What It Is

This workshop is about using movement to tell stories. Over two days, we'll deep dive into physical storytelling using the body as a primary creative tool. Drawing from Jacques Lecoq's physical theatre, we'll move through play, movement studies, and mask work, building stage presence and developing clarity and precision in your physical choices.

The neutral mask distills and illuminates everything you bring into the space, teaching you to be profoundly present and revealing what an audience actually sees when your body moves. Using the mask we will explore the ways our bodies tell stories and create characters from our breath, rhythm, posture, and gaze long before we make performance choices.

Two days of tuning your instrument and expanding your physical storytelling palette.

What It Isn't

• Not a scene study, dance, acting, or clown class: we're not working on bits, choreography, personas, or text

• Not a devising workshop: we won't be generating new material (but stay tuned for future offers!)

• Not a sit 'n listen lecture: we gonna be MOVIN AND MAKIN YALL

• Not a workout class: while the body is our main creative element, anyone who has a body can come as they are

Who You Are

• An actor or mover looking to expand your physicality and develop a stage presence that is immediately magnetic and memorable

• A performer who wants body-based tools to complement your existing practice

• A creative who wants to learn how to create character, narrative, and space through the body

• Interested in physical storytelling that is precise and expressive

• Seeking deeper connection to your senses onstage and wanting to enhance your whole-body listening and responsiveness

• Someone who wants to collaborate, play, and discover what your body is already saying onstage

• Mask-curious, or just ready to play with people who take the body seriously as a creative tool

Who We Are

• Four Portland-based theater makers. 

• MFA grads from the Pig Iron School based in Philadelphia

• Physical performers excited to play, move, laugh, and share space with y’all!

WHEN

Saturday July 11th   10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Sunday  July 12th   2:00 pm – 5:30 pm

WHERE

FLOCK Dance Center (2516 NW 29th Ave, Portland, OR 97210)

COST

Level A:   $250
This pricing level is suggested for students from the global North, people who have access to savings, investments, or inheritance, or who identify as middle or upper class. This level supports supports others' access to this work.                                                      
Level B:  $200
This pricing level is suggested for people who don't see themselves in level A or C, for those making around $35 per hour. This is the level that covers costs and allows me to offer these lessons in a sustainable way.                                               
 
Level C:  $150
Suggested for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, from the global South, people from historically disenfranchised communities, low income/ working class folks, or with less access to wealth (savings, investments, inheritance).                                         
 
PLEASE NOTE: If the above rates make the workshop inaccessible to you, email lyra@atpdx.org and we will do our best to work with you. Some scholarship rates are available.

more about us

IRIS

Iris Athena Seaman ​(she/her) is a theater maker and teaching artist from Philadelphia, PA, newly based in Portland, OR. She has an MFA in Devised Performance from the University of the Arts / Pig Iron School and a BA in Theater & Psychology from Drake University. She was a company member of the Completely Ridiculous Summer Conservatory Program and has studied with Christopher Bayes (The Pandemonium Studio) through his Clown Teacher Training program to deepen her love and understanding of the form. She has studied clown and physical theater extensively with Virginia Scott of The Movement Studio in NYC. As a teaching artist she has been a guest faculty member at Swarthmore College and Circadium School of Contemporary Circus, where she led her students in crafting original circus theater.

Parker

Parker Matthews us a theatremaker, voiceover artist, mime, clown, and educator. he believes the world is full of wonder, if we only take the time to let it surprise us. His work is a small attempt to bring others into an experience of the wild pathos and quiet ridiculousness that exist within and all around us.

Parker’s training comes from the Lecoq school of physical theatre, as well as traditional Western acting techniques. He holds an MFA in Devised Ensemble Performance from Pig Iron Theatre School and a BA in Psychology and Theatre from Whitworth University, and is a Certified Foundation Training Instructor.

Lyra

Lyra Butler-Denman makes live physical performances that offer the pleasure of being touched, the joy of our magnificent bodies, and the kaleidoscopic nature of grief. She holds an MFA in Devised Performance from the Pig Iron School, is a steward at FLOCK Dance Center, a co-lead artist of multiple collectives, and has performed original work nationally and internationally. Recent credits include Bartok’s Monster (Pig Iron Theatre Company), The Marble in My Mouth (sold out run at PhysFestNYC), and Dreaming the Upside-Down Tree (Chimaera gallery and Philly Fringe). Her 2021 dance film BARDO received official selection from Breaking Walls Dance Festival, Vermont Dance Alliance Festival, and Hollywood at Yale Film Fest. She has worked as a guest teaching artist in Alexander Technique, Movement, and Lecoq technique, at Swarthmore College, Rowan University, University of the Arts, UT Austin, Portland State University, and Meadowmount Music School. Her dance/theatre works have previously received support from RACC, Oregon Arts Commission, Anna Sosenko Trust, Creative Philadelphia, Fresh Ground Pepper, and was an inaugural cohort member of ARx Philadelphia. She lives and works between Portland, OR and Philadelphia, PA, and is currently in development of two large ensemble-based dance/theatre works. She is obsessed with how dams affect rivers over time, and what happens when we remove them.

Devin

Devin Preston is an actor, clown, and educator based in the Pacific Northwest. He teaches Devised Theater and Physical Comedy at Evergreen State College, and also leads classes in improv and clown. Most recently, he served as Fight Choreographer for the Fertile Ground festival production of Animal Farm.