Module 4
August 1 – 5th 2024, Groznjan, Croatia
“All true artists bear within themselves a deeply rooted and often unconscious desire for transformation.” (Michael Chekhov)
When children play games, we can observe their desire to transform and change – they lose themselves in play and fully commit to another world.
The “Other” (the character in a play) is always bigger than the personal experience of the performer. Michael Chekhov therefore asks us to look at the differences between the character and ourselves rather than at the similarities. If we dive into the inner and outer world of this other person, we will discover a whole new world and will find ourselves in a new light.
A profound movement training combined with the awareness for the images you create through movement is the base of this module. Participants will experience the connection between inner images, emotional authenticity, and the creation of truthful characters.
Imaginary Body – Imaginary Centers –Thinking, Feeling, Willing – Objectives – Relationships – The Character’s Spirituality – Transformation – Work on monologues and scenes
For your preparation, please learn a short monologue and scene from A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.
Participants come from different countries all over Europe. The meeting of different cultural backgrounds and the common desire to investigate, to inspire and to learn, create a unique atmosphere of the Michael Chekhov International Summer Academy.
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in collaboration with the
Academy of Dramatic Art University of Zagreb
StudioChekhov Croatia
Michael Chekhov Europe
FACULTY:
Jesper Michelsen, MCE, Denmark
Suzana Nikolić, MCE, Croatia
Burcu Halacoglu, MCE, Turkey
Cynthia Ashperger, Canada
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Jesper Michelsen
Current occupation:
CEO, Artistic Director and Acting Teacher, Glad Teater
Co- artistic director and teacher at Michael Chekhov Europe Training
Leadership
2006 – present: CEO and Artistic Director Glad Teater (Founder of Glad Teater in 2006)
2008 – present: Part of the leadership of Michael Chekhov Europe (Co- Founder of Michael Chekhov Europe)
Stage Director
WOYZECK, Glad Teater 2023
LOVE, SALON#4, Glad Teater 2021
WOYZECK, SALON#3, Glad Teater 2020
SCREAM, SALON#2, Glad Teater 2019 METAMORPHOSES, Glad Teater 2014
HEROES, Glad Teater and Tour 2013.
MOMENTS, Østre Gasværk Teater, Copenhagen 2012 CITY LIGHTS, Glad Teater and Tour 2009
THE SNOW QUEEN, Glad Teater 2007
Teaching
2008 – present: Teaching the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique in workshops in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Taiwan and Croatia with
Michael Chekhov Europe Training 2006 – present Teaching at Glad Teater.
1997 – 2010 Teaching acting students, actors, high school students and children in acting technique and drama.
Formal Education
Workshops with MISCHA Michael Chekhov Association, New York. 2004- 2007 BA in Theatre and Pedagogics from University of Copenhagen 2005
Actors Training, The Actors Workshop, Copenhagen 1997- 1999
Shorter Courses
2012 Leadership and Communication, Britt Bargfeldt, Confederation of Danish Enterprise 2011 Media training, Margrethe Lyngs Mortensen, Lyngs Communication.
2009 Narrative Method, Anna Fjeldsted, Center for Narrative Therapy
More info:
www.gladteater.dk www.michaelchekhov.eu www.michaelchekhoveurope.eu
Suzana Nikolić
Actress, Producer, Director, Acting Teacher
- Professor at the Academy of Dramatic Art (ADU), University of Zagreb
Ms Nikolić graduated at The Academy of Dramatic Art University of Zagreb in 1988, and was a Fulbright scholar at NYU – Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting Program (1998/99). She is an award winning actress with credits in theatre performances, feature films, television films & serials, as well as radio, and has over 25 years of additional acting and voice training abroad.
She is a Founder and Artistic Director of Performing Arts Etra and StudioChekhov Croatia. Ms Nikolic’s organizational and producing credits include over a dozen international workshops, most concerning voice and speech work and Michael Chekhov Acting Technique.
Ms Nikolić produced the M. I. Fornes play MUD, staged at ZeKaEm, Zagreb in 2004. Ms Nikolic has worked and taught professionally with the Michael Chekhov Technique for over 25 years and received the MICHA teaching certificate of completion in 2004. In 2004 and 2019 Ms Nikolić edited the Croatian translation of Michael Chekhov’s To the Actor – On the Technique of Acting. Since 1999 she has been teaching throughout Europe, Israel, Turkey, Columbia, USA and Asia.
For The Academy of Dramatic Art, she was a Vice Dean for International Affairs from 2004 – 2006, Head of Voice and Speech Department from 2006 – 2010, and Head of Acting Department 2016 – 2018. Ms Nikolić is curently a Head of Voice and Speech Department at ADU-University of Zagreb (2023/24).
Ms Nikolić taught Michael Chekhov Technique at Shanghai Theatre Academy in China from 2019 to 2022, at BA and MA acting program.
She wrote a book Actor of the Future translated to Chinese, and published in China in 2024.
Ms Nikolić directed The Bald Soprano by E. Ioneco at ZeKaEm in 2023, as her first professional direction in the theatre.
She is a co-founder of Michael Chekhov Europe and Michael Chekhov Europe Training Program, a guest lecturer at Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey, and a faculty member at The Michael Chekhov Organization, MICHA, New York, USA.
Burcu Halacoglu
is an actress working for theaters, films and series. At the same time she teaches acting at Performing Arts Department and is the head of this department at Istanbul Bilgi University. She obtained her BA Degree in Performing Arts from Istanbul Bilgi University, MA Degree in Cinema and Television from Anadolu University and PhD from Istanbul University, Program of Dramaturgy and Theatre Criticism. Her main research and practice areas are acting and acting techniques.
She has translated Michael Chekhov’s book “To The Actor” into Turkish. In 2019 she became a member of Michael Chekhov Europe (MCE) and co-founded Michael Chekhov Istanbul. Since then she has been teaching Michael Chekhov Technique.
In 2013 she co-founded their own theatre company TiyatroPol. She sometimes writes and directs for this company. Nowadays she performs at Balat Monologlar Müzesi Project and TV series “Taş Kağıt Makas”.
Dr Cynthia Ashperger
Dr Ashperger has been teaching acting at School of Performance Toronto Metropolitan University since 1995 and was appointed Director of Acting in 2004 and until 2019. She has four decades of professional experience as an actor, director, producer, teacher and playwright. She has taught Chekhov Technique and lectured and directed nationally and internationally in Australia, Croatia, England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Japan, Korea, Serbia and Slovenia.
She has an extensive list of acting and film and TV credits. Most recently Honey Bunch, Of May, Murdoch Mysteries, Violation. In 2013 she was nominated for a Dora award, Outstanding Performance for her role in Feral Child, and in 2016 for Canadian Screen Award, Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role for The Waiting Room.
She has directed some forty productions. Most recently: The Three Sisters by Anton P. Chekhov, The Tilco Strike by D’Arcy Jennish, The Great Shadow by Alex Poch Goldin. Her musical Foreign Tongue premiered to critical acclaim in 2019 at The Next Stage Festival and is currently being developed for film and TV.
Publications: The Anthology of English Canadian Drama in Croatian Translation (International Theatre Institute, Mansioni Editions, Croatia, 2021) The Rhythm of Space and the Sound of Time. Michael Chekhov’s Acting Technique in the 21st century (Editions Rodopi of Amsterdam; New York, 2007). Stanislavski and Directing: Theory, Practice and Influence is titled Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture in the Directing Process (2009). “The Daughter of the Air”, an article in Trans-gendered Imaginary of Nina Arsenault (ed. Judith Rudakoff, Intellect Press, 2011). Michael Chekhov’s Five Guiding Principles and Theatre Practice Today. The Case of “Tender Napalm” by Phillip Ridley for the new Routledge Companion to Michael Chekhov (2015). Foreign Tongue in Scripting (Im)migration, an anthology of immigrant themed plays edited by Yana Meerzon for Playwright’s Canada Press (2019).
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PLACE & DATE
Place: Grožnjan
Date: 1 – 5th, August 2024
From: 10.00AM – 5.30PM (incl. 90 min. break)
Language: English / Participants may act in their own language
Please plan your arrival on Wednesday afternoon (July 31st) at latest and leaving on Tuesday later in the morning (August 6th).
There will be a reception and introduction evening on July 31st at 8.00PM at the facilities of the Academy.
There will be one free afternoon on Friday August 3rd.
Please read a play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and choose a scene and a character to work with throughout the workshop. Please memorize your lines.
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Costs
Application before July 15th, 2024: € 440,
Application after July 15th, 2024: € 480
Participants from Croatia and non-EU-countries can apply for a grant / discount (limited number only).
Housing and food are not included.
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Practical info:
Accommodation: We can arrange accommodation for you in a dormitory for about 25 € per day. It is usually two or three bedrooms with shared bathrooms. There are some single bedrooms available. Please, let us know what is more convenient for you. If you prefer private accommodation which costs around 50 – 70€, please go to Booking.com or Airbnb.
Eating in Groznjan: There are a few restaurants where you can eat all kind of food (pasta, meat, fish, pizza – all available at reasonable prices).
Currency: Euro
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HOW TO GET TO GROZNJAN
TRIESTE (Italy) – GROZNJAN (1 hour drive by car or bus)
If you fly to Trieste, you need to go from the airport to the bus station in Trieste and take the bus to BUJE in CROATIA! Check out for the daily bus schedule beforehand. It may happen that the bus from Trieste to Buje does not operate every day, or it is scheduled only once per a day, before noon.
In the case you miss the bus from Trieste to Buje, you should take taxi or ask us for the assistance.
ZAGREB – GROZNJAN (4 hour drive by car or bus)
If you fly to Zagreb, go from the airport to the main bus station in the city, and take the bus to BUJE (5 minutes drive from Groznjan) or UMAG (20 minutes drive from Groznjan).
Since there is no direct public transportation to Groznjan, you will be picked up in BUJE or UMAG, just make sure to let us know when and where you are arriving. FB group will be created to help us be connected all the time.
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HOW TO APPLY
Please fill in the application form and mail it to: studiochekhov.zagreb@gmail.com
Please apply until July 15, at latest.
Applications will be registered once the application form has been received and the fee is paid. Your place will be confirmed by mail as soon as possible thereafter. Your application is definite and irrevocable. The fee is non-refundable, unless someone else fills your place (for example, from a possible waiting list). In that case there will be an administrative charge of 50 €.
Payment to:
Landesbank Berlin – Berliner Sparkasse
IBAN: DE70100500000190265264
BIC: BELADEBEXXX
“2024, Groznjan”
No later than 14 days before the workshop begins you will be sent further details concerning the training and practical matters. You will be given a receipt of your payment at the end of the workshop.
The organizers are not responsible for any claims regarding loss or theft of valuables, or in cases of accidents or illness.
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CONTACT
studiochekhov.zagreb@gmail.com
All details are subject to change.