A One-Day Playback Theatre Workshop
A One-Day Playback Theatre Workshop
Center for the Living Arts
Presents
A One-Day Playback Theatre Workshop
Personal stories transformed into improvised theater pieces, on the spot,
incorporating music, movement, ritual, and spoken improvisation.
Facilitated by
Armand Volkas and Christine Kalb
Saturday, July 15, 2023
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Barnett Hall
3534 Lakeshore Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
$150 for the Day
($125 Early-Bird Special: sign up by July 1)
Playback Theatre
Moments of our lives can be touchstones, full of power and significance. Playback Theatre transforms personal stories told by audience members into theater pieces on the spot, using movement, ritual, music, and spoken improvisation. Sometimes a story becomes a myth, sometimes a realistic enactment. Some stories are tragic, others are funny or illuminating.
The Workshop
Participants will learn the subtleties of the Playback Theatre form, refine improvisation skills, and share in the often profound experience of hearing each other’s stories and bringing them to life. The Playback process helps develop intuition, insight, and creativity. It also creates community and connection among people by honoring the dignity, drama, and universality of their stories.
Previous theater experience is not a requirement. This training is for anyone interested in creating art from the specifics and complexities of our human experience. Shy people are welcome.
The Facilitators
Armand Volkas is a psychotherapist and Registered Drama Therapist in private practice and Clinical Director of the Center for the Living Arts in Berkeley, California, where he directs a training program for mental health practitioners who want to integrate drama therapy into their practices. Using a therapeutic approach, he also directs Healing the Wounds of History, in which he uses Playback and other theater techniques to work with groups of participants from cultures with a common legacy of violent conflict and historical trauma.
Armand is the Artistic Director of The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble. Under Armand’s leadership, the Ensemble has performed locally and internationally for more than 30 years, gaining a reputation that reflects the heart of Armand’s work, which is a profound respect for the power of personal story to build bridges between people and cultures.
Christine Kalb is an actor, teacher, director, and co-founder of the Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble. She has collaborated with Armand Volkas for over 30 years producing, acting in, and conducting public performances for the company. She has trained with Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas, co-founders of the Playback Theatre form, and other highly regarded teachers from the international Playback community.
Christine admires the qualities of Playback that distinguish it from other theatrical forms. Because the stories shared during a playback performance can have a familiar emotional core, she believes playback can strengthen our interpersonal connections and increase our capacity for empathy. Over the years, Christine has taught improv and playback to people of all ages, including summer “KidProv” workshops for children.
She currently performs regularly with the Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble and serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for the Living Arts.
Contact: cjkalb@hotmail.com