Whatever the project, the job of any creator is first rooted in the text. Being able to delve into and interpret a text regardless of genre is key to creating your work – and for a theater-maker of any discipline, it gives a solid foundation that is then brought alive in the design and rehearsal processes. Led by director John Gould Rubin, you’ll approach each text from a director’s perspective, taking a holistic look at the work to understand the needs of all artists involved.

This class might be for you if you:

• Are an artist of any discipline looking to better understand how to approach text in order to enhance your own craft.

• Wish to refine your technique as a theater artist by focusing on the pre-work with the text that is required to create your vision.

• Want to hone your skills in theatrical collaboration.

In this class you will:

• Work on a different genre of text each week, such as Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen, Chekov, Beckett, Hnath.

• Prior to class, you will be given a play to read from that week's genre.

• In class, you will take one scene from that play and break it down together – looking both at how to break it down from the perspective of a director in terms of the scope of the work and also how to break it down for actors.

• Within the session, John will direct class members in the table work of this scene to elucidate how to break down the language.

• Discuss each week how to approach that specific genre of play so this work can be applied to any project.

By the end of this workshop you will:

• Understand how to effectively analyze and break down any text – both for the project as a whole and for the actors in the rehearsal room.

• Be able to focus on language in your table work – as a director communicating with actors, as an actor approaching the text, as a designer creating collaboratively, and as a producer looking to showcase the work.

• Know how to approach multiple genres of work, making you a more facile artist.

• Possess the tools to approach any pre-production process with confidence.