Michael Pape is currently enrolled in Texas State University’s Graduate College of Theatre and Dance, and is pursing an M.A. degree in playwriting. Although currently honing his playwriting skills, Michael is also an actor, director, and theatre scholar. He completed his B.A in Theatre Studies from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and has received certification from the European Academy of Physical Theatre in Paris, France. Upon completion of his M.A. degree, Michael intends to pursue a Ph. D. in order to reinforce his theoretical and practical knowledge of the theatre.
Presentation Overview
In this presentation Michael Pape will discuss the role of the dream in the theatrical work of Ella Jaroszewicz, founder and lead instructor of Studio Magenia, seat of the European Academy of Physical Theatre. The presentation begins with a discussion regarding the evolution of the dream’s function in theatrical practice: from a dramatic device in Greek tragedy, to a structural device in Shakespeare and later the expressionist and surrealist movements. Michael will then discuss the function of the dream in contemporary theatrical practice through illustrating how the dream has influenced Ella Jaroszewicz’s pedagogy and approach to the mis en scene. Madame Jaroszewicz began her career in 1956 as the youngest member of Henryk Tomaszewski’s Wroclaw Mime Theatre, and has since worked with the likes of Jerzy Grotowsky, Marcel Marceau, Ariane Mnouchkine, and Roman Polanski. Madame Jaroszewicz trains mimes, actors, and dancers in the art of mime, a training that pertains predominantly to the psycho-physical connection of the performer. Michael Pape will next discuss the performance approach of the mime, and illustrate how the mime’s mental space reflects Artaud’s “language between gesture and thought,” a state that he perceives to be similar to le rêve éveillé, the awakened dream, also known as lucid dreaming. Michael will conclude the presentation by proposing that the theatre’s function within society is similar to the dream’s function within the individual’s consciousness, and will illustrate how both the theatre and the dream reveal repressed urges and visions of future.
PROGRAM
