[Reader-list] [Announcements] Call for Applications from an Experimental Performance Repertory

[Logos Theatre]

Logos Theatre, based in Bangalore, India, invites applications from actors,
movement artists, martial artists, visual/installation/video/ media artists,
musicians and sound artists and others to be part of its "performance
foundry", both as company members as well as collaborators. The idea behind
the foundry is to create a vigorous, multi-disciplinary space which works in
a hands-on, rigorous way to explore and discover different performance
making processes combining different art forms, both traditional and
contemporary, trying to achieve an integrated, vertical idiom. The foundry
has been envisioned and will be steered by Arka Mukhopadhyay, the artistic
director of Logos Theatre.

Logos Theatre is embarking on a process of establishing an experimental
performance repertory comparable to any benchmark in the world, and the
foundry is intended to serve as the basis out of which the repertory will
emerge and performance material will be created. We are not looking at
becoming yet another amateur English theatre group. We plan to start from
scratch, and work with a group of people who bring with them enthusiasm and
a clear commitment to exploring intense performance making processes. We do
not have the financial muscle, at this point of time, to hire actors on a
full-time basis, so what we propose to do is to start a process of training
and exploration, which people can join up through auditions and personal
discussions, and these people will become equal stakes members of the
company.

Our areas of focus will be:

Physical preparation - breath, voice and speech. The realization of the
performer's 'self'. Breath and voice as means of connecting to the inner
universe and subsequently tools of outward expression. Breath as a basis for
emoting for the actor. Speech rhythms and colours. Hymns and chants -
vibrational energies. Finding the physical and psychological centre.

The body and movement - Intensive physical work, using existing traditional
and contemporary forms of dance and martial arts, as well as free
explorations, 'doings' and 'actions'. This is intended to be intense,
gruelling work, breaking down the performers outward psycho physical layers,
rendering her/him spiritually 'naked', and then to work from that centre.

Space - exploration space through movement, through the five senses, through
text, and with objects.

Improvisations - both in the sense of Improv, i.e. established short and
longform improv techniques, as well as dipping into the chaos of the
pre-expressive state that lies at the substratum of performance processes.
Working with elements of Theatre of the Oppressed and ideas incorporated
from Psychodrama, especially theatre as cathartic play.

Exploring ritual, myth and magic in performance, by creating and enacting
performative rituals, rites of passage, fertility, sacrifice and
regeneration, resonant songs, universal and personal myths, etc. Exploring
traditional forms of performance, such as oral narrative traditions, story
cycles and methods of telling them, movement and improvization in ancient,
tribal and folk cultures, such as theyyam, bhoota, mangalkabbyo, australian
aboriginal performance traditions, etc.; to name a few

Exploring text as an element of performance - Text for us is one of the many
elements of performance, and not the central one. Hence, we will work both
with and against the word. For now, we plan to stick to Shakespeare
(especially Macbeth) as well as contemporary texts by Heiner Muller, Sarah
Kane, Roland Schimmelpfennig, etc.

While this is the basic outline of the intended programme, in terms of
structure, it will aim at a holistic as well as vertical approach to
performance. Hence, it will move beyond theatre in the usual sense and
absorb elements of performance poetry, storytelling, installation and video
art, and performance art. Hence, we are also looking at inviting, from time
to time, artists from disciplines such as music, painting, sculpture,
installation, movement, etc. to work with us.

If this interests you, please consider getting in touch. Before you do that,
however, please be clear on a few things:

1) As you might guess, we are not terribly interested in conventional
fourth-wall realism, so if that's the kind of theatre that interests you, we
might not be the right people for you.

2) We will expect a very strong sense of commitment. This does not mean you
have to give us all your professional time as we are unable to pay a salary
for now and the foreseeable future, though whatever money we make out of
performances will of course be shared. So, you can definitely have a primary
career, but we'll need clear commitments in terms of what kind of time you
can give us. So if you are looking at pursuing theatre as a 'hobby', we may
again be the wrong people to approach. We shall also not demand that you
work exclusively with us, but first priority will need to be given to the
group since we are going to work in a laboratory environment where we shall
learn collaboratively. While we do not intend to charge for such training,
we definitely expect commitment to the group.

*3) While we do not intend to be theatre or art activists and intend to
focus firmly on the aesthetic, art at the same time cannot exist without a
political consciousness. To that end, we are opposed to art that is created
with support from big corporate houses which make money through unethical
and often undemocratic practises in collusion with the state; or art created
with the support of so called arts foundations which, in turn, are supported
by unethical corporate entities. There cannot be any compromise on this, and
we intend to remain, as it were, 'un-founded'. Please consider this before
approaching us.*

If this sounds good to you, please call on 9880966313 or e-mail
contact at logostheatreindia.org to set up an appointment, and we will take it
from there.


-- 
Logos Theatre
          In the beginning was the word
No. 126,
3rd Main Road,
Jayamahal Extension,
Bangalore 560046
India
www.logostheatreindia.org
google group: http://groups.google.com/group/logostheatre
(to subscribe by e-mail: logostheatre-subscribe at googlegroups.com)
--------------------------------------------------------
If it be now, 'tis not to come;
if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?
Let be.
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