We’ve experienced considerable success using acting techniques to bring life and immediacy into classrooms of students struggling with a new language. Our experience has led us to design a two-fold curriculum for English speaking teachers of Spanish. In the Performance Workshop teacher/participants will undertake a role by Spain’s most legendary playwright in a 3-week acting intensive. Working with Cristina Marsillach, Artistic Director of the Marsillach Academy in Madrid, as well as scholars and theatrical professionals associated with the El Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Almagro students will receive lectures and hands on instruction leading to a production of Bodas de Sangre - By Frederico Garcia Lorca on the stage at Almagro!
Teacher/participants will also be attending the Playwriting Workshop led by Anne Garcia Romero. The workshop is designed to introduce students to creating original work for the theater. The workshop will explore the writing process as well as models from contemporary American and Spanish theater with the aim of presenting a variety of paths toward creating new, vibrant plays. Each day, writing exercises will be done during class. Plays will also be assigned and discussed, focusing specifically on the craft of playwriting. Short scenes will be due each week and will be presented in class, with parts being read by other students. The workshop will culminate in the writing of a short one-act play.
THE STAFF
CRISTINA MARSILLACH the Artistic Director
of MAA comes from a well-known theatrical family
and has been performing on stage and television
since she was five years old. She starred in a dozen
movies in Spain and Italy. In her only English speaking
role she co-starred with Tom Hanks in Every time
We Say Goodbye
ANNE GARCIA-ROMERO comes from an artistic and musical Spanish family. She received her MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. She's taught playwriting at Wesleyan University, Cal Arts and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her plays have been developed and produced at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, The Mark Taper Forum and South Coast Repertory. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
ADDITONAL FACULTY: The summer schedule of plays for the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Almagro has yet to be determined. The festival has generously agreed to make its directors available to us prior to those performance we chose to attend. In addition, actors from the festival will be joining us through out the rehearsal process.
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Introduction
