Damascus, PA — Farm Arts Collective is hosting a winter series of creative performing arts workshops. The classes will be held Thursdays at 6:00 PM at the Farm Arts Collective Agri-Cultural Center. Each class is unique and will be led by teachers and experts from the collective and the local community. Participants can come to one workshop or to all. ALL WORKSHOPS are PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN with these contributions used to support our teachers’ honorariums and the venue heating costs.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6th   6-8 PM

VOCAL and GROUP SONG Workshop with Tannis Kowalchuk 

Farm Arts Collective artistic director, Tannis Kowalchuk will teach a battery of songs with amazing group harmonies as well as introduce exercises that employ the voice as a muscle. We will stretch our range and capacity and attempt some improvised song-making.  Everyone can sing is the philosophy. Singing is natural and good for us.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13th 6-8 PM

INVOKE YOUR CLOWN Workshop with Clown Daddy 

Finding your clown’s physicality and inner life is the goal with this playful workshop. Actress, Clown Daddy will teach how to shift your body and mind into a state of energized creativity, curiosity and joy. Red nose provided.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20th 6-8 PM

SONG-WRITING Workshop #1 with Doug Rogers

Introduction, philosophy, technique, with song-writer Doug Rogers who has created many incredible and memorable tunes for the Dream on the Farm series. Doug will give participants a song-writing assignment which will be brought in the following week.

 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27th 6-8 PM

SONG-WRITING Workshop #2 with Doug Rogers

Participants will share their new compositions with each other and receive detailed feedback and next-steps advise from the teacher.

THURSDAY, MARCH 6th 6-8 PM

STAGE FIGHTING Workshop with Jess Barkl

Have fun finding your inner warrior! This stage combat workshop will give foundations and skills to perform convincing fight scenes safely. You will learn some basic terminology for stage combat, safety, consent/intimacy work, punches, kicks, falls, and weapons. This class will prioritize safety and using this tool for optimum storytelling through movement.

Diverse skill levels: The workshop is suitable for beginners to experienced actors. 

Practical application: Hands-on exercises to learn fight choreography. 

Storytelling element: Stage combat can be used to enhance character development and excitement for the overall presentation aspect of theater.

Variety of techniques: Unarmed and weapon techniques will be covered.

THURSDAY, MARCH 20th 6-8 PM

PLAYWRIGHTING with Melissa Bell and Mark Dunau

Using writing exercises and prompts from the teachers, the class will explore how dialogue, character and action serve the message the playwright wishes to convey. Feel free to bring a theme, and we’ll discuss how drama can serve it. Bring a notebook and a pen so you can keep working afterwards.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27th 6-8 PM 

DEVISING PHYSICAL THEATRE with Tannis Kowalchuk

Focusing on how to generate physical material as the basis for the creation of devised theatre performances, the workshop is designed for both actors and directors.  Group and individual exercises will be taught to explore principals of movement and expressivity and developing a “ready” body to create physically-based theatre. Wear clothes to move in and bring a pen.

All classes held at Farm Arts Collective Agri-Cultural Center located on Willow Wisp Organic Farm. Address: 38 Hickory Lane, Damascus, PA 18415

For more information visit www.farmartscollective.org