their work with community through Augusto Boal’s Exercises. These exercises empower the students to connect to community and to feel responsible for change.

We opened with Boal’s The Great Game of Power. After the game, four students who have been part of Epic’s summer workshop entered and read scenes from their adaptations of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. It was great to see well-crafted scenes about current topics based on the themes of Enemy of the People of course, but even more inspiring, these were young people in high school who were just crafting their playwriting skill. What I didn’t know at the time was that these were the type of plays that we would be creating over the course of the weekend. Epic has many curriculum. The Enemy of the People curriculum is just one.

On the second day of the Conference, we had the chance to create our own works based on Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, just as we had seen from the students the previous day. As one of the Epic Theater member’s explained, to be able to give this lesson, a person has to really know the play. The class was divided up into four groups. There were five categories that we used in order to create our own idea for a new play. The main idea was that the play had to have a main character that would be an enemy of the people in some way. For example, an owner of a hotel who was covering up health issues like eroding pipes that were of real danger to the guests. The next step was that all four groups had to pitch the ideas to the class. Then we had to vote as to which story was the strongest. The idea that was the strongest was the one that we would write scenes about.

What was important was the reactions from people as the group did not accept their ideas. We talked about this afterwards. This was a lesson for all of us in the room. It is hard to produce artistic projects. Really hard. Things do get… complicated.

The following exercises we created characters and did improvs on the main idea for the story that we chose. In our case it was a school meeting where there was a debate about the use of styrofome plates and the health of students who use those plates. Afterwards, we broke up into groups and wrote individual scenes using a very simple format that the Epic Theater uses. After that we shared our improvs that were based on the checklist each group produced.

How I Hope To Use These Exercises

I would like to have my own classroom one day and I’d like to include the study of various forms of historical drama. I am sure that I will find my own way of teaching, of course, but I admire the use of Boal’s exercises and Critical Thinking exercises of classic plays in the way that Epic teaches. I would like to borrow these ideas and techniques for my future students.

And I know that Epic is happy to pass on their ideas, as at the end of the conference, we received a Curriculum Guide.

Integrating Epic’s Techniques To My Teaching Artist Work

I have taught techniques to kids to play and understand Shakespeare’s words. Epic’s lesson plans teach students to put stories into the present day and empowers them to create their own stories while they are learning a story that is very removed from them. Using these techniques would ultimately help me, to help students understand and gain a world of knowledge about the story that they are working on. It would also help me ,to help students create their own stories and learn more about their own world.

I hope that you will all get to experience the workshop the next time around.

Also, be sure to check out Epic Theater Ensembles upcoming production: Mahilda’s Extra Key To Heaven by Russell Davis and directed by Will Pomerantz, September 16-October 11.

Carrie Edel Isaacman is a regular guest blogger, look for her monthly posts to come out on the 27th of the month. She is currently working as an Adjunct Lecturer through CUNY and substitute teaching in the NYC Public Schools while she pursues her MS in Educational Theater at City College. She is also involved in TA 101 with New York State Alliance for Arts in Education.

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Filed under: Acting, Educational Theater, New York, Theater/Theatre
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Casting Director Twitters at Audition

August 14, 2009 by Dennis Baker 

daryl eisenberg twitterThe theatreosphere has been up in arms in what is being called “Twittergate”. It is focused around casting director Daryl Eisenberg, who was making comments about actors’ auditions during an EPA of New York Musical Theatre Festival’s “Gay Bride of Frankenstein.” She has been twittering about previous auditions, but this one seemed to go public once over 200 people notified Broadwayworld.com’s “Twitter Watch“.

The story got big enough that it was covered by The New York Times’ ArtsBeat. The heightened exposure drew response from the producer Billy Butler, composer Marc Shaiman, and casting director Paul Russell. I think Russell’s blog post was the most insightful observation from all that was written. From reading his book and blog, what I appreciate about Russell’s perspective is that he is honest and does not hold back, while at the same time is able to care for the process and rigor actors, and all entertainment professionals, go through while working in a hard business.

It’s behavior such as yours Ms. Eisenberg that makes me ashamed at times to be a “gate keeper”. For that’s all we are. A casting director’s job was not created out of need but out of convenience for the creative team. Before casting directors existed, producers, directors and stage managers did the leg work that has become our trade. We’re expendable. This current economic crisis and our dwindling client base as budgets are cut should have made you more than aware of that reality

Actors deserve better treatment from those behind the audition table. I was once an actor. I have a great empathy for them. I don’t know if you Ms. Eisenberg were once an actor. If so; you should be damned ashamed of how you have treated those who now stand where you once stood. If you never had the displeasure of auditioning consider yourself fortunate that you never had to endure what actors in your audition room experienced this past week.

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