THREE VISIONS OF PRESENCE: A WORKSHOP WITH PIG IRON THEATRE COMPANY

Dan Rothenberg, ​co-founder and co-Artistic Director of ​the OBIE Award-winning Pig Iron Theatre Company​, will teach a 3-session workshop for performer-creators in Washington, DC. Drawing from his encounters and collaborations with theater visionaries ​Jacques Lecoq, Joe Chaikin, ​and ​Toshiki Okada​, Rothenberg will dig into performer presence, breath and play.

This workshop brings together touchstones from a two-decade investigation of performance style that bridges experimental, clown-based, and cabaret-based techniques.

What is the muscle that allows contact with the audience? How does the performer grab and shape the attention of the audience? How does an ensemble create a ​style—​a complete performance world? Working with improvisation and writing-on-your-feet, Pig Iron’s co-founder will lead participants through a series of provocations that are expansive, joyful, and demystifying.

Rothenberg trained with Jacques​ ​Lecoq ​in Paris, and Pig Iron’s roots are in Lecoq’s work with physical performance and clown. In 1999, legendary director and founder of the Open Theater ​Joseph Chaikin​ directed and developed ​Shut Eye with Pig Iron—from which emerged a new pedagogy called “Ordinary-Extraordinary.” Then in 2011-2013, Pig Iron collaborated with award-winning Japanese writer-director ​Toshiki Okada​ whose self-conscious writing and unique physical performance style have made him a sensation at festivals across Asia and Europe.


Applicants are strongly encouraged to be up to date on their COVID vaccines and boosters.


We are thrilled to partner with Washington DC's Spooky Action Theater to present this workshop in May!