1st Edition
Inside The Performance Workshop A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises
Inside The Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises is the first full-length volume dedicated to the history, theory, practice, and application of a suite of performer training exercises developed by Richard Schechner and elaborated on by the editors and contributors of this book. This work began in the 1960s with The Performance Group and has continued to evolve.
Rasaboxes—a featured set of exercises—is an interdisciplinary approach for training emotional expressivity through the use of breath, body, voice, movement, and sensation. It brings together:
- the concept of rasa from classical Indian performance theory and practice
- research on emotion from neuroscience and psychology
- experimental and experiential performance practices
- theories of ritual, play, and performance
This book combines both practical “how-to” guidance and applications from diverse contexts including undergraduate and graduate actor training, television acting, K-12 education, devising, and drama therapy. The book serves as an introduction to the work as well as an essential resource for experienced practitioners.
Part I: History and Theory
1. Richard Schechner and Origins of The Performance Workshop
Cobina Gillitt and Michele Minnick
2. What is Rasa?
Shanti Pillai
3. Rasaesthetics
Richard Schechner
Part II: Practice
4. Inside The Performance Workshop
Paula Murray Cole, Michele Minnick, and Rachel Bowditch
Part III: Facilitating The Performance Workshop
5. Principles of The Performance Workshop: An Interview with Richard Schechner
With Paula Murray Cole, Michele Minnick, and Rachel Bowditch
6. The Unavoidable Guru: Roles of The Performance Workshop Leader
Scott Wallin
Part IV: Notes from the Field
7. Freeing Emotional Expression in Young Performers: Rasaboxes in K-12 Context
Elise Forier Edie
8. Psychophysical Preparation for the Rasaboxes with Strasberg and Stanislavski
Ursula Neuerburg
9. Adapting Rasaboxes to Rasa≈Therapy: Clinical Applications in Drama Therapy
Andrew M. Gaines
10. Rasaboxes, Drama Therapy, and Stability Through Dynamic Change: A Case Study
Dana Arie
11. Rasaboxes in the Training of Drama Therapists
Nisha Sajnani
12. Dancing on the Tongue
Erin B. Mee
13. Lights, Camera, Action! Rasaboxes Training and Coaching for Brazilian Telenovelas
Fernanda Guimarães
14. Character Building Through Rasaboxes: Staging Electra at Teatro Prometeo
Fernando Calzadilla
15. Experimenting with the Clown in Rasaboxes
Ana Achcar
16. Dramaturgy of the Emotions: The Performance Workshop and Rasaboxes in Directing Machinal
Rachel Bowditch
Biography
Rachel Bowditch, PhD, is Professor of Theatre in the School of Music, Dance, and Theatre at Arizona State University, USA, and a theatre director. Bowditch is author of On the Edge of Utopia: Performance and Ritual at Burning Man, Performing Utopia, and Physical Dramaturgy: Perspectives from the Field.
Paula Murray Cole, MFA, LMT, is Associate Professor of acting, voice, movement, and the Alexander Technique in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at Ithaca College, USA. Cole acted in Schechner’s productions and has taught and developed Rasaboxes and The Performance Workshop (TPW) since 1999.
Michele Minnick, PhD, CMA, is an independent artist, scholar, and educator, whose current work focuses on the intersections of performance, somatic practice, social justice, and climate change. She is a core creator with Submersive Productions in Baltimore, MD, and the founder of Vital Matters.
