Michael Chekhov Europe (MCE)
Michael Chekhov International Summer Academy
Imagination and Concentration
14th – 20th August 2023, Groznjan, Croatia
“Concentration is the door to our creative imagination. To have a good artistic imagination means to have a good power of concentration, just as to have a good power of concentration means to have an active imagination. The actor who can concentrate well makes a stronger impression upon the audience because all his acting becomes clearly shaped, sure, and explicit.” (Michael Chekhov)
Artists live with their images. They and their images belong to each other, depend upon each other, and yet the images have an independent existence of their own. The conviction that there is an objective world in which our images lead their independent life widens our horizon and strengthen our creative will. Developing and assuming new conceptions concerning the creative process in art is the way for the artists to grow and to understand their talent. Artists brave enough to acknowledge the objectivity of the world of imagination free themselves from the constant pressure of their too personal, too intellectual interference with the creative process which takes place in the sphere that lies beyond the intellect.
An intense movement training combined with the deep awareness of the creative imagination, concentration and images created by your imagination will be the centre of this workshop.
Creative Imagination ● Concentration ● Four Brothers ● Four Qualities of the Movement ● Images ● Incorporation of Images ● Sense of Truth ●
Working material: Midsummer night’s Dream, W. Shakespeare (choose one character and one scene to work with in the workshop)
We invite and welcome international participants from all over the world and have yearly been joined by participants from many different European, North American and Asian countries. 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.
www.studiochekhov.hr
in collaboration with the
Academy of Dramatic Art University of Zagreb, School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University
and StudioChekhov Croatia
Hosted by: Suzana Nikolić
Academy of Dramatic Arts University of Zagreb, MCE and StudioChekhov, Croatia
FACULTY:
Dr. Cynthia Ashperger
Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Suzana Nikolić, Academy of Dramatic Arts University of Zagreb, MCE and StudioChekhov, Croatia
Tarja Nyberg, MCE and East-Helsinki Music Institute, Finland
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GENERAL INFORMATION
PLACE & DATE
Place: Grožnjan
Date: Monday 14th – Sunday 20th, August 2023
From: 10.00AM – 5.00PM (incl. 90 min. break)
Language: English / Participants may act in their own language
Please plan your arrival on Sunday afternoon (August 13th) at latest and leaving on Monday later in the morning (August 21st).
There will be a reception and introduction evening on August 13th at 8.00PM at the facilities of the Academy.
There will be one free day on August 17th.
Costs
Application before July 15, 2023 480€,–
Application after July 15, 2023 550,€–
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 20 € per day, with shared bedrooms and shared bathroom. If you prefer private accommodation which costs around 50-70 €, you should book it yourself.
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
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!
ZAGREB – GROZNJAN (3-4 hours 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 need to take taxi from BUJE or UMAG to Groznjan.
FB group and Google drive will be created to help us be connected all the time and for the participants to arrange shared rides.
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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:
STUDIOCHEKHOV CROATIA
Gajeva 10, 10 000 Zagreb
HR 8023600001102563883
SWIFT: ZABA HR 2X
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.
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FACULTY
Dr Cynthia Ashperger works as a director, actor, producer, writer, and pedagogue.
Selected directing credits: The Great Shadow and The Tilco Strike (4th Line Theatre), The Women by Clare Booth Luce. George Kaplan by Frederik Sonntag, Tales from Vienna Woods by Odon von Horvath, Tender Napalm by Philip Ridley, Martin Cuzzlewith by Charles Dickens adapted by Michael Hollingsworty, Peace by Aristophanes adapted by Velina Hasu Huston, A Summer’s Day by Jon FosseSelected acting credits: Foreign Tongue, Who Killed Snow White (4th Line Theatre), Nashville Stories (Summerworks), Obeah Opera (Nightwood Theatre), Berlin Blues by Native Canadian author Drew Hayden-Taylor (4th Line Theatre), Elektra in Bosnia by Judith Thompson and Ajax in Afganistan by Timberlake Wertenbaker (Women in War Trilogy).
For Feral Child by Jordan Tannahill (Suburban Beast Company) she was nominated for the 2013 Dora Award (Outstanding Performance Female). She has an extensive list of film and TV credits as well. 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.
Selected Publications: Antology of Contemporary English Canadian Plays, an anthology of Canadian plays in Croatian translation (translator and anthologist, 2021). Foreign Tongue in Scripting (Im)migration, an anthology of immigrant themed plays edited by Yana Meerzon for Playwright’s Canada Press (playwright, 2019). “Michael Chekhov’s Five Guiding Principles and Theatre Practice Today. The Case of “Tender Napalm” by Phillip Ridley”, in Routledge Companion to Michael Chekhov (2015). Theatre Research Canada: Special Issue – 36.2, Theatre and Immigration“ Foreign Accent Syndrome – An Auto-Ethnography” (2015). “The Daughter of the Air” in Trans-gendered Imaginary of Nina Arsenault (ed. Judith Rudakoff, Intellect Press, 2011). “Chekhov’s Psychological Gesture in the Directing Process” in Stanislavski and Directing: Theory, Practice, and Influence (2009). 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).
Cynthia has taught acting at School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University (former Ryeson University) since 1995 and was appointed Director of Acting in 2004 and until 2019. She has led workops in Chekhov Technique, taught and directed and directed nationally and internationally in Australia, Croatia, England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Japan, Korea, Serbia, Slovenia and USA. More information at: www.cynthiaashperger.org.
Suzana Nikolić A full-time professor at the Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb (ADA, UZ), she is a Founder and Artistic Director of Performing Arts Etra and StudioChekhov Croatia (SCC). Ms. Nikolic’s organizational and production credits include over a dozen international workshops, mostly concerning voice and speech work and Michael Chekhov’s Acting Technique. She produced the M. I. Fornes play MUD, staged at the ZeKaEm theatre in Zagreb in 2004., and performed a main female character.
Ms. Nikolić has worked with the Michael Chekhov Technique and taught it professionally for over 20 years and received the MICHA teaching certificate of completion in 2004.
In 2004 and 2019 she also edited the Croatian translation of Michael Chekhov’s To the Actor – On the Technique of Acting, the first and second editions. At the ADA, she was a Vice Dean for International Affairs from 2004 – 2006, Head of the Voice and Speech Department from 2006 – 2010, and Head of the Acting Department 2016 – 2018. Since 2016, Ms. Nikolić has been an official faculty member of MICHA, USA. She is a co-founder and member of Michael Chekhov Europe, and a co-founder of the MCE Training Program. She graduated from the ADA, UZ 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, features films, television films & series as well as radio, and has had over 25 years of additional acting and voice training abroad. Ms. Nikolić has taught the Michael Chekhov Technique in Europe (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland), South and North America, Israel, and Asia (Taiwan, Japan, Singapore). Since 2019, she has been teaching the Michael Chekhov Technique at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in Shanghai, China. Her book Actor of the Future has been translated in Chinese and will be published in China by June 2023. Croatian edition will be published by the end of 2024.
Tarja Nyberg is musician (double bass) and an actress. She studied at Guildhall School of
Music and Drama in London and at the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki, where she
finished a Master of Arts degree.
Ms Nyberg has a wide experience as a performer both in music and theatre. As an actress she has performed as a soloist a. o. with the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta
and the 6th Floor orchestra, acting in such works as Benda´s Medeia and
Jarell`s Kassandra. Ms Nyberg has made many performances combining acting,
movement and music. In recent times Nyberg has widened her area of work
specializing in movement techniques such as Pilates. She has also been
performing as a clown.
She is a double bass professor at East-Helsinki Music Institute where she also conducts Helsinki Children Orchestra. She did study M. Chekhov Technique for 20 years with many masters such as Lenard Petit and Joanna Merlin. Nyberg is founding member of MCE association.
