BABEL THEATER PROJECT

WORKSHOPS

Some of our recent workshops

THE STRANGER AND THE CITY

MAKES SPACE FOR IMMIGRANT VOICES

Framingham, MA, Dec 14, 2019. The Babel Theater Project produced a “moving” performance in downtown Framingham with the Brazilian immigrant community and about immigrant experiences. In partnership with local immigrant writers and artists, the show The Stranger and the Citywas a moving performance that started in a café downtown and move to a couple different locations in the center of the city. The audience received passports and symbolic visas, then performed a “migratory journey” as the show evolved. Some scenes had an augmented reality component, designed by the ex-DACA visual artist Sabato Visconti, reminding us how technology is an important aspect of migratory dynamics and personal connections today. The script features texts by Brazilian immigrant writers exclusively. This time solely the performance was in Portuguese, but the future of the project foresees ongoing workshops and publications that will include translations to reach out to a broader audience. Sponsored by the Framingham Cultural Council and the Brazilian Consulate, the show was directed by Ana Candida Carneiro, artistic director of the Babel Theater Project, a Brazilian immigrant herself, who is a playwright and professor, currently artist-in-residence and faculty at Amherst College. 

BUTOH AND WRITING

A writing for performance workshop

facilitated by Raquel Almazan and Ana Candida Carneiro. 

This workshops creates the relationship of an ensemble to respond with movement and sound, and expands that collaboration as a springboard for solo text or group theatrical text. The first portion is based on Butoh Dance techniques and provides a holistic relationship with the body, leading to breaking down boundaries in the theatrical space. It will interweave writing prompts, moments of movement and exchange sequences. The second portion focuses on developing the writing materials that emerged into concrete dramaturgical proposals. Utilizing the imagination of a map on the floor and the metaphors of travel and migration, we will create a synergy where the participants will interact in a non-traditional way to create the unexpected.

Date: April 28th 

Time: From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with one hour of lunch break. 

Place: Harvard Dance Center. 

THE DREAM CAFÉ

Writing for performance

Curated by Hortense Gerardo & Ana Candida Carneiro

Come explore your dreams, write and create short performance pieces!

Dreams – the emotional, visual and sensory experiences we have during sleep – are a mysterious and fertile ground to dive into and learn from. In this workshop, we will get in touch with the dramaturgy of our unconscious mind, identify its mechanisms, amplify them and use them consciously to create art. For writers, directors, performers, dramaturgs, experienced or not.

Conceived by Hortense Gerardo and the late Jon Lipsky

Adapted and Developed by Ana Candida Carneiro

Dates: April 21st, from 10 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break.

Place: Harvard University, Science Center, room 309. 

About the facilitators:

Hortense Gerardo is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Performing Arts at Lasell College. Her written and movement works address issues of power, identity, and ethical concerns posed by emergent technologies.  Her works have been performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, La Mama ETC, WaterFire, The Banff Centre, The Performance Mix Festival, the International Action Art Festival in Monza and the Venice Biennale. Upcoming productions include her play, VIRTUOUS REALITY in this year’s Boston Theatre Marathon (BTM XX) and in the anthology 2018 THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS, published by Smith & Kraus, Inc. Her latest action art work, THE GLASS HEART SOLOS will be featured in Nuit Blanche Toronto 2018. Her award-winning feature-length screenplays include, FOURHAND and DANCING IN EXILE. For more info go to: www.hortensegerardo.com