OFFICE SHIKA PRODUCE “Community Revitalization Theater Program”
3 Cities Actor Workshop Sapporo

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dates‍

2023/11/19 (Sun)
Group A (for beginners) 13:30 to 16:30
Group B (for experienced people) 17:00-20:00

venues

‍Catalina Studios
2-18-1 Kita 10-jonishi, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0010, Japan

lecturers‍

Group A: Natsuki Chobi
Group B: Maruo Maruichiro

What is the summaryHere

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Katarina Studio is located about 15 minutes on foot from Sapporo Station. It was said that it was a “studio” owned by a local theater company, but when I went there, it was a “theater” fully equipped with a stage and lighting equipment, etc., and it was actually a place where performances were held frequently.
As a local production, Labochi, who is active in Hokkaido, is also involved in the satellite project, and although it was the first project for Office Ka-san in Sapporo, many young local actors participated, and I already felt excited from the start.

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Group A is said to be for beginners, but there were few complete beginners, and many people active in local theater companies and university drama circles participated. The content of Natsuki Chobi's lecture was mainly about how to make and be a “body,” with an emphasis on “breathing,” and it looked like a simple menu for an actor workshop, such as stretching, muscle training, theater games, etc., and it was a pretty unique method by being thoroughly aware of “breathing.”

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Sentences such as “the image of breathing with the whole body” and “always using the same amount of breathing” appear over and over again in Natsuki's stories. Also, even in push-ups, for example, it was a method unique to Natsuki, where instead of lifting your body with brute strength, you exhale when bending your arms, and then raise your body with the pressure of that voice by making a voice out of your “whole body,” but by embodying it repeatedly, I understood that the true meaning was gradually conveyed to the participants.

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The themes of “body” and “breathing” are often discussed during the first “weakness” held in general workshops, but Natsuki says it is directly related to acting. By making it a body that can always breathe the same amount, no matter what kind of performance they are performing, when they can be seen as one person on stage, and it seems that it is possible to show a “cool” movement with no sense of incongruity on stage by training that the same amount of air enters all of them at the same time, no matter what kind of movement they do.

In fact, a theater game called “Name Demon” was played once in the first half and once in the second half of the practice, but compared to the first half, everyone had better voices in the second half, and their movements looked better. Just being aware of how to use “breathing,” I was surprised that there was such a change even in a short period of time.

Group B is a workshop using plays by Maruichiro Maruo. First, they carefully took the time to ask the participants to introduce themselves, and then they also listened to their current concerns about the theater. As Maruo responds to each person's remarks in a detailed, kind, and sometimes funny way, the participants become more and more relaxed.

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Next, short plays are distributed, and participants are divided into 3 teams, and read them all together. It's a story about high school students just before the school festival, and each of the 5 characters is characteristic and their roles are clear, and on the other hand, it's a work with a degree of freedom to perform in any way, so I thought it was the perfect play for an occasion like this one.

First, the participants read it together, so they proceed without any particular direction. After reading the book with each team for about 15 minutes, one team at a time immediately went up to the stage and moved on to making presentations. While Maruo and members of another team were in the audience, the first team members were very nervous because they were going to perform on stage, albeit with the script in one hand. When the presentation is over, Mr. Maruo makes a very detailed comment. This is already in the realm of “directing,” and it must have been a very valuable experience for participants to receive directing by Mr. Maruo, who is active as a front-line professional. The same team will announce it again after receiving comments. This time, while stopping halfway through, the production was added each time, and it was just like actual practice.

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Once we get to the last scene, we're asking all the other members who were watching this time to give their impressions. This is a teaching that watching other people's presentations and noticing something is also important, and it probably had the effect of making them more aware of what they pointed out the next time it was their turn to perform.

I learned that all participants in both Group A and Group B were taking the course very far ahead of schedule from the start, and I realized that this kind of experience was a very valuable opportunity in Sapporo. After the end, I felt the success of this workshop due to the fulfilled expressions of the participants.

Also, workshops with the same content are scheduled to be held at the Osaka Municipal Arts Creation Center on 12/6 (Wed) and at the PAPIO Beeroom Fukuoka Chiyo Music and Theater Practice Area on 12/18 (Mon).

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Report: Fukunaga Mitsuhiro