Instructor: Janice Orlandi –
Held in-person:
Fall 2025: Physical Technique & Creating Character Transformations
An advanced “Movement for the Actor” course offering cross-training in a variety of psychophysical methods to enrich your approach toward “Character Transformation” and develop a process-oriented “tool-kit” using advanced exercises of Williamson, Viewpoints, Laban and Michael Chekhov Technique. This course is a rigorous and layered physical exploration, designed to build a strong and present acting instrument, a vivid imagination, vulnerability, and physical character traits including: character conditions, history, and altered states. We will explore characters from history and Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, to create physical character studies referenced from Animal, Object, Image, Physical Conditions, Archetype, and Portraits. Explorations of a Character Portrait Exercise lead to transformation and embodiment of the physical qualities, temperament and personal atmosphere of a character. This course also trains you in a “psycho-physical” approach to creating a character through the physical practice and exploration of Michael Chekhov’s core exercises. This approach enables you to use both your imagination and body to transform. Applying the practice and incorporation of these principals, you develop the ability to transform from your everyday life mannerisms and habits into the physical qualities, behavioral rhythms/tempos and spacial dynamics of a character. You gain access to physical and emotional flexibility and range in order to create fascinating characters, rooted in character objectives, connected to your body and voice, with a rich and full access to a wide range of emotions.
The spirit of this approach integrates these combined practices into rigorous actor training, performance stamina, presence, ensemble empathy, emotional availability, with vocal and physical integration leading towards actor-ensemble driven compositions and devised work. We will also explore creating a character, with conditions, cold, hot, sleepy, as in Hagen’s basic exercises and “Altered States”, as in an impediment of drunk or drugged. A rigorous exploration and cross training in Psychophysical Methods for building a strong and present acting instrument, a vivid imagination, vulnerability and ensemble devising. To enrich the actor’s approach to “Character Transformation’ with variety of ensemble building, story telling and devising methods for finding gesture, action and story leading to devised ensemble and solo character improvisations and character etudes.
Topics explored in this course include:
Creating Character Transformations with Michael Chekhov, Williamson Technique, RasaBoxes and Character Atmospheres, Archetype and Gesture, Psychological Gesture, Hagen Conditions, Historical Character, Williamson Period Styles and Period Character, Physical Conditions, Viewpoints Ensemble, Group Atmospheres and Style compositions, Where-When and Event Driven Atmospheres, set in Historical World, Centers, Qualities, and Creating the Character’s imaginary Body.
Summer 2025: Williamson Technique applied to Uta Hagen’s Character Conditions
Williamson Technique is a physical technique for actors developed by Loyd Williamson to expand your physical, emotional and expressive range by integrating the connections between your body, voice, instinct, five senses and imagination. We explore how the body processes experience through the five senses into truthful behavior while involved in the circumstances and relationships of the imaginary world of the play. Through this rigorous movement technique — applying qualities of space, weight, time, qualities, of Movement, the five senses, atmospheric shifts, and exploration of the imaginary world though sensory contact and movement — you develop a flexible, responsive, emotionally available and vocally alive instrument.The practice of a this psychophysical technique is designed to explore, develop, and expand the actor’s process oriented “Tool Kit.”
We apply Williamson Technique to Uta Hagen’s Character Conditions exercise, exploring the physical process of creating a character with “conditions” such as cold, hot or sleepy, and “Altered States” or impediments such as drunk or drugged. With applications to dramatic texts from theatre or film that require or imply a character with a physical condition, impediment or altered state, we explore archetypal essences, qualities and atmospheres for activating the body in space. Using a variety of ensemble building, and devising methods we find gesture, action and story, leading to devised, emotionally charged and atmospheric movement improvisations, incorporating altered speech and vocal shifts or qualities as well as physical shifts in space, weight, tempo and effort, to create the illusion and physical attributes of an altered state or character conditions.