Beijing Actors Workshop

[bjactorsworks]

Hi there!

Beijing Actors Workshop with Glen Sparer

OPEN CALL

Beijing Actors Workshop is currently looking for actors for its 3rd year of workshops starting October 14, offering a creative platform for actor development as well as exciting performances for Beijing audiences.

NEW FACILITATOR

For this fall season, we are pleased to join forces with Glen Sparer, a Meisner-trained and Michael Chekhov-certified American instructor with over 25 years of acting, teaching and acting research experience in New York, Russia and Europe.

Filmmaker and BAW cofounder & facilitator Patrick Pearce will also be offering two workshops on two key actor skills.

NEW 8-WEEK WORKSHOP PROGRAM

When it comes to developing stage and film acting skills, most training is approached in an external instrumental fashion. Glen Sparer offers a way that focuses instead on intuition and “whole-body-connectivity”. This surprising program is designed for actors, but also will benefit performing artists, body-therapists and business professionals.

Based on the Psycho-Physical Exercises of Michael Chekhov, Glen’s workshops show how to tap into and explore the multiple sources of energies within ourselves, other actors, and the environment, and then channel them into stronger performances.

Using a camera to record auditions, Patrick Pearce will guide actors through the challenges of self-presentation and “cold readings” of a text, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each participant’s performances.

With the help of a professional camera operator, Patrick will guide actors to act in front of a camera, covering positioning marks, lighting, frame values and corresponding “intensities” of performance.

SCHEDULE

Sundays, 7 to 10pm.

Oct. 14 - free introductory workshop

Oct. 21 – start of 8-week program

LOCATION

Club Obiwan

http://clubobiwan.com.cn/mod/Contact.php

FEES

Native Chinese (born & raised here) - 300 rmb

Foreigners - 600 rmb

Workshop size is limited to 20 (including organizers)

REGISTRATION & INFO

bjactorsworkshop@gmail.com

http://bjactorsworkshop.googlepages.com (might have to use proxy)

[imron]

Why the discriminatory pricing? What if a non-Chinese was born and raised here, would they still have to pay 600RMB?

And how are you making sure that Chinese people were born and raised here? Do you check ID and school graduation certificates at the door? And at what age do you draw the line for being raised here?

[roddy]

This was moved to the classifieds forum, but we shifted it back for the sake of the discussion on differential pricing.

I don't have a problem with charging according to ability to pay, but foreign / Chinese seems a bit of a crude. A monthly income cut-off would be a bit friendlier, though you'd have to trust your customers.

[bjactorsworks]

this is kind of the official statement on this by some of the higher ups in the organization:

This workshop offers excellent value at 600rmb for eight workshops led by professional facilitators.

The reason we offer a discounted price for Chinese locals is to allow people who would otherwise not be able to participate in the workshop.

A foreign actor here often earns two to four times the salary of a Chinese actor. The discounted price is an attempt to reflect income disparities and broaden the reach of the workshop.

[roddy]

What if Ge You, and his destitute but talented American friend, both turn up?

[bjactorsworks]

if Ge Yu was a real friend and had any sense of Chinese hospitality, then he'd offer to pay for his destitute expat "American" friend.

however, hypothetically we might want to take this discussion, it's not likely to happen given the current social realities of China that expats would be destitute in China and that Ge Yu would show up.

[zhwj]

It's probably also possible to argue that fluent English-speakers will get more out of a workshop run by non-Chinese-speakers; the difficulties in basing pricing on language-ability alone should be obvious.