November 25 to 29, 2024
9:30 am to 12:30 pm (Mon-Fri)
Full week: $95 (taxes included)
Drop-in: $28 (available a month prior)
Language of instruction: Frenglish
Questions can be asked in French and English.
CATEGORY
OBJECTIVE
Nothing about us without us anymore. To create the change we want to see in the world, we must seize the narratives that define us.
But how will we hold together the end of an old world and the beginning of a new one? We, storytellers, are visionaries and leaders who can point to what must be preserved and what must be remembered for human life to be noble, meaningful and attuned to nature.
Emerging Stories is a transformational justice and theatre-based workshop focused on collaborative and improvisational work, where we will apply both traditional and contemporary acting tools to an intention of r/evolutionary storytelling.
The workshop is open to every/body with a basic experience of performative storytelling—whatever its language — as we will dive quickly into experimentation.
And because the dream of life on earth depends on critical connections, we will prioritize bottom-up participatory framing and the multiplicity of voices to help us recenter the vision of the other and so, together, shape the new collective narratives.
CONTENT
Emerging Stories is an experimental lab in creative process strategies for accessing the new myths and stories that need to shape culture and make history now.
We will experiment with queer-feminist framing to explore dramatic tension (as opposed to dramatic conflict) as the catalyst for transformation.
Through acting exercises and improvisations inspired by the work of theatre and queer thinkers and practitioners (such as Boal, Moss, Rodenburgh, AMB, hooks, Oliver), we will experience what I call embodied dramaturgical exploration.
We will use various techniques drawing from testimonial theatre, devised theatre, playback/theatre of the oppressed and diverse tools for embodied dramaturgy.
By merging devised theatre and social transformative justice, this workshop offers participants a space for exploring methodologies of creating narratives outsourced from our authentic wisdom.
We will build trust conducive to vulnerable work through a gradation of solo to team to small groups exercises.
We will take time to integrate and discuss, hoping to generate new conversations around how stories organize people, belonging, responsibility, collaboration and radical imaginaries.
| Workshop Pace | Workshop Features |
| Fast | Intense emotional work Visual support (i.e., documentation, texts…) Short verbal applications Exercises are adaptable Subgroups exercises Physical contact between participants |
BIOGRAPHY
Mael Cheff (he/him)
Is a queer, experimental theatre creator, director, performer, coach and facilitator based in Tio`tia:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal. His work focuses on care, liberation, queer futurism and the complexities of relationships.
Trained at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, Mael holds degrees in Theatre Interpretation (Dawson) and Film Studies (Université de Montréal), and constantly pursues education in acting, dance and various new pedagogical practices.
His artistic practice of over 20 years is rooted in social justice, and he creates multidisciplinary works on stage that challenge stereotypes, highlight marginalized voices and encourage dialogue on important issues. Mael is highly involved in his community, participating in several panels, committees and boards. He has also been coaching and facilitating theatre workshops for nearly ten years, in both community-based and professional contexts.
His latest creation, heartbeast, won the prestigious Audience Award at the 2023 Montreal Fringe Festival, as well as being nominated for the Creativity and Innovation Award.
These days, he’s in the final stages of rewriting his piece heartbeast, with the support of Jesse Stong at Playwrights Workshop Montreal. He’s also working on several interdisciplinary projects, and is increasingly incorporating the language of contemporary dance into his approach.