 International Festival
THEATRE METHODS 05
Between Tradition and Contemporaneity
Karen Krolak & Jason Ries (USA)
Karen Krolak (choreographer/costume designer) and Jason Ries (director/designer) have been collaborating on dance theater pieces in Boston and San Francisco for the last two years.
They will present two practical workshops:
"Moving in and out of Clothes" and "Light in Hand".
In each session we will discuss how we work, lead exercises that demonstrate our collaborative process, and, possibly, present a segment of a previous creation. Each session provides ideas for initiating collaborations, especially ones that utilize text in nonverbal ways. Participants are welcome to bring unusual pieces of clothing or sources of light to use during the exercies.
Moving in and out of Clothes examines how to restrict, conceal, and emphasize movement through costume design. The opening dialogue will focus on methods for incorporating found objects into costumes and will be followed by plenty of time for participants to experiment with every day items. The exercises with articles of clothing and interesting objects will develop ways to create characters through effective and inexpensive costuming.
Light in Hand explores how light and shadows can shape movement. Participants will investigate methods for devising images during a collaborative exercise/process using at least one performer/body and at least one illuminator. Employing any available lighting means (such as something as simple as a flashlight) we will start with a demonstration and discussion of ways past work has started and then provide opportunity for others to play. As part of this workshop, participants will further discuss how to create a dialogue between designers and dancers.
These sessions aim to encourage experimentation with lighting and costume design during the initial stages of theatrical pieces. They also provide ideas for inexpensive ways to add layers of depth to pieces by incorporating lighting and costuming.
BIOGRAPHY
Karen Krolak - According to Eva Yaa Asantewaa of the Village Voice, "The daffiness of Karen Krolak's sci-fi girlie show, What's Next, both enhanced and sent up its salaciousness. Silver tubes bobbled from the dancers' heads, a wrapped prosthesis elongated their legs, and huge rubber balls contorted their limber bodies."
Currently, Krolak is the Artistic Director of Monkeyhouse, an incubator for curious choreographers based in Boston, MA. Her work incorporates an eclectic vocabulary of dance styles and unusual costumes to create intensely dynamic, idiosyncratic dance pieces. Since moving to Boston in 1996, her work has been presented by the New York International Fringe 2002 & 2001 (where she won the 2002 Best Costume Design Award), the San Francisco Fringe 2002 & 2001, DIVAFest 2003, the Winnipeg Fringe 2001, the Minnesota Fringe 2001, the Philadelphia Fringe 2000, Dance Umbrella's Boston Moves 2000, First Night 2004, 2002 & 2000, Mobius, the Choreographers Group, Dance Portland '98, and the Art & Healing exhibit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
In 2001, she received a Local Cultural Council grant from Dover, MA to create Somnambulists, a site specific performance, which was selected as a 2002 Exemplary Project by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Outside of the world of dance, she has choreographed for The Creature:Remix at EXITheatre in San Francisco, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told at the Bailiwick Theater in Chicago; Bye Bye America, a motion picture starring John Corbett of Sex & the City fame; Mikhail Bulgakov's Flight at the University of Illinois in Chicago; Cabaret for the Latin School in Chicago; and she has studied circus arts at the Actors Gymnasium in Chicago.
After graduating from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Linguistics in '93, she was a founding member of Baubo Performance Project, choreographed The Promise and the Three Penny Opera for the Magellan Theater Co., received a 1994 Joseph Jefferson Citation recommendation for her choreography of Jose Rivera's The Promise, was a guest artist at Northwestern twice, and received a 1995 Chicago Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago. During those three years, she also designed costumes for Baubo Performance Project, Robin Lakes/ Rough Dance, and independent choreographers; assisted Mara Blumenfeld on costumes for productions at the Steppenwolf Theater and Lookingglass Theater; and worked as a freelance stitcher for Northwestern University, Columbia College, Chicago Scenic, the Goodman Theater, and Marriott Lincolnshire Theater.
Jason Ries is a theatrical director and designer who continually examines the relationship between text, movement & modes of illumination. Based primarily in San Francisco and Boston over the last 10 years, his work as resident designer with several companies has afforded him ample opportunities to further this exploration . Working with San Franciscos EXITheatre since 1997, he has created projects with numerous national artists who share similar interests and has been exposed to several ways of combining dance and drama. During this time, he met and began working regularly with Mark Jackson and Art Street Theatre. Here, he first began working with Suzuki and Viewpoints trained artists and was given opportunity to fully incorporate design as an integral part of the evolution of work.
In 2003, he drew on these experiences to instigate in3 for EXIT, employing an exciting process resulting in an ensemble-devised piece. Employing lights, music, sets and costumes from the outset of the process, the company first developed a unique visual language then applied it to ensemble-created text. Later that year, Jason and choreographer Karen Krolak began fusing the similarities of their aesthetics while working on exerpts from playwright Trevor Allens The Creature.
In 2004-5, he became the resident lighting desinger and production manager of Monkeyhouse. His work with this dance theater company continues to give new opportunities to develop his process. Early in 2005, he collaborated with other Monkeyhouse artists on an evening length, site-specific production Always and a Day...
Jason has also been inspired by his studies in neon sculpture with fellow artist Christian Schaeffer. Through his explorations in neon, Jason has discovered many non-theatrical lighting instruments that he often incorpoates into his designs. He continues to be fascinated with different configurations of light distribution, movement and illuminating the architecture of the human body.
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