Workshop: A Physical Approach to Creative Writing

This course is meant for writers of all kinds, actors, dancers, and spoken word artists, interested in working physically for the inspiration and creation of a personal text.  To leave space for all kinds of writing (poetry, fiction, spoken word, monologue and dialogue) we will work with various ways in: understanding intention and action, creating physical scores, character building, play, and movement-text analysis.  The course is experimental in the sense that its structure will mould with the needs and wants of the participants involved.

Participants should expect:

– to gain tools to approach the creation of text physically

– to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between words, punctuation and the body

– to develop a way of understanding and analyzing text physically

– to have a safe space with others to explore, risk, fail, and try again.

Dates: March 9 – April 27, 2014

When:  Sundays, 12:30- 3:30pm  (8 weeks)

Where: Shift space Inc.

Instructor: David DiGiovanni

Contact: info@shiftspace.ca   514-575-2524

David di Giovanni is a theatre-maker and teacher. For the past three years, he has worked as a director and dramaturg for MAP Project – a dynamic emerging theatre company based in Montreal. His recent directing credits with MAP Project include Play it Again, Phaedra (November/December 2012), MAP Season One (Sept 2011 – May 2012) mounted at the Mainline Theatre. He has worked at Concordia University, Shift Space, Volcano Theatre Conservatory, carrying out workshops with an emphasis on physical-based approaches to acting, greatly inspired by his encounter with the work of Grotowski and Laban movement analysis. David has made two journeys in the past year to the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards, once to take part in an intensive workshop lead by Thomas Richards and the workcenter team. Other directing credits include Holy Tranity! at the historic Cafe Cleopatra in Montreal (June 2013), The Last Days of Karl Nimeni at the ARENA festival.. der jungen Kunst in Germany (July 2012), and assistant director on Gertrude Stein’s Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights directed by Nathalie Claude (December 2011).