Through games and improvisations we’ll work on a stronger awareness of the body on stage using your personal neutral as starting point. We’ll also create scenes without text about humoristic as well as tragic human behaviour with strong images and gestures; sometimes small, sometimes big and dramatic but always believable.
Michael Devine has directed nearly 50 professional productions in nine languages, including national theatres in Canada, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, and Hungary. Michael has appeared as a featured guest artist at eight international theatre festivals: MESS Festival (Sarajevo, BiH), FITS (Sibiu, ROM), FIST (Belgrade, SRB), Ideo/Ideis Festival (Alexandria, ROM), IUGTE Festival (Malpils, LVA); InFoMaT (Athens, GR); A.N.F.I. Festival (Kraljevo, SRB); OITF (Odessa, UKR). BoxWhatBox, Michael’s internationally recognised performance creation and actor-training system, has featured in more than 20 countries on five continents, including work in Jyväskylä (FIN), Kampala (UG), Accra (GH), and Beirut (LB). Michael is the Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Theatre Training (CATT), an international, intercultural actor training intensive which takes place annually. Classically trained as an actor in London (UK) at LAMDA and New York City at the HB Studio. In 2018 Michael led a three instructor team at CATT Amsterdam. He is also at work on a book about the BoxWhatBox technique entitled BoxWhatBox: Holistic Acting for the 21st Century.
Rianne Meboer trained at the Amsterdam School of the Arts with a focus on mime, and the Theatre Academy Maastricht as an actor/performer. Since 2013 she has appeared in a wide variety of performances with independent theatre companies, such as Golden Palace and Het Houten Huis and festivals in the Netherlands. She has extensive experience as an instructor in mime and performance, including the Toneelmeesters (Theatre Masters) and work with opera singers, youth and professional actors. Rianne is also a creator and producer of original theatre projects and is a member of the theatre collective Theaterstraat, based in Amsterdam Noord. Rianne’s performance style is characterized by humour, accessibility, strong images and is often about human behaviour and more specifically the failing, struggling, searching, trying human. Her physicality brings together the joy of creation and the serious commitment of the artist to exploring humanity.
Hartley Jafine is an artist-scholar and applied drama facilitator. He has been teaching courses on creativity and play for over a decade at McMaster University (CA). As an instructor in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) and Arts & Science programs he facilitates courses on theatre, devising, and arts-based research. His work seeks to activate creative muscles and infuse creativity, improvisation, and play in non-traditional theatre spaces including universities, hospitals, and community settings. He has facilitated theatre workshops and productions in Canada, the United States, England, and Kosovo (CATT 2009). Hartley holds a BA in Theatre Studies from Acadia University (CA) and an MA in Applied Drama from Goldsmiths, University of London (UK).
Through games and improvisations we’ll work on a stronger awareness of the body on stage using your personal neutral as starting point. We’ll also create scenes without text about humoristic as well as tragic human behaviour with strong images and gestures; sometimes small, sometimes big and dramatic but always believable.
A visual record of laboratory work, rehearsal processes, and international collaborations.