What:
A performance workshop exploring primate communication and
social organization leading to a videotaped nature documentary,
part of the Primate Cinema series. Participants will watch
video clips of animal behavior in the wild and in cinema,
learn about primatology, and engage in physical theater techniques
and improvisation.
When:
Meeting 1: Sunday May 4, 2-5 PM,
Meeting 2: Monday, May 5, 6-9 PM,
Two-four other meetings in May to be determined on May 4 meeting.
Live performance/shoot: May 24
Screening of completed video: June 11-22 at TELIC
Participants need not attend all meetings, but commitment
is important.
Who:
Rachel Mayeri, artist and media studies professor, is organizing
the workshop as part of her research and video production
at TELIC. Deborah Forster is a cognitive scientist who has
worked with primates at the San Diego Zoo, and has studied
wild baboons in Kenya. Alyssa Ravenwood is a physical theater
director, performer, and mask-maker. Biographies of workshop
leaders are below.
How:
With video clips of wildlife documentaries and Hollywood movies,
we will explore media representations of human and nonhuman
primate "nature." Forster will discuss how primates
and other animals perform social organization and communication,
covering a range of perspectives from behavioral ecology and
sociology to cognitive science. Ravenwood will show how commedia
dell' arte and other theatrical traditions have found animals
a source of inspiration for personality and movement. Performers
will explore animal behavior and society through warm-ups,
group exercises, and improvisational games.
Why:
Participants will expand acting and social skills by learning
about animal behavior. This is a rare chance to be involved
in an interdisciplinary project creating dialogue around art,
science and politics. Exploring alternative social organization
could lead to world peace...or at least to comedy. Participants
will be festooned with food and a DVD of the completed project.
And you get to act like monkeys.
Where:
TELIC Arts Exchange (Field Station Hollywood for the month
of May), 975 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012;
Map and directions
How to Participate:
Free, open to everyone, performance experience is a plus.
RSVP Rachel.Mayeri@gmail.com if you are interested in participating
and come to the first meeting.
Workshop will be videotaped and used as part of completed
nature documentary.
Biographies:
Deborah Forster
Trained in behavioral ecology and cognitive science at UCSD,
Forster spent many years studying wild baboons in Kenya and
worked with other primates at the San Diego Zoo. She has done
design-context research and organizational development consulting
at Nissan Design America. She is currently teaching cognitive
science to architects at Woodbury University in San Diego,
and is contributing to a studio course led by Teddy Cruz at
Harvard Graduate School of Design, to build housing in Nicaragua.
Alyssa Ravenwood
An award winning physical theatre director, performer and
mask designer. Artistic Director of the new Los Angeles mask
troupe, Ravenwood Performance Group. A graduate of the Dell'Arte
School of Physical Theatre. She also studied Clowning with
Sue Morrison at the Canadian Clown Institute and Commedia
with Ole Brekke of The Denmark Commedia School.