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Rachel Schroeder Moving Theatre |
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Please assist us in getting Rachel Schroeder Moving Theatre moving far and wide!
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We at RSMT are always looking for energetic, responsible individuals to intern with the company. If interested, please contact Rachel. Include your résumé, headshot (if applicable), and a brief paragraph of intent. Please note that not all productions require the assistance of interns. Internships are non-paid. Must have a knowledge of theatre practices. Preference will be afforded to those interested who are seeking to work in the world of physical theatre. |
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ARTIST’S STATEMENT I aim to delight audiences, provoke catharsis and interact with the collective unconscious. Inspired by Etienne Decroux and trained in his Corporeal Mime, I seek to reinvigorate this art form for contemporary audiences. I am equally engaged in challenging the confines of solo work to lead audiences to forget they are watching a lone performer, not only to entertain them, but also to remind them of the power and responsibility of the individual in the world: how change begins with one person, and how the world lives inside each of us as much as we all live in it.
To do this, I create and perform modern mythical “psy-fi” stories that illuminate the magic in ordinary life. Via movement and theater, my work rides parallel tracks of narrative and poetry to mine spirit and psyche. I am equally committed to storytelling and physical virtuosity.
Concerned with themes of acceptance, integration and renewal, my choreography is character-based and dramatically driven. My defining training is in Corporeal Mime. Known as the “Shakespeare of mime,” it is a modern dramatic language of physical theater discovered by Etienne Decroux in France during the 1930's. Its impact on the performing arts is global and multi-disciplinary. Those influenced include Jessica Lange, the animation team of Jurassic Park, Michael Jackson, Marcel Marceau, international experimental theater artists, dance companies, performance artists, as well as theater departments of many universities and conservatories.
Corporeal Mime celebrates metaphor to evoke the mystery of human experience that extends beyond the actions and attitudes of the body. Unlike Pantomime, it is symbolic, often abstract, and alive in stillness. With each piece I make, I use Corporeal Mime as a base and draw from other sources to create a unique choreographic palette. Past pieces probed world prayer practices (the whirling of dervishes, the Salaat and yoga), vaudevillian physical comedy and expressionist dream and archetype kinesis.
For my current evening-length project, HELIANTHA, I am working with opposing choreographic palettes: For the aged spinster, Agatha, I am studying habitual movement patterns of the elderly, harvesting dance steps from the waltz and engaging in an expressionist inquiry into the tension between the young body (both real and imagined,) that lives in memory and the actual physical limitations of the old. For the sunflower creature, Heliantha, I am creating a palette combining time-lapse video footage of blooming flowers, behavior of children, puppies and monsters to examine childhood development, the desire to relate to and please adults, and the longing for acceptance, community and connection to nature and origin. HELIANTHA also demands experimentation by portraying more than one character simultaneously via mime, dance, puppetry, video and costuming.
As a solo artist, HELIANTHA, marks my first collaboration with a director: Josh Hecht. In kind, this is Josh’s virgin voyage with silent, physical theater. By trusting Josh to guide the narrative, I am venturing into more poetic, abstract and still realms of movement and performance, while Josh is learning the narrative abilities of action without words. Together, we are daring ourselves and challenging one another to travel into unknown territory. HELIANTHA is also leading us to work with sound, video and puppet artists and we are enjoying mining these disciplines to see where the cross-fertilization takes us and our project.
While creating HELIANTHA, I am building Rachel Schroeder Movement Theater (RSMT) into a more formal company structure. Currently, I am seeking members for an Advisory Committee to help strengthen the infrastructure and to offer support and guidance in achieving RSMT’s goals. The company’s mission is to continue creating and producing accessible experimental movement-theater conceived and choreographed by Rachel Schroeder in collaboration with artists of various disciplines to tell compelling and poetic stories. We also plan to continue offering classes and workshops to schools, colleges, universities, community organizations and education programs at theaters internationally. In order to achieve these goals, we need a permanent dance studio in which to create/rehearse and store props and costumes. We also need staff members, interns and freelancers to help with development, grant writing, graphic design, administration and production. Our marketing needs include building and maintaining a website, designing and producing new press and presenter’s kits as well as editing and duplicating DVD’s of HELIANTHA.
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If you would like to contribute to RSMT, please click here. Your contributions are always appreciated! |