FABULAMUNDI EFFECTS
a European digital storytelling
In the autumn of 2020, Fabulamundi Playwriting Europe will reach its fourth year of the large-scale edition of Creative Europe. The health-emergency that hit us at the beginning of 2020 has pushed us to redefine the processes that were gradually emerging and react with the enthusiasm of another possibility of affirming the co-presence in the theatre.
Starting from the awareness that guaranteeing the plurality of languages, styles and representativeness of each cultural and productive context of the network has always been the main mission of Fabulamundi, we have been guided by the reciprocity of shared actions between partners to arrive at the definition of an extensive and plural program thanks to the digitalization of contents.
From September 2020, with a specific focus in the week from the 14th to the 20th, and then continuing until December, Fabulamundi Effects – a European digital storytelling will tune Europe with its mix of digital and presence, connecting, with its frequencies, the multifaceted landscape of identities, languages, and experiences.
Fabulamundi Effects will see three online workshops in English with their multidisciplinary proposals based on the mixture of languages and aimed at heterogeneous professionals and non-professionals.
Three European playwrights of Fabulamundi have been called to lead them. Ellen McDougall, artistic director of the Gate Theatre in London, will run a workshop for directors, authors and dramaturgs dedicated to the adaptation of texts for the theater. Romanian author Elise Wilk will focus on the work before writing a play, any kind of play and on documenting and researching for a theme, using journalistic tools; the French author and director Gérard Watkins will work with both actors and authors examining the fundamental tecniques of stage writing.
To apply to the online workshops, excellent knowledge of English is required. All candidates must send a curriculum and a short self-presentation, specifying the workshop chosen, no later than midnight of the 24th of August 2020 to the following e-mail address: projects@pav-it.eu
The results of the selection will be communicated by September 7th, 2020.
Participation in the workshops is free with compulsory attendance.
JOURNALISTIC TECHNIQUES IN WRITING FOR THEATRE
WORKSHOP BY ELISE WILK
when: 14-18 September 2020, from 10:00 to 13:00
where: online sessions on ZOOM
for: authors, writers, journalists
maximum number of participants: 8
Most contemporary plays are based on rigorous documentation of the subjects they deal with, the playwright relying on his working process on techniques specific to journalism. The methods may vary. Thus, the playwright may use press articles for his documentation, especially when writing about topics he is unfamiliar with, or he may use specific journalistic tools for his research. Very often, plays are inspired by magazine and newspaper articles.
During the workshop, we will discuss our own research techniques (I will show examples from my own practice, but also from the practice of other artists). The participants will choose a real event and fictionalise it, gather press materials or interview people in order to find out as much as possible about the topic they want to address.
Together, we will select the most relevant information and turn them into a play. By the end of the workshop, each participant will have at least a good starting point for a new play.
Elise Wilk was born in Braşov, Romania, and studied journalism at the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. She has a Masters in Literature and Communication from the Transylvania-University of Braşov and a Masters in Dramaturgy from the University of the Arts of Târgu-Mureş. In 2013 she won the “Irish Embassy Award” as an emerging Romanian playwright with her text “The green cat.” In 2014 Forbes Magazine Romania included her among the young trendsetters of the year.
COMMON GROUND OF ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSCENDENCE BETWEEN WRITING AND ACTING
WORKSHOP BY GÉRARD WATKINS
when: 14-18 SEPTEMBER 2020, from 10:00 to 13:00
where: online sessions on ZOOM
for: authors and actors
maximum number of participants: 8
What do playwrights and actors need to allow transcendence on stage?
Collective research, stage writing, improvisations, performing, we will examine a few fundamental techniques on collaboration between actors and playwrights. We will also study a basic scene from 14, my last creation, to comment and synthesize.
I have coined a few words that add meaning to my work over the last years and will go through their meaning. Grain, Drive, Dhibouk, Chronology, The Song, Percussion.
Gérard Watkins was born in London in 1965. Raised in Norway and the United States, he has lived in France since 1974. He wrote his first song in 1980 and his first text a year later. Study acting at Cours Florent and CNSAD. Since then, he has worked alternately as an actor, playwright, director and musician. Gérard Watkins was awarded the 2010 Grand Prix de Littérature Dramatique and was named best living French-speaking playwright in 2017 at the Molières, and received the Syndicat de la critique award for best actor 2016-2017.
MAKE IT RADICAL!
WORKSHOP BY ELLEN MCDOUGALL, THE GATE THEATER LONDON
when: 3rd October (10.00-17.00), 5th and 6th October (10.00-13.00)
where: online sessions on ZOOM
for: authors, directors, dramaturg
maximum number of participants: 8
Artistic director of The Gate Theater in London, Ellen McDougall will lead a workshop on the adaptation of texts for theatre. By investigating the dramaturgical processes that intervene every time a story meets the stage, McDougall will share with the participants her approach to analyzing the text, starting from the successful adaptations that she has done from the beginning of her career.
The workshop will be a unique opportunity to have a direct experience of the working and production mechanisms of the British scene. And it is specifically aimed at emerging directors, authors and dramaturgs who want to develop their own vision of the analysis and adaptation of the texts.
Ellen McDougall is Artistic Director at the Gate Theatre. Previous credits at the Gate include – Faces in the Crowd (2020), Dear Elizabeth (2019), Effigies of Wickedness (2018), The Unknown Island (2017) and Idomeneus (2014). Other credits include Our Town (Regents Open Air) and The Wolves (Stratford East); Othello (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe); the Lyric’s annual pantomime – Aladdin (2016) and Cinderella (2015); The Rolling Stone (Orange Tree Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange); The Remains of Maisie Duggan (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Glass Menagerie (Headlong); Anna Karenina (Manchester Royal Exchange); Henry the Fifth (Unicorn Theatre); Glitterland (Secret Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith) and Ivan and the Dogs (Actors Touring Company/Soho Theatre) – nominated for an Olivier Award.
Ellen McDougall was formerly part of the Secret Theatre Company at the Lyric Hammersmith. She trained as an assistant to Katie Mitchell and Marianne Elliott. She was awarded an International Artists’ Development Award (ACE/British Council) in 2012.
The Gate Theater was founded in 1979 to present international theater performances to a London audience. The Gate imagines his work as a live conversation with their audience. The 75-seat hall is transformed with each production, there are never two shows alike. The Gate cultivates new talents to continually rethink the boundaries of what theater could be in the panorama of the English scene, creating a space for radical and inventive thinking to surprise, stimulate and inspire.
