Turkish Drama and Mimesis Club Students at Drama Workshop
TAC’s drama students studies the foundations of physical theater for two days. They learned about creating a character based on animals and elements in nature, creating tension, staging and stage transition techniques.
On February 12-13, TAC students in the Turkish Drama and Mimesis Club were involved in a “Physical Theater Workshop” facilitated by Ms. Mine Çerçi. The training also reinforced social interaction between students during the short breaks throughout the day. On the first day, Sunday morning, students were introduced to Ms. Mine Çerçi who presented a short lecture about mask-acting and Stanislavski-style drama acting, and continued with the first round of activities. The first physical drills was aimed at being a team and learning about harmony. Then, they reflected the core elements, fire, water, earth, air in their acting. They used the buildings blocks of water, with the comfort and peace it inspires in our minds, the fury and power of fire, the earthiness of soil, and the featheriness of air when developing characters. They also presented their learning by performing small skits.
On the second day of the workshop, the students met at the school again and then were divided into two groups. Walking together onstage, they learned to move without prompts. Then, they explored pace and how a fast pace impacts movement. The teams prepared a mini-skit with four chapters to develop their creativity and ability to think quickly as well as their awareness of stage transitions. They also explored acting methods such as “slow-motion”. The teams reunited after the break and started to work with sticks and ropes. This activity was designed to teach students about “continued acting onstage, dominant and weaker characters”. Students also explored “tension and characters which attract each other” by acting out cliche scenes from Western movies without props, relying entirely on their imagination. During the final part, students worked individually and in groups to present the skits which they had prepared. The members of the Turkish Drama and Mimesis Club completed the workshop with an increased repertoire of acting skills while gathering lifelong memories.