Performance-based Workshops

Performance-based workshops

Chiang Mai Theatrics conducts workshops covering a wide area of performance skills for intermediate and advanced levels.

01 Theatrical Performance

Participants will develop a strong grasp of the most important areas of contemporary theater making while learning effective use of the voice, body, texts, spaces, and objects. We explore dramatic literature, environments, and spaces within which performance can occur. Participants will research and develop ideas for use on stage as well as experimental projects in non-traditional spaces.

Areas of concentration:

Improvisation
Acting technique
Stage movement
Play analysis
Ensemble acting
Explore play production
Develop the audition process
Play performance

02 Ageing and the Performing Arts

Art naturally infuses life with creativity, depth, and meaning, and can build strong relationships and communities. It can provide a safe space for both personal and political expression where the status quo can be challenged. And, of course, it can be a lot of fun.

Through participation and hands-on engagement, in this three-hour interactive workshop you will:

Learn about performing arts practices with older adults and persons with disabilities
Leave with a deep understanding of the important benefits of this type of creative work on individual, community, and systemic levels
Have a toolkit of transferable arts-based exercises and skills to use in your professional practice and personal life

03 Young People Onstage!

Young People Onstage! introduces young people, ages 13 to 21, to performance, improv, and the world of theater, offering training in the performing arts under the direction of volunteer theater professionals.

Training emphasizes ensemble building and offers experiential outings and workshops all led by theater professionals.

Workshop participants work with existing scripts to create a showcase. All of the productions are performance experiments, designed to challenge its performers and audiences to think and feel outside the box. They tackle difficult social and political issues and create an environment in which contemporary urban youth can express their experiences and perspectives through performance and share them with a diverse audience of adults and young people from throughout Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand.

Young People Onstage is offered three times a year: in the fall, spring, and summer. During the school year, sessions are held after school hours and on Saturdays. In the summer, Young People Onstage! offers an intensive theater institute that meets four days a week.

04 Technical Theater
in-school program

This workshop introduces the basic principles of scenic design, lighting design, and other technical aspects of the theater. Technical Theater workshops can be focused on a variety of behind-the-scenes aspects of theater that include a brief introduction to the overall premises of technical theater and concentration on the following subjects:

History of Stage Scenery
Types of Scenery
Script Analysis
Set Design
Stage Lighting Techniques and Design
Sound Design
Careers in Technical Theater

05 Talent Showcase

Everyone who auditions makes the show.

No one is turned away and for many people, this is the first time in their lives that they experience success.

Talent shows and workshops give people an opportunity to create new performances with people they don't know, building a positive and supportive community. Volunteers, with the support of staff, manage all aspects of the event including the lights, sound, security, ticket sales, outreach, and publicity.

We help young people by giving them the tools to develop - socially, culturally, and in terms of seeing themselves as participants in a broader, more sophisticated world, taking them out of social isolation and marginalization.

Talent shows bring people from all backgrounds together to create a new kind of community.

The events take place in the community, giving young and old alike a chance to perform before family, friends, neighbors, and The Gate Theater Group of Chiang Mai and its supporters. Caring adults from all walks of life, including the corporate sector, come out to support the performers. This sends a message to young people who are growing up in poor communities that we care about you and are here for you.

06 Poetry Onstage
in-school program

In this workshop, participants find a poem they love, or write one, and prepare a 20- to 25-minute presentation of that poem for the rest of the group. Organize your presentation in whatever way seems suitable to you. A typical presentation might consist of a brief introduction of the poem, a reading of it, a short explication of it, and an exchange of ideas and responses in a class discussion. You might ask the class some questions, and they can ask you a few.

As you prepare your poem, ask yourself questions like:

What does the audience need to know before they hear this poem?
What does the poem sound like?
How should I read this poem?
What are the most interesting, striking, significant, or unusual aspects of this poem?
What does the poem mean to me?
What perspective or approach is most fruitful for presenting a performance of this poem?

You will work through your presentation with one of our professional actors, experimenting with character, mood, vocalization, gesture, and performance technique.

This workshop culminates with a performance before an audience.

07 Speech and Drama
in-school program

The Speech and Drama workshop focuses primarily on developing ongoing confidence, self-esteem, and most importantly, skill in verbal communication.

This workshop provides unique opportunities to develop clear speech, fluent delivery, and pleasing social skills. This will be done through enthusiastic participation in a wide range of creative activities including speech making, drama exercises, stage movement, and staged poetry readings within a supportive environment.

Occasional dress-up, along with the use of props and make-up will add to the excitement of the lessons.

This workshop culminates with a presentation before an audience, with the emphasis on the process, and not final product, as students are encouraged to continually develop their abilities and keep exploring their creativity.

08 Acting English

This workshop is designed for intermediate and advanced speakers, and incorporates the dramatic arts of Scene Study, where we look more closely at the meanings of the dialogue they speak and the underlying intentions of the characters they will portray; Improvisation, where we learn to communicate without words, but through body movement, gesture, and facial expression, and Staged Readings, where students interpret and communicate a dramatic reading or monologue, individually or in groups, in front of an audience.

Acting English offers a fun and challenging way to be an entertainer as you improve your speaking, reading, and listening skills.

This workshop culminates with a dramatic presentation by the group followed by a question-answer period.

09 Readers Theater
in-school program / public performances

The Readers Theater workshop is a rehearsed group presentation of a script that is read aloud rather than memorized. This workshop's activities involve planning, writing, rehearsing, staging, and assessing of Curriculum-Based or non-Curriculum-Based theater scripts.

The focus is creating and presenting a short script that fulfills a dual purpose - it must inform about a curriculum topic and entertain an audience!

Repeatedly reading and rehearsing scripts based on content increases the likelihood that students will practice fluent reading, retain information, and perform better on assessments. Theatrical skills of vocal volume, expression, and effective use of gestures are also among the goals of this arts integration activity that merges drama, theater, writing, reading, speaking, listening, and content learning.

10 Monologue Performance

This four-week workshop takes the participants through the process of rehearsing and performing a monologue from scratch, using a variety of vital acting techniques, from Stanislavski to Meisner.

This workshop is perfect for anyone who would like to become more relaxed and improve their confidence when presenting alone in front of an audience, as well as for anyone who would like to have a well-rehearsed monologue in their toolkit either for amateur or professional auditions or for a possible application to full-time drama school.

In this workshop, you will:

Gain real confidence solo in front of an audience
Feel the exhilaration of sustained performance
Learn how to keep an audience engaged
Use your own unique attributes to create an original character

The sessions are spread over four weekly sessions of two hours each. We keep group sizes small in order for the facilitator to give you a lot of individual feedback and to encourage an intimate, friendly, and fun atmosphere in which you can learn and grow.

11 Acting for Animation
university-level workshop

In this semester-long workshop, emphasis is given to thought played out through physical action and how gestures, facial expressions, body language, and poses convey the intended emotions and feelings to the viewing audience.

Topics covered include:

Introduction to Method Acting: What drives the action, subtext, script analysis, and character development?
Character Movement: What are we actually observing when someone walks, sits, stands, etc.?
The use of empathy and gesture/movement, exploring space, weight, rhythm, time, and flow
Script work - how to make a character seem alive and believable from the page to performance. A variety of scripts can be used and students can bring their own scripts if they like

We incorporate acting games and exercises to aid in storytelling and expressions of emotion. Creature or animal movements are analyzed to help with character development.

CONTACT US

Get in touch if you're interested in one of our workshops!

email

chiangmaitheatrics@gmail.com

phone

087-177-2195

address

P.O. Box 40
Sansai Post Office
Sansai, Chiang Mai, 50210