Acting to me is state where the performer needs to find a point where they can simply release and respond to the environment to let something authentic and truthfully come out and be what we call the “shared experience.” Through a physically based practice the performer learns through the body to read impulses, and to find connection to intuition and intellect. A set of performer responsive skills are developed to communicate with a tuned, sophisticated system comprised of the sound of the voice, the movement of the body, the reading, reacting, and playing with space and gaze, and the understanding of private and public relationships to build dynamics.

The other layer added to this system is placing the participant in states of imbalance or unknowing, basically experimenting with notions of chaos, and unpredictability, to remove preconceived notions of what one should think they should do, rather than just do. The practitioner develops an organic truth and process to perform and direct from. Intuitive and intellectual systems marry with each other, being in constant communication to aid the performer in discovering, and opening resonances that want to slip out and be expressed.

As the internationally known theatre director Peter Brook said, “It is always a mistake for actors to begin their work with intellectual discussion, as the rational mind is not nearly as potent an instrument of discovery as the more secret faculties of intuition. The possibility of intuitive understanding through the body is stimulated and developed in many ways. If this happens, within the same day there can be moments of repose when the mind can peacefully play its true role. Only then will analysis and discussion of the text find their natural place.” (Brook 1993, 20th Century Actor Training, page. 179)

This same approach is utilized for directing. Having the performer go through a series of explorations that question them about impulses, where the voice and body is placed physically, and how that relates to space and gaze developing dynamic, characterization, and the overall interior and exterior architecture of the work. My directing approach is an organic process. It is lead in tandem with the actor and the director, and often cues being taken from the actor. As Ariane Mnouchkine from the Theatre du Soleil states,

“. . . But directing, has nothing to do with positioning; it has to do with opening the soul. You have to manage to crack the souls of the actors and the character like a coconut so that you can see what is inside. I can wait and search for days for something which will surprise me. There is something of the voyeur in this profession. You wait for the moment where an actor reveals himself.” (Ariane Mnouchkine and the Theatre due Soleil, page. 29.)

This philosophy and pedagogy of theatre draws from the sources of western and eastern philosophies of performing specifically focused on Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski, Antoin Artuad, later Stanislavski, some elements of Michael Chechkov, Le Coq and Yoishi Oida. Physical training influenced by yoga, contact improvisation, elements of Feldenkrais, Alexander, Mitzfah, and elements of extended voice work.