Empowering Actors Through Viewpoints

Whereas many directors who happen to teach devising or movement may be misrepresenting and/or underestimating the full and cross-­genre potential of systems like Anne Bogart & Tina Landau’s Viewpoints, thereby unconsciously passing on their own aesthetic preferences to their students and perpetuating a narrow view of the system as innately “avant-garde” or experimental, I will aim to articulate a philosophy of Viewpoints training and education which empowers, rather than manipulates actors, preparing them for devising and performance across a variety of styles, ranging from Clown and Commedia to Realism and the avant-­garde.

In this 20 minute lecture/demonstration, I aim to expand the audience’s conception of the Viewpoints as a method of actor training (across styles and genres) through a pointed critique of many of the misconceptions and misapplications of the methodology.