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Workshops and Events

At arthaus.berlin we host one-off events and two kinds of short course - Intensives (several weeks) and Workshops (weekends/3 days).
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INTENSIVES
WEEKENDS
AUTUMN 2024
EARLY 2025

International Summer School

Various Facilitators

05 Aug - 30 Aug 2024
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Welcome to our International Summer School Program 2024 !

Our International Summer School 2024 offers performance makers from around the world over four weeks an exciting opportunity to connect with us and each other - for professional development and exchange and also an exciting summer experience in Berlin, still considered to be “Europe's wildest child”. As an internationally recognized training and research center in the field of devised theatre and performance, we have welcomed students from over 60 different countries - performers, dancers, actors, writers, directors, choreographers, architects, designers, etc - all interested in exploring the links between practices of embodiment, Self-growth and the development of one's own artistic voice.


Contact us / apply to the 2024 Summer School

The Workshops



Urbanism and Devised Performance: 05-09 August 2024
Led by Jelle De Wit
Times: 10.00-16.00 ( with a 60-minute break ) (some outdoor trips may take place outside regular workshop hours)
Fees: 450€ Early Bird, 500€ regular



During this workshop, you will traverse through different parts of Berlin, both by day and by night. Later, back in the studio, we'll embark on a transformative journey, turning our experiences of the urban space into performative forms. As a tool we will use a platform made visible on the floor of the studio and create composition work with bodies and materials.





Balinese Mask Play: 10-11 August 2024
Led by Maria Eugenia Blanco
Times: 10.00-17.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 216€ Early Bird, 240€ regular

In Bali it is known that through the mask both extremes, the universal and the individual, can be connected. The workshop will offer an exploration of these beautiful, rich masks, of their dynamics and structures, and how they can enrich your deeper playfulness and aliveness and inform your understanding of different levels of play in life and art.



Storytelling and Puppets: Telling the Stuff of Living: 12-16 August 2024
Led by Cat Gerrard – and with Adi Weinberg
Times: 10.00-16.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 450€ Early Bird, 500€ regular


This workshop is an exploration into the capacious possibilities that story has to offer us and how we might bring them into our bodies, into the space and alive through puppets. With myth and fairytale, paintings and poetry as our starting points, we will work with archetypal movements and images and with the poetic body. We will take the opportunity that puppets offer us: the invitation to make the object into a subject.



Embodied Writing: 17-18 August 2024
Led by Michelle Madsen
Times: 10.00-17.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 216€ Early Bird, 240€ regular


Using aspects of Pochinko clown technique and the embodied poetics of Jacques Lecoq, we will ask how the body can be the author of the unknown, creating new realities in space and on the page. Participants will be guided in solo and group work through movement and visualization to write from the inner microcosm, and then engage with the environment beyond the studio, asking how do we as bodies open ourselves to be written upon?



The Many Masks of the Clown: 19-22 August 2024
Led by Michelle Madsen
Times: 10.00-16.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 360€ Early Bird, 400€ regular


In this laboratory space we will explore the clown state as mask state - a portal to new narratives and expressions. Using the 'Clown Through Mask' work of Richard Pochinko, we will touch on different territories which the clown mask opens into - butoh, the bouffon and the grotesque. By harnessing the embodied poetry of the fool in both group and solo work, we will explore what needs to be created to meet the moment - bringing light into the darkness within.



One, Two, Many - Crossroads Between Theatre and Dance: 24-25 August 2024
Led by Valentina Bordenave
Times: 10.00-17.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 216€ Early Bird, 240€ regular


A vigorous, physical and refreshing journey for actors, dancers and other movement performers interested in experiencing the huge potential of movement in theatre. The workshop focuses on physical interaction with a partner and with the group and invites us to improvise and compose in the moment, using the body, the voice, time and space, respecting the uncertainty whilst adapting to constant change. By applying the Unfold method (unfoldmethod.com) throughout the research, we can expect our improvisations to be born from an awakened and more finely tuned state.



Music of the Body - The Art and Ritual of Circle Songs : 26-27 August 2024
Led by Patrick Soul
Times: 10.00-16.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 180€ Early Bird, 200€ regular


In this workshop you will explore the rhythms and musical instincts of your body and mind through movement phrases, vocal explorations and rhythm games, leading to instant group compositions and improvised musical worlds, guided and assisted by the workshop leader. Ranging from free and abstract soundscapes to highly structured rhythmic grooves, the Circle Song experience can cover many territories and infinite moods. Training the mind and body in musical sensitivity, awareness and coordination within oneself and the ensemble is an essential practice for the actor-creator-collaborator.



Mining for Gold - Ways into Devising: 28-30 August 2024
Led by Rachel Karafistan
Times: 10.00-16.00 ( with a 60-minute break )
Fees: 270€ Early Bird, 300€ regular


Are you eager to transform your research or ideas into a performance? Do you want to better understand how to incorporate movement, text and maybe even song or puppetry into a performance? How can a painting or piece of music unravel the hidden layers of a narrative? Whether you're a performer seeking embodied expression, a writer looking to breathe life into your stories, or a director craving inspiration; this workshop is designed to equip you with a range of creative ways to make compelling theatre.



Request Information about the 2024 Summer School

Thomas Prattki Centre in India

Thomas Prattki

10 - 23 August 2024
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The Thomas Prattki Centre at arthaus.berlin and J's Academy, a performing arts center for children, young individuals, and adults in Mumbai/India, are launching a creative collaboration. Committed to supporting personal growth through the arts, the TPC and J's Academy will offer a series of workshops in the period 03 - 23 August 2024 in Bangalore, and Mumbai.


Jhelum Gosalia, the founder of J'sAcademy, a performing arts center in Mumbai for children and young individuals with over 500 enrolled students, offered a 5-day workshop in June 2024 at the Eden Studios in Berlin introducing her approach to teaching theatre and storytelling to children aged 5-13.
In August, Thomas Prattki, the founder of arthaus.berlin and the TPC, will offer workshops in Bangalore and Mumbai this August, open to adults from all walks of life interested in connecting with the deeper layers of their intuition and imagination through mask, myth and movement.



Thomas Prattki is the founder of the Thomas Prattki Centre at arthaus.berlin.

He has been the pedagogical director of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq, before creating in 2003 the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). In 2018 he created arthaus.berlin, which hosts the international school of theatre and performance makers, an international workshop and research space and the Thomas Prattki Centre for Integral Movement and Performance Studies.
As a performer he has toured the world with Mummenschanz, a world renowned company combining movement, mask, puppetry and the visual arts. He has directed, taught and lectured for the last three decades in over 30 different countries, pursuing his interest in the practice of Embodiment in art and life.
His most important reference point next to the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq is the strongly Jungian and Zen based work of Maria Hippius and Karlfried Graf Duerckheim.

www.thomasprattkicentre.com

Information: Workshops in India - www.jsacademy.net

Performing the Mask

Hajo Schüler (Familie Flöz) plus guests

21 Oct - 08 Nov 2024
INTENSIVE
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This three-week Intensive is led primarily by Hajo Schüler (Familie Flöz) with support from Lei-Lei Bavoil, Valentina Bordenave and the arthaus team.

Hajo: At a time when the question of 'how to go on' presses us anew every day, masks offer us an opportunity to put aside both brooding and meaningless activity. Through their objectivity, they can help us to focus our gaze, to perceive more precisely and to constantly ask 'what is real', what is actually happening.

The mask feels uncomfortable being vague and constantly demands decisions. This is what makes it such a valuable tool for learning and training. It does not debate, does not dazzle with words, does not simply allow itself to be harnessed to our ideas. It is always in need of living force and reveals so much more than it conceals.

With the permanent availability of information and possibilities, the question arises as to how we can find form again. With the mask, we get a tool in our hands (or in front of our face) that already brings a form with it. Our work as performers can therefore begin immediately: What moves us and what moves the mask? How do we move? How do we breathe? What drives us to act? And last but not least, how do we move our audience?



Hajo Schüler is a writer, performer, director and mask maker, co-founder and artistic director of FAMILIE FLÖZ. The Berlin-based company is considered a new discovery of theater with masks and has been working together for more than 30 years. The plays have won several awards and have been performed in 43 countries. The characteristic masks are the trademark of the ensemble, whose works are always created in a collaborative process and navigate between drama, physical theater, opera, clown and comedy.

www.floez.net
www.hajoschueler.com


Fee : 800€ , three weeks, projected hours 16h - 20:15h Monday to Friday

Request application form for this Intensive

Theatre Feast

Mike Shepherd (Kneehigh Theatre)

09 - 10 Nov 2024
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I have no formula or set process, I'm not interested in analysis but I love exploration. Theatre making, for me, is a bit like cookery. Story, poetry, metaphor, music, action, design, colour, text and improvisation are the ingredients to combine with both care and a dash of panache. Ideas are everywhere, I love taking them for a hop a skip and a jump.

This workshop, with joint artistic director of Kneehigh, Mike Shepherd, explores the use of story and reflects the processes Kneehigh might use in developing a theatrical feast.


Mike Shepherd started Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall in 1980. Actor, teacher, director and artistic director for 40 years. He wanted to make surprising theatre, in surprising places for cross generational audiences. “When I first started teaching in inner city London, in a grotty and ghettoised Nissan hut, I quickly learnt the importance of nurturing creativity and how the conditions of creativity, often overlooked, need to be considered.” In 1990 he turned an old derelict farm building into the home of Kneehigh. For 30 years the shows of Kneehigh were seeded here, explored and developed by an umbrella of artists and theatre makers. The barns remain a vital space in this extraordinary time of change and uncertainty - for fresh horizons, new futures and ways of being - locally, nationally and internationally. In 40 years Kneehigh produced 75 main shows, 23 community events, 19 site specific shows and 10 “special” projects. “We played to audiences in Syria, Lebanon, China, South Korea, America, Australia , Norway, New Zealand and others !" Mike Shepherd continues to run the barns as a home for artists and the community. “We aim to help people to return to a more wild and self-willed state, we aim to tickle, jolt and edify the numb parts of us all back into being.” thisiskneehigh.co.uk


Fee : 200€, proposed hours 10h - 17h with one-hour lunch break

Request application form for this workshop



In collaboration with Be.In.The.Work.
Berlin International Theatre Workshops

Exploring Objects and Puppetry

arthaus + Robin Guiver

18 Nov - 6 Dec 2024
INTENSIVE
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This three-week Intensive will be led by the arthaus team with one full week working exclusively with Robin Guiver.

Read more about the arthaus facilitators

On this practical intensive, you will explore the endless potential of the object and the puppet. The intensive offers a chance not only to learn a range of puppetry techniques but also to open new possibilities of using objects and puppets to create visual narratives and poetic performances. We foster a collaborative approach to both making and animating and encourage you to work closely with fellow participants towards telling stories and creating atmosphere. Join us to explore the relationship between the puppet, audience and the performer and deep dive into the possibilities of what puppetry can teach us about the creative process as a whole.

Robin: I am interested in examining the relationships between puppet, performer and audience, combining technical exercises with creative challenges. Vitally, we ask why would we choose to use puppetry and when does it work best. Handspring's principals of puppetry are for me a jumping off point for exploring a whole world of performing objects, actor-puppet relationships, and expressions of poetic metaphor. We will look at both solo and multi operator puppets.

Robin Guiver is an actor and puppeteer, who has been working professionally in the theatre and film world for nearly 20 years. His approach to puppetry combines his Lecoq-based training at LISPA with extensive work with Handspring Puppet Company as part of the original West End cast of War Horse, and later as a workshop facilitator for the company. From there he has honed his skills with collaborations in film, TV and Theatre in the UK.

In addition to his Performing in the West End, Robin has also worked with Complicite, Ad-Infinitum, the National Theatre, Gyre and Gimble and many others. Robin's first work in film was as a Movement Artist on the award winning Gravity. Further projects include Creature FX puppetry with Neil Scanlan Studio on Star Wars ep VII, VIII and IX, Jurassic World and Solo. Under his own company, Performance FX, he has used puppets on the film sets of Tom and Jerry, the Fantastic Beasts films, The Little Mermaid and many others.

www.robinguiver.co.uk



Fee : 800€ , three weeks, projected hours 16h - 20:15h Monday to Friday

Request application form for this Intensive

Puppetry & Performance

Robin Guiver

30 Nov - 01 Dec 2024
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Puppetry, Performance and Dynamic Movement led by Robin Guiver

Robin: This workshop will examine in depth the relationships between puppet, performer and audience, combining technical exercises with creative challenges. Vitally, we will ask why would we choose to use puppetry and when does it work best. Handspring's principals of puppetry are a jumping off point for exploring a whole world of performing objects, actor-puppet relationships, and expressions of poetic metaphor. We will look at both solo and multi operator puppets. And not only will we look at what puppetry can do as an art form, but, like a mask, we will also examine what it can teach us about our creative process as a whole.

Robin Guiver is an actor and puppeteer, who has been working professionally in the theatre and film world for nearly 20 years. His approach to puppetry combines his Lecoq-based training at LISPA with extensive work with Handspring Puppet Company as part of the original West End cast of War Horse, and later as a workshop facilitator for the company. From there he has honed his skills with collaborations in film, TV and Theatre in the UK.



In addition to his Performing in the West End, Robin has also worked with Complicite, Ad-Infinitum, the National Theatre, Gyre and Gimble and many others. Robin's first work in film was as a Movement Artist on the award winning Gravity. Further projects include Creature FX puppetry with Neil Scanlan Studio on Star Wars ep VII, VIII and IX, Jurassic World and Solo. Under his own company, Performance FX, he has used puppets on the film sets of Tom and Jerry, the Fantastic Beasts films, The Little Mermaid and many others.

www.robinguiver.co.uk


Fee : 200€, proposed hours 10h - 17h with one-hour lunch break

Request application form for this workshop



In collaboration with Be.In.The.Work.
Berlin International Theatre Workshops

Body, Sound and Song

arthaus + Guests

13 Jan - 7 Feb 2025
INTENSIVE
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This four-week Intensive will be led by Rachel Karafistan, Patrick Soul and Valentina Bordenave with contributions from special guests: the godmother of the natural voice singing movement, Frankie Armstrong and Patrick Campbell, author of 'Owning our Voices' Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart tradition.

Read more about the arthaus facilitators

Where do the rhythms of the body meet the rhythms of the voice? How can we nurture a gentle and playful relationship between the breath, body and sound? This intensive will bring you to an awareness of your body in the space, both as an individual and as a collective, responding to stimuli designed to encourage vocal creativity. Participants will experience the joy of discovering the range, emotion and expressivity of their voice, first through sound and then through text and song; blending, exploring polyphony and freeing the many different songs and vocalities that exist inside each of us. Come, be curious and open the unique potential of your imagination in direct relationship to the embodied voice.

Participants are requested to bring a piece of text, of approximately 150 words long that they know by heart in any language and a song that they love.

Explore your voice with the playful curiosity of a child and leave the judges outside the door. Frankie Armstrong

Frankie Armstrong has sung professionally in the folk scene and the womens' and the peace movements since the 1960s. She pioneered community voice workshops in 1975. She continued her previous trade as a trainer in social and youth work alongside the voice workshops for a decade, before focusing exclusively on the voice workshops and singing.
She is founder and President of the Natural Voice Network, which grew out of her voice teaching and training work. Frankie is also an honorary member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) of North America, and was awarded the Gold Badge in 2018 by the English Folk Dance and Song Society. She is also a Patron of Musicians for Peace and Disarmament (MPD). The development of her voice and singing workshops was informed by her passion for the traditional styles of singing in the British Isles and from around the world, along with her involvement in the 'natural voice' developments in the theatre world (particularly the work of Cicely Berry and Kristin Linklater).

Patrick Campbell is a voice teacher and theatre maker and is currently Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Drama and Contemporary Performance at the Manchester School of Theatre, part of Manchester Metropolitan University, (UK). He is a Core Member of Cross Pollination, a laboratory for the dialogue in-between artistic practices, which developed at Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium (Denmark) and is now based permanently in Ghent (Belgium). For over a decade, Patrick has studied Wolfsohn-Hart Voice with Margaret Pikes, founder member of the Roy Hart Theatre, and his approach to vocal exploration is grounded in this tradition of practice. He has conducted workshops and vocal masterclasses across the UK, Europe and Latin America. He is co-author of the monographs A Poetics of Third Theatre: Performer Training, Dramaturgy, Cultural Action, written alongside Jane Turner, and Owning our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart Tradition, written alongside Margaret Pikes, which were both published by Routledge in 2021.


Fee : 990€ , four weeks, projected hours 16h - 20:15h Monday to Friday

Request application form for this Intensive

Adventures in Voice

Frankie Armstrong and Darien Pritchard

25-26 January 2025
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Adventures in Voice Using body, breath, voice and imagination

For thousands of years, our ancestors sang to accompany work, devotion, seasonal rituals and social gatherings - to express joy, grief, rage, tenderness, hope and fear. All these emotions can be given full range through the power and beauty of the voice.

To help unlock this, Frankie and Darien use a range of gentle, enjoyable movements and 'exercises' to help relax and free the body, breath and voice. This workshop is an opportunity for anyone to explore the melodic voice in an easy-going, supportive atmosphere - to be curious and adventurous with their voices, using the body and imagination, without judgement or the need to “get it right”. The aim is to tap into the joy, strength and energy of singing with others, and to find a range of colour and expression in each of our voices. Frankie uses chants and songs from around the world, along with simple structures to create vocal 'events'.

No prior experience is needed; just bring an open heart and mind and wear loose comfortable clothing, and have water (at room-temperature) to hand to keep your voice lubricated.


Frankie Armstrong, the 'godmother of the natural voice singing movement', has been singing professionally since 1964. In 1975 she began her pioneering Voice Workshops based on ethnic styles of singing - where singing is as natural as speaking. She has sung and run workshops all over Europe, N America and Australia working with Community Groups, Theatre Companies, International Voice and Theatre Festivals and in every kind of setting from hospitals to the National Theatre Studio, London. She has made 12 solo albums, cowritten three voice books.
She is honorary president of NVN (Natural Voice Network), honorary life member of VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association), and holds a gold badge from EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society).

Darien Pritchard draws on his experience of more than 40 years as a massage and Feldenkrais teacher. Frankie and Darien have worked together for nearly 40 years, developing a unique style of combining body and voice.

www.frankiearmstrong.uk


Fee : 200€, proposed hours 10h - 17h with one-hour lunch break

Request application form for this workshop



In collaboration with Be.In.The.Work.
Berlin International Theatre Workshops

Directing Devised work

Rachel Karafistan + Paul Budraitis + team

17 Feb - 14 Mar 2025
INTENSIVE
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This four-week Intensive will be led by Rachel Karafistan and Paul Budraitis, supported by the arthaus team.

Devising is a collaborative and dynamic process fuelled by intuition, hard work and the creativity of the ensemble. But once you have generated material in the closed room, how do you shape it into a performance with an audience or community in mind? What happens when we approach an existing book, text, play or story with a devising and collaborative mindset? How do we listen and respond intuitively to a rehearsal room as a director and find the best path for the story?

This intensive offers the joyful experience of bringing your own artistic visions to life, while at the same time discovering and overcoming the challenges that appear when tasked with directing others. Participants will explore different approaches to presenting the same material, investigate the dynamics of different forms and styles of directing, and receive direct feedback on their directorial process.

"Theatre is the art of looking at ourselves. The director's role is to reflect this image in its most dynamic form. The role of the director is to create the conditions for invention rather than to provide ready-made solutions." — Jacques Lecoq

Rachel Karafistan


Rachel Karafistan is joint pedagogical director of the DTAP and ADP programs at arthaus and a member of the regular facilitation team.
Read more about the arthaus facilitators

Paul Budraitis


Paul Budraitis is a member of the arthaus regular facilitator team.
Read more about the arthaus facilitators



Fee : 990€ , four weeks, projected hours 16h - 20:15h Monday to Friday

Request application form for this Intensive

Breath, Sound & Text

Ann Ogbomo

22-23 February 2025
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Breath, Sound & Text: embodying the voice

This two-day workshop will begin by connecting participants first and foremost with their breath, the place where all sound emerges.

From this connection, we will explore how sound is made and the different parts of the body in which it can resonate. The journey then moves to turning sounds into words and feeling the formation of those words within corresponding parts of the vocal apparatus and body in order to instinctively and authentically express text.
Participants should bring a poetic text, requiring muscularity of thought and speech, and in English.

Ann Ogbomo (MA, PGA, BA) is an actor and educator with over 20 years experience.
She worked on voice with the late Kristin Linklater and speech with the late John Barton. Most recent theatre was playing Goneril to Kathryn Hunter's King Lear at Shakespeare's Globe.

Theatre credits include: King Lear, Shakespeare at the Abbey, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III, all for Shakespeare's Globe; Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Henry VI parts 1, 2, 3, Richard II and Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 all for the RSC; 15 Heroines for Jermyn Street Theatre; Schoolplay for Antic Face; Light Shining In Buckinghamshire and The Tempest for the National Theatre; Henry IV at the Donmar; Tamburlaine at the Barbican/Bristol Old Vic; The Gods are not to Blame for Tiata Fahodzi; and The Jungle Book at West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Screen credits include: Surviving Earth (Film4 and BFI); We Live in Time (Film4 & Studio Canal); The Sandman (Netflix); The Rising (Sky) The Last Letter from Your Lover (Studio Canal); Krypton (Warner Bros TV & Syfy); Justice League (Warner Bros); Wonder Woman (Warner Bros) and Honeytrap (Bright Pictures).


Fee : 200€, proposed hours 10h - 17h with one-hour lunch break

Request Information about this workshop



In collaboration with Be.In.The.Work.
Berlin International Theatre Workshops

Clown through Mask

Jonathan Young

04 - 15 Aug 2025
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*** DETAILS COMING SOON ***

This transformative method is based on the pioneering work of Richard Pochinko and subsequently Sue Morrison. Facilitator Jonathan has developed the work through his own 27-year engagement with Clown through Mask, drawing on his Lecoq and Feldenkrais trainings to supplement and enrich the work.

Jonathan Young has been teaching Clown through Mask since 2005, including several times as part of the London International Mime Festival. As well as being an award-winning theatre-maker, scriptwriter and director, Jonathan is an experienced teacher and facilitator who currently teaches clown, Feldenkrais and movement at LAMDA, and has previously regularly taught at Central School of Speech and Drama, Embodied Poetics, LISPA and arthaus.berlin. He has clowned in theatres, schools, hospitals and festivals in the UK, France, Iceland, Spain and Canada. Past students have gone on to make acclaimed work at the Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre London and internationally.


Request Information about this two-week workshop
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