NEW WORKSHOP
with Adam Paolozza
Being Present. Being Playful. Being an Actor
May 3, 4, 5, 2023
For over 15 years I've been creating collaborative physical theatre, helping performers find a greater sense of freedom, play and spontaneity in their bodies on stage.
That’s what I love most about theatre: the energy of the actor in movement, expressing themselves physically and imaginatively.
Regardless of talent and experience, we all struggle with being present, with over-thinking self-criticism, and with developing a spontaneous connection between our impulses and our body. This becomes even more difficult in down periods, between gigs.
So, how do we overcome this? How do we turn off the self-critic, connect to the body and start to enjoy the pleasure of being onstage?
Think of this class like an actor’s gym: we’re going to train holistically, mobilizing your whole self in every choice to get your imagination, your heart and your body all working together. Through a pedagogy rigorously based in play, embodiment and movement analysis we’re going to look at:
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Developing a sense of physical presence onstage
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Finding spontaneity and play in physical choices
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Building character starting with the body
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Dismantling mental roadblocks to physical creativity
This workshop is ideal for anyone who performs live (actors, dancers, singers, etc) and wants to explore their relationship to the moment, to their collaborators and to their body. Ideal for both beginners and for those with more experience.
WHEN: May 3-5, 2023 - 9:30am-4pm each day
WHERE: The Railpath Arts Centre (30 Golden Ave, Toronto, ON)
FEE: $250 + HST
*20% discount for all union members, returning students and for early sign-up on/before April 21st.
*Some partially subsidized spots available.
*If financial accessibility is a problem, reach out and maybe we can figure something out
To sign up or ask a question write to Adam at: badnewdaysperformance@gmail.com
About the Instructor
Adam Paolozza is an award-winning theatre creator, producer and teacher. His work has been seen across Canada and in Scotland, Estonia, USA, India, and China. As Artistic Director of Bad New Days he has established a unique presence in Canadian theatre creating visually bold and physically innovative theatrical works that explore the complexity of the human condition through a volatile blend of lightness and gravity. He has received or been nominated for numerous Dora awards and his latest work, Italian Mime Suicide, swept the 2022 awards in the independent category. He recently directed and toured Tomson Highway, John Millard and Martha Ross' acclaimed cabaret-song cycle The Cave. He has taught & directed at Toronto Metropolitan University, U of T, Brock U, Humber College and at the Soulpepper Academy. To learn more about Adam’s work visit www.badnewdays.com
Italian Mime Suicide wins FIVE DORA AWARDS!!!!
We're very honoured to announce that our play Italian Mime Suicide, which played at The Theatre Centre in April, has won five Dora Mavor Moore Awards:
Outstanding Production - Italian Mime Suicide
Outstanding New Play - The Company
Outstanding Direction - Kari Pederson and Adam Paolozza
Outstanding Lighting Design - Andre Du Toit
Outstanding Costume Design - Allie Marshall and Evgenia Mikhaylova
Thank you to the whole team, our beloved audience, Tapa for organizing the Dora awards and to all the Dora sponsors. We'd also like to thank The Canada Council for the Arts, for the funding that makes this all possible.
NEWS: APRIL/MAY 2022
Bad New Days brings ITALIAN MIME SUICIDE to The Theatre Centre after a critically acclaimed, smash-hit run in Montreal at Théâtre Aux Écuries, earning a “Top Ten Shows of 2021” by the Montreal Gazette.
With an imagistic aesthetic reminiscent of the kitsch iconography of clowns, mimes and world-weary circus acrobats, ITALIAN MIME SUICIDE sensitively explores the levity within tragedy, creating a funny, poetic meditation on melancholy, the acceptance of failure and the usefulness of art in troubled times.
ITALIAN MIME SUICIDE marks Bad New Days’ return to Toronto stages to ask why do we make art, why is it important, and why now?
“Italian Mime Suicide features four marvellous mimes accompanied by a turntable musician who fuses jazz, electro and traditional polyphonic singing. Through different vignettes, always funny, sad and touching at the same time, the characters depict what could have caused the despair of this mime and pushed him to end his life. […] isn’t that precisely the magic of mime? To offer only poetry and beauty, even if it is a question of interpreting the greatest tragedies…?” –Sophie Jama, pieuvre.ca
COMING SOON to The Theatre Centre
@thetheatrecentre
April 21st - May 1st
All Tickets are on a Pay What You Can Afford sliding scale, available at:
https://theatrecentre.org/event/italian-mime-suicide/
For More Info:
poster photo by Omar David Rivero
background photo by Najim Chaoui
teaser by Sandrick Mathurin
NEWS: FALL/WINTER 2021
Quebecois Premier of Italian Mime Suicide
Makes Montreal Gazette's Top 10 of 2021 List
Based loosely on the true story of an Italian mime who jumped off a building claiming no one appreciated his art, Italian Mime Suicide is a (mostly) silent play about Mime.
Using a lyrical, physical, comedic style - imagine Robert Wilson meets Cirque du Soleil - and a visual aesthetic indebted to Picasso’s paintings and the kitsch iconography of world-weary mimes, clowns, and acrobats, Italian Mime Suicide is a poetic, philosophical meditation on themes of mental health, dignity in failure, and the usefulness of art in troubled times.
Italian Mime Suicide returns to Toronto this April at The Theatre Centre, stay tuned for more information!
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