Physical Action for Playwrights

Target Participants:

Open to playwrights aged 16 and above who are fluent in English.

Duration:

1 session, three hours per session

No. of Participants:

Min: 8 people; Max: 20 people


Pre-Workshop Preparation:

  • Please come dressed in loose, comfortable clothing so that you will not feel constricted while doing the various physical exercises.
  • As long as you are in good general health and fairly mobile, you should be able to take part in the physical activities planned. The physical activities will be non-strenuous and do not require great athleticism or high levels of fitness.

Notes for Organisers:

  • Please make available a fair-sized room that can easily accommodate all the workshop participants and the facilitator (seated in a circular formation). Please make sure that any other tables and chairs are stored against the wall or outside the room so that the participants have space to move freely about the space when they do the various exercises.
  • Please provide a large whiteboard and pens as well as access to computer/computer projection to show PowerPoint slides.
  • Please make copies of hand-outs that will be emailed to prior to the workshop. The hand-outs are to be given to the participants at the end of the workshop.

Playwrights, have you wondered how actors interpret the words you write? Conversely, are you writing such that actors can easily perform your words? Through this physical-based, hands-on workshop, theatre veteran Verena Tay shares two techniques that makes words come alive and that have informed her own writing—physical action (inspired by Laban) and actioning/transitive verb (inspired by Stanislavski).

About the Facilitator

Verena Tay has spent more than 25 years acting, directing and writing for Singaporean English-language theatre. She has three published collections of plays and is now working on her debut novel and first volume of short stories. In addition, Verena is an active storyteller-cum-storytelling coach and a co-founder of MoonShadow Stories. Possessing an MA in Voice Studies (Central School of Speech and Drama, 2005) and an MA in English Literature (National University of Singapore, 1993), she has been helping people to improve their communication skills since 2001 and currently teaches voice, speech and presentation skills at various local institutions. For more information about Verena, please visit www.verenatay.com.