Kron, Serban, Swados, Etc. Set for LaMaMa Events

Ellen Stewart and La MaMa Umbria International will present the 8th Annual International Symposium for Directors, July 15 – August 5, 2007 in Spoleto, Italy.

Teaching artists Andrei Serban, Elizabeth Swados, Yoshi Oida, Annie-B Parson, Enrique Pardo and Petar Todorov lead workshops and share their unique perspectives on the art of creating theatre.

"Roumanian/U.S. director Andrei Serban provides exercises that showcase his techniques for working with actors. American composer/lyricist Elizabeth Swados brings music into the director's process with her workshop on creating vocal music for theatre," state press materials.

"Japanese director Yoshi Oida, formerly an actor with the Peter Brook company, will offer a workshop exploring the subtleties of naturalism in performance. Enrique Pardo, a Peruvian sensation now based in Paris, works with the voice to discover plot, place and story and then adds a choreographic component to the work.

Experimental Bulgarian director Petar Todorov brings to a naturalistic script a unique way of working which fuses text and movement. Award-winning choreographer Annie-B Parson approaches direction as choreography working with pure movement, dynamics, the borrowing of theatrical devices, the use of found text and appropriation of historical materials.

Symposium participants attend local festivals and visit cultural sites around Umbria while living at La MaMa Umbria, a 500-year-old former convent that Ellen Stewart has made into an artist residence.

For playwrights, La MaMa offers the First Annual La MaMa Playwright Retreat, August 6 – 12, 2007. Master playwright Lisa Kron will facilitate work sessions for the playwrights selected to attend. Much of the time will be reserved for quiet contemplation and writing. Lisa Kron (writer and star of last season's Tony-nominated play Well on Broadway) will provide individualized support and facilitate group discussions about the work. Kron currently teaches playwriting at the Yale Drama School."

Director/playwrights may attend both the Symposium and Retreat at a reduced rate. Student credit may be available through an arrangement with Sarah Lawrence College. Applications and further information are now available at www.LaMaMa.org (click on Italy) or by calling La MaMa ETC at (212) 254-6468.

Photo of Lisa Kron by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.