Per Janson has returned to Deer Isle for not only this year's Island Arts Camp, but also OHA's new Actor's Boot Camp for students 15-22 - a program born from informal gatherings between Per and the OHA interns last year. We asked Per about that process and what this summer holds. Here's what he had to say...
Last summer, while rehearsing and performing at the Opera House, I had the good fortune to work with interns Marvin Merritt, Callie Jacks, and Emma Grace Keenan on the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. In our half-hour and then one-hour rehearsal sessions, we were frequently joined by other interns and members of the acting company for rehearsals and wide-ranging discussions about theatre and life. They did beautiful work and asked great questions, and I found the experience immensely rewarding.
This summer, OHA has kindly invited me to lead a more structured, intensive workshop that will include a larger number of students. The Actors’ Boot Camp is modeled on a similar program that all incoming MFA theatre students take part in at Brown University/Trinity Rep, in which faculty members from various disciplines lead workshops with incoming students, and each of the workshop leaders suggests an “element” for students to incorporate in a collaborative, devised theatre piece later that day.
I believe I am the only student to have gone through boot camp twice at Brown/Trinity, as I first came in as a PhD student and then transferred into the MFA program. Both times, I found it daunting, exhilarating, humbling, fun, and simply one of the best experiences of my life. During both of those weeks, I felt I was learning more quickly than I had in years. I took part in workshops in physical theatre, acting, movement, playwriting, voice, directing, masks, Chekhov, and more. My recently acquainted colleagues in the acting, directing, playwriting and PhD programs and I took elements such as "an impossible place," "a great fall," "a moment of wonder," and "a confession" and turned them into quickly-generated collaborative theatre pieces, using only what we had at hand. Sometimes what we created didn't cohere. Sometimes it astonished all present. It was challenging, coming up against our own and each other's limitations and strengths, and hopes and fears, and truly inspiring to see what my colleagues were capable of creating out of thin air.
I am eager to share what I trust will be a similarly challenging and rewarding experience with students this summer, and we have an exciting lineup of workshops in store. Our work will operate from the premise that everything you need is already around you--just listen, observe, collaborate, and create! Get ready to surprise yourself, and be surprised by others.
Join us at OHA's Annual Public Meeting to see the culmination of Per and the Boot Campers' hard work, plus tomorrow night on the 2nd floor of Stonington Town Hall at 6 pm for an open rehearsal of The Glass Menagerie directed by Per.
