Intimacy for the Stage

Riot Act Inc. is thrilled to announce Intimacy for the Stage Workshop taught by Samantha Kaufman. Tuition is $50 for per person for one day or $75 for both.Class will be Sat. Feb. 1 and Sun. Feb. 2 from 12pm to 3pm at Riot Act, Inc.’s Studio in The Center for the Arts. Register on Riot Act’s website www.riotactinc.org/classes/.

Workshop Topics include:

• Instant Chemistry: simple acting exercises to facilitate mutual trust and to create chemistry with any scene partner
• Consent: physical work and emotional preparation for more effective scenes of intimacy
• The Pillars: guidelines for approaching scenes of Intimacy, including script work, communication of personal boundaries, consent, and other professional etiquette practices
• Playing with Specificity: techniques and ideas to begin exploring your own methods of maintaining your own psychological health, assuring your own resilience and the quality of your craft

Saturday – Intimacy: Informed Advocacy for Performers

A three-pronged approach to Intimacy, this introductory class includes exercises in instant chemistry, consent, and choreography. Each of these exercises is supported by its intersection with Intimacy Directors International's Five Pillars, which will be unpacked for you the student as a means of advocating for yourself and others.

Sunday – Applied Intimacy: Approaching the Kiss/The Breath & Vocal Tract of Intimacy

The first step in applying what you've learned is to make it specific to your task. This class aims to introduce tools to take on situations as a performer - approaching a kiss and not so distantly related, the breath and vocal tract of intimacy. Find out how best to introduce these topics, overcome obstacles in a safe and respectable manner, and follow a roadmap that leads to the successful creation of dynamic, intimate moments made sustainable by the collaboration of all parties involved.

**You must either attend the first class on Saturday or have attended a prior introductory workshop as a prerequisite for this course.**

Samantha Kaufman is an actor and movement director; specializing in fight direction, intimacy direction, and circus theatre. After being transplanted to Chicago to study circus arts with Actors Gymnasium; she is now based in the Midwest region and travels to perform in and fight/intimacy/movement direct productions across the nation. She has her BFA from the University of Wyoming and her MFA from Florida Atlantic University. She is also an advanced actor/combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and an intermediate actor/combatant with Fight Directors Canada. In all her work, Samantha is dedicated to the growth and development of the art form and the artists, in order to support a vibrant and healthy artistic community.

Samantha is a certified Intimacy Director with IDI. She has been staging intimacy for years but since completing the Intimacy Directors International’s O’Neill Pedagogy Intensive her hunger to spread this work has grown daily. She is fiercely passionate about advocacy for artists and spreading consent practices through theatre and circus communities. She couldn’t be prouder of the opportunities to empower artists with this work. samanthakaufman.weebly.com/intimacy-direction

an important facet of stage training, this workshop will bring important training to veterans and novices of the stage alike.This workshop can take a maximum of 24 people per day, so sign up soon to secure your spot.Sign up for the class today at www.riotactinc.org/classes/.