Integral Transpersonal Theatre
The Poetics of the Unseen. A Transpersonal Approach to Theatre and Acting.
Introduction
¨Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Art is in the eye of those who observe. Gaze sees, reproduces and transforms life in artwork, and life itself is transformed by it.¨
The artist’s gaze isn’t only sight, but it concerns every sense, together with intellect of course, but also with intuition, instinct and Transpersonal perception – or Vision.
Transpersonal regards the field of the highest qualities of human beings – such as the dimensions of consciousness, soul, creativity, transcendence, for example, that pass through the overcoming of individualism and egoism, reaching a way of being in the world and of doing things that go beyond appearances – which, as such, belong to the heroic journey of the individual towards awareness, synergy, sharing, resonance, interconnection, naturalness, respect, listening, acceptance, responsibility, emotional mastery, self-knowledge and so on.
An artistic process willing to be Transformational for one’s self and for the community passes through a systematic training of Observation, Sensibility and Awareness, along a two-way path, outside-in and inside-out; its action field is humanity in its entirety, in what can be called holistic vision considering the five levelsof the individual: physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual (or transpersonal).
Through Observation, Sensibility and Self-Awareness of one’s own framework, muscles, personal history and so on, an evolutionary and creative journey begins, able to tell and represent stories through one’s own body and voice, in a sincere, responsible, quality and why not, magic way.
¨I become an instrument of pure perception (pure body, pure sight, pure mind), where reality meets mystery, dream, where I create knowing when to lose myself, and how to come back and do it over and over again…until magic happens, alone.¨
Only through play and responsibility for what I plan and project I can stimulate some kind of transformationor new awareness in others and myself: this is the power of art, the power of human beings in the world, this is a Transpersonal Approach to Art.
Poetics of the Unseen represents the place of creativity that cannot leave aside all the realities and invisible forces, archetypical and subtle, that exist and act in and around human beings, and that as such must be object of observation and artistic reproduction as much as the visible, perceivable, material and explicit ones.
Therefore, a Transpersonal Approach to Theatre proposes a stimulant journey of knowledge of the soul through art and of art through the soul, by an Integral work on Human beings, in an evolutionary process on (on and off) stage and outside.
Using different theatrical and therapeutic practices I created a Method, in constant evolution, which through a psycho-physical-spiritual study of one’s self and of the character, allows to enter in contact with Human Nature from different points of view, and to perceive its unity.
This perception stimulates stage intelligence, acting abilities and most of all frees the actor’s and the beginners’ soul from everything obstructing the creative impulse, joy of life, authenticity, presenting theatre as a responsible game, as a development of one’s own talents and as a source of individual and collective healing.
Through specific practices and techniques that act on the body, voice, soul and mind, consistently with the Holistic Vision of the Subject, work is performed simultaneously on the actor, the character and the collectivity, whether it’s group of study, theatre, therapy or Society itself.
Those who decide to open themselves to this stage and non-stage journey, are prepared to perceive and transcend themselves, in a wider comprehension of Feeling and Behavior, this way laying the foundations of Self-acceptance and of the character they wish to represent, whatever its features are, recognizing in this capability of complete observation and acceptance the fundamental element in order to express it, represent it, artistically recreate it, with love and intelligence.
This kind of study and practice, based on Sight and Sensibility Training, as tools to comprehend others and to allow others to comprehend us, provides an intuitive, sensible and original development of one’s own talents and allow access to an authentic artistic creation.
Through this kind of training, it’s possible to access the rediscovery of the invisible as an integrant part of reality. The poetic act of living, represented and transfigured through the shamanic-esthetic act of artistic construction, passes from an individual level to a social level through a journey of love, observation and discipline, where changeabilityis a prerequisite for evolution and represents the richest characteristic of life, re-proposed on stage.
The study of both theatrical and literary texts is part of the journey, favoring contact with the collective unconscious and its archetypes, providing not only the basis for a theatrical work, but also for one of sharing and stimulus of a critical attitude as a first step towards coexistence, evolution and creation, not only of an artistic product but also of new archetypes, able to act on the collective unconscious and the contemporary world.
The seminar
I propose a formative journey for actors and non-actors, a journey that considers human beings as an unlimited source of life and myths, as Cosmos and Cosmogonist Author at the same time.
This journey is for people, who is interested in entering in contact with a different way of thinking about art and life, according to humanistic guidelines, it is a journey of intense research and awareness toward becoming an actor-director, an artistic transformer, a Poet of the Unseen.
Some of the proposed exercises find their origin in the Method of the Brazilian Director Antunes Filho, in and in many disciplines by masters of the art of acting, among which finds its focus a vocal technique based on resonance and on Chi.