Workshop - 'The Alchemy of Astonishment'
Workshop - 'The Alchemy of Astonishment'
Past Performance
In The Theatre
May 20th 2019

A workshop for professional practitioners with Will Weigler.

After collecting stories from nearly one hundred people about the single most unforgettable moment they had ever seen in a theatre performance, Canadian theatre director Will Weigler realized they all had one thing in common. He then developed a teachable vocabulary of theatrical staging strategies that anyone can learn to integrate into a performance.

In this 3-hour workshop, you will have a chance to work with Will’s deck of staging strategy vocabulary cards to learn how to apply them to your work as a theatre maker/facilitator. 

There are limited spaces for this workshop on performance devising strategies that will radically elevate the capacity of community arts project participants, professional actors, playwrights, and directors to create vivid, evocative, and memorable theatre.

The workshop is based on Will’s book The Alchemy of Astonishment: Engaging the Power of Theatre (University of Victoria, 2016) which won the 2017 Distinguished Book Award for outstanding contribution to the field from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education in Washington, DC.

Read more about Will in Creative Team

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Monday 20th May
6:30pm - 9:30pm

Tickets: Free Event (Please reserve your workshop space)

Creative Team
Will Weigler Workshop Leader

Will Weigler, PhD, is a theatre director, playwright, producer and professional storyteller based in Victoria, Canada. Dr. Weigler earned his PhD in Applied Theatre at the University of Victoria and has studied at both the National Theatre Institute in the USA, and Oberlin College.

He has also written several books on theatre, including The Alchemy of Astonishment: Engaging the Power of Theatre (University of Victoria, 2016); Strategies for Playbuilding: Helping Groups Translate Issues into Theatre (Heinemann, 2001); From the Heart: How 100 Canadians Created an Unconventional Theatre Performance about Reconciliation (VIDEA, 2015); Laughing Allowed! — A How-to Guide for Making a Physical Comedy Show to Build Neighbourhood Resilience [co-author] (Building Resilient Neighbourhoods, 2016); and, Web of Performance: An Ensemble Workbook [co-editor/co-author] (University of Victoria, 2018).

www.willweigler.com

Testimonial for Will Weigler -

"Will’s experience as a theatre artist, community outreach specialist, master theatre teacher, and successful scholar and writer is transferred to his students with genuine kindness and humility, unique humor, raw honesty, endless vitality, embodied intellect, and genuine passion."

- Xan S. Johnson, PhD.
Professor (Honors & Graduate)
Department of Theatre, University of Utah

Praise for 'The Alchemy of Astonishment' (book) -

"Sir Tyrone Guthrie used to say, 'Keep in your mind some image of magnificence'. With this book and its supplementary deck of teaching cards, Will [Weigler] offers direct access to creating just such images on stage. Beautifully observed and meticulously explained, community performers and trained professionals will treasure it."

- Community Performance director Richard Owen Geer, PhD
Author of 'Story Bridge: From Alienation to Community Action'