Book description
A practical workbook on the creative process of acting and actor
training from the point of view of Joyce and Byrne Piven, professional
theatre artists who co-founded The Piven Theatre Workshop in 1971. There
they developed a way of working that blends two major approaches to
actor training - the improvisational method, and the "Stanislavski
System". As actors, stage directors and teachers, Joyce and Byrne
Piven's constantly evolving training led to discoveries in how to
release the actor through the play of game work, through a heightened
physicality, through a building of the group energy, and through the
organic flow of class design. This book sets down their tried and tested
approach which has evolved from over 40 years of work at at an acclaimed
and important Chicago based theatrical training institution. Part I
covers improvisation and theatre games. Part II introduces the concept
of "encounter." Finding the encounter of a moment (the
emotional experience at the heart of a set of given circumstance) is
discussed and explored through scenes from story theatre workshops,
examples of actor coaching in class settings and in the rehearsal and
performance of play texts, as well as examples of the adaptation of
myths. The book ends with an alphabetical appendix of games. Joyce
Piven is a celebrated master teacher, director, actress and co-founder
of the Piven Theatre Workshop with her husband Byrne Piven. As
Co-Artistic Directors of the Workshop, Joyce and Byrne developed the
system of actor training outlined in this book. Joyce was a founding
member and leading actress at the Playwrights Theatre Club, the group
led by Paul Sills that spawned Compass Players and Second City. While
acting professionally and teaching in New York, Joyce and Byrne both
studied extensively with Uta Hagen and Mira Rostova whose work informs
their own. Returning to Chicago, Joyce and Byrne continued to act
professionally and then turned to directing. As Artistic Director
Emeritus, Joyce continues to teach and direct in Evanston and Los
Angeles. Dr. Susan Applebaum is a Theatre Instructor at Loyola
University Chicago and is also on the faculty of the Piven Theatre
Workshop in Evanston. During her 14-year tenure at the Piven Theatre
Workshop she directed both the Young People's Company and the Junior
Company and taught classes in improvisation and story theatre for all
ages and for teachers. Dr Applebaum has been a contributing member of
the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the American
Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), American Theatre and Drama Society
(ATDS), the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC), and the Illinois
Theatre Association.
