Thursdays 7-9pm: 10 sessions begin October 3rd
Breathing techniques. Performance techniques. The fact of being on stage. Facing the audience. Overcoming stage fright. Finding the best way to read our own and others’ texts. How to use the microphone. Paying attention to the cadence of the text. Exploring the timbre, varying dynamics of expression, and accentuation. How to use silence. The tempo of the reading. Articulation, gesticulation, and body language. Learning to use the full range of one’s voice. When to look at the audience and how to generate a connection with the audience. How to read the text convincingly. The importance of trusting the text while performing it. Confronting and combating shyness, vagueness, and doubt. How to be real when reading. Basically, lifting the poem off the page. Workshop participants will be asked to bring their own writings for this performance workshop.
Anne Tardos, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellow, is the author of Both Poems, I Am You, and The Dik-dik’s Solitude, among several others.