1425 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
(215) 873-0883 office
(215) 873-0884 fax
www.pigironschool.org
Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance
Training
Student Catalogue
Developing the next generations of artists who will
change the face of world theatre
Date of Publication: January. 1, 2011
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Table of Contents
The School
Education Philosophy……………………………………………3
Education Objectives…………………………………………….3
Teaching Methodology and Subjects Offered.…………………..3
Program Description……………………………………………..4
Student Life……………………………………………….4
Program Length…………………………………………...5
Diploma in Advanced Performance Training……………6
Grading system……………………………………………6
Requirements for Graduation……………………………..6
Transfer of Academic Credit……………………………...6
Observed Holidays………………………………………..6
2011-2012 School Calendar ……………………………...6
2012-2013 School Calendar………………………………7
Equipment………………………………………………...7
Facilities……………………………………………….8
Course Descriptions…………………………….…….9
Faculty…………………………………………………17
School Director…………………………………………………...17
Core Faculty………………………………………………………17
Adjunct Faculty…………………………………………………...18
Policies and Procedures………………………….........19
Admissions Requirements and Procedures.……………...………..19
Cancelation/Withdraw Policy……………………………………..21
Refund Policy……………………………………………………...21
Attendance…………………………………………………………22
Leave of Absence and Make up Work policy……………………..23
Tuition and Fees…………………………………………………...23
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The Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training
Our Education Philosophy
The Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training will re-draw the lines of artistic ownership in
theatre and overturn the traditional norms and power structures embodied by the current regional theatre
model. Instead of working with pre-established texts, the school will advocate the idea of creativity as
dialogue rather than monologue; actors and directors working together in an improvisational framework
in order to create characters and plays wholly “owned” by creative ensembles. Instead of building new
work around the spoken word, we will focus intensively on the body and a physical approach to creating
characters and theatrical ideas.
Education Objectives
Our primary goal for the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training will be to expand and
nourish the local, national, and international communities of forward-thinking theatre artists, and to
encourage the creation of groundbreaking original work. We believe that the only way for theatre to stay
viable as an art form — and bring in new audiences hungry for innovation — is to re-discover the special
qualities of live performance, and to think in new way about the role of the body and the voice onstage. It
is our intention that the actors, directors and creators who graduate from our program will create new
work both inside and outside of the regional theatre circuit, and help to profoundly impact the tone of the
American theatre.
Teaching Methodology and Subjects Offered
As a school leveraging a variety of disciplines and focusing on Lecoq pedagogy, APT will offer several
channels of exploration each week. Generally, structured courses will focus on the three main arteries of
physical theatre:
Movement. Students will be training their bodies each day through courses on acrobatics/gymnastics,
movement analysis, dance and movement improvisation, movement composition and Pilates/Yoga/Core
Training.
Improvisation. Students will be working on a variety of themes, some lasting a week, some lasting up to
a month. The work will involve daily improvisation to train the performers to trust the impulses that
arrive in the midst of performing. The body and mind collaborate to learn how to be an actor-writer,
deeply in touch with the moment-to-moment choices of the actor as well as the large arc of the scene or
play.
Ensemble creations. Each week, students will work in collaborative teams to develop original pieces
based around the week’s theme(s). This is a chance for the students to answer the artistic and technical
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questions for themselves. It presents an opportunity to work through the myriad problems that the themes
present, ultimately showing the work to the faculty at the end of the week for feedback and critique.
Seminars in Contemporary Performance. APT will investigate trends in contemporary performance,
and will focus on broadening the students’ knowledge of theatre making across the globe and to inspire
the students about the vast possibilities of the stage. Each year, the school will engage texts that will
pervade the class work throughout the program. For instance, the program might turn to the plays of
Chekhov or Crime and Punishment or Agamemnon. When appropriate, small fragments of the text will be
used in order to deepen the relationship of the student with the given work and will demand original and
sometimes personal encounters with old masterpieces. Rather than trying to honor the text, students will
use them as source material toward new and alive performance works.
Business and Entrepreneurial Training. In addition to these course themes, APT will strive to ground
students’ artistry and to provide inspiration for their future work. This will include business seminars on
starting one’s own company and/or producing one’s own work (and will address all the practical concerns
of making a living as a theatre artist). There will also be opportunities to train directly with the Pig Iron
ensemble and to meet and work with professional local artists and visiting artists in Philadelphia.
Program Description
APT will be a center of creation – dynamic, energetic, messy, collaborative and passionate. The students
will give the School its life and its vitality. All aspects of APT will be custom-built to facilitate the
student’s journey and his or her desire to push the boundaries of what live performance can be.
Each day, students will be in class between 4 and 7 hours daily, taking classes that are designed to train
the “total theatre artist”. Each week, students will train in acrobatics, movement analysis, core physical
training, voice, ensemble work and improvisation. Throughout each trimester, students will be working
collaboratively on projects, practicing theatre-making with their peers for faculty evaluation.
Additionally, students will pursue coursework that will look critically at contemporary art and
performance so as to situate the school’s work in a modern global context.
Student Life
A typical day at APT might include working on the timing and physical control of a handstand,
collaborating on translating a movement of a Shostakovitch Symphony into movement, tackling the
performance problem of representing violence onstage, and preparing for a public showing of a clown
piece about the end of the world. By design, APT will reject the traditional separation of artistic
“disciplines” within theatre, asking a student to wear many hats at once: at times, students will be
scouring the flea markets and inexpensive clothing shops for costume items and objects; at times, students
will be using their “off” time to work out the precise choreography for a group creation. Students will be
trained to work as a well-rounded theatre artist with skills in performing, directing, design, writing and
theatre management.
Though APT classes will take up only 4 to 7 hours a day, the School is intended to be an immersive
experience that is as much about the physical and ensemble training taught by the faculty as it is about
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transforming the way in which the students see the world. The rigor of the classroom work will naturally
extend beyond the walls of the school and into the friendships and deep artistic relationships that are at
the core of collaborative work. We intend that the ideas about performance taught at APT will permeate
students’ daily lives, creeping into shared dinners with colleagues, sessions of collaborative work outside
of class, and group outings to nearby State Parks, movies, drag cabarets, and musical performances.
That having been said, some students will also elect to seek part-time work to supplement their tuition
and living expenses. Due to the fact that classroom hours will rarely extend into nights and weekends,
this is a distinct possibility for students, particularly if they are organized and forward-thinking. We will
provide students with a classroom schedule that is predictable and consistent enough to allow for a
sustainable lifestyle while they are enrolled.
Students at APT will also be urged to become a part of the cultural community in Philadelphia, taking
advantage of the thriving performance community here and seeing as much of it as possible. APT will
help organize discounts to performances and will help alert students to artistic work which embodies
similar values and aesthetics. Occasionally, APT will organize trips to New York or Washington, DC to
see notable performances that are otherwise unavailable in Philadelphia. More broadly, we intend to
promote Philadelphia as a case study in the way artists integrate into a community; students will have
access to the artistic leaders of the ensemble theatre and dance communities in Philadelphia, and will be
able to ask them about their career paths and daily lives. Students will also have the opportunity to
publicly showcase their most polished class-work in settings such as cabarets, variety shows, and salon
showings of works-in-progress.
Students at APT will have a very different artistic experience from students in a typical university
program. There will be no papers to write, and there will be a reduced emphasis on theoretical
discussion. Rather, the school is intended to turn philosophical questions into physical and dramatic
answers; the goal is not merely to generate great ideas, but to translate great ideas into riveting
performance. Additionally, there will be a single class incorporating all 15-20 students each semester,
inspiring the kind of deep intimate artistic relationships that yield world-class theatre.
Nurturing these collaborations will be the primary focus of APT’s curriculum and activities, which will in
turn provide the seed for life-long artistic partnerships and brilliant, innovative performances.
Program Length
The two year program will consist of six trimesters that are ten weeks in length. Each week will schedule
26.5 clock hours of class time; the total program will consist of 1590 clock hours of instruction.
Certificate in Advanced Performance Training
Upon completing the program, students will be awarded a certificate in Advanced Performance Training.
Grading System
Grades will be assigned on a pass/non pass basis, which are determined by a system of grading rubrics
and quantitative assessments. While the final grades will be issued at the end of the third trimester
of each academic year, students will be aware of their “shadow grade”, or where they are in terms of
measurable progress at the end of each trimester. Additionally, students and faculty will engage in weekly
dialogue regarding student progress. While some quantitative tools will be used in certain skills based
courses, grading will focus on qualitative evaluation of each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and artistic
growth. Each evaluation will be followed by one of the four grading
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distinctions:
Pass (P) – Reserved for sufficient mastery of course training, a decrease in a specified weakness, an
increase in a specified strength, and/or for general artistic growth in relation to course training
(unless otherwise indicated in course syllabus, requires a 60% total score of grading rubrics
and/or quantitative assessments throughout course)
Not Passed (NP) – Reserved for insufficient mastery of course training, inadequate decrease in a
specified weakness, increase in a specified strength, and/or inadequate artistic
growth in relation to course training
Withdraw (W) – Denotes that the student withdrew from the course before completion (see
Withdraw policy on page 13 for complete details); a plan for make-up work
and/or academic recovery will accompany this grade
Incomplete (I) – Indicates that the student did not satisfactorily complete course training, and did
not withdraw from the course or program; at the discretion of the teaching faculty or
School Director, a plan for make-up work and/or academic recovery may accompany
this grade; in some cases, an incomplete grade may result in termination of training
Additionally, each instructor will provide a written evaluation of progress at the end of each ten
week trimester, and will be generally available to address strengths and weaknesses throughout training.
Requirements for Graduation
Students must pass all courses to be eligible for graduation.
Notice of credit transfer
The Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training offers training that is designed to be the
equivalent to an MFA program. However, as a non-degree bearing post-secondary institution, the School
cannot guarantee the transfer of credit to other educational institutions, and generally will not accept
transfer of credit from other institutions into the School.
Observed Holidays
The School and its administrative offices will observe all scheduled holidays of Pig Iron Theatre, Inc.
This includes any of the following holidays:
Labor Day
Thanksgiving
The day after Thanksgiving
Christmas Eve
Christmas
The Day after Christmas
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Day
Martin Luther King Day
Memorial Day
Fourth of July
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2011-2012 School Calendar
1st Trimester
Oct. 10, 2011 - Dec. 16, 2011
Scheduled Holidays: 11/25 Thanksgiving, 11/26
2nd Trimester
Jan. 10, 2012 – Mar. 16, 2012
Scheduled Holiday: 1/16 MLK Day
3rd Trimester
Apr. 2, 2012 – Jun. 8, 2012
Scheduled Holiday: 5/28 Memorial Day
2012-2013 School Calendar
4th Trimester
Oct. 15, 2012 – Dec. 14, 2012
Scheduled Holidays: 11/22 Thanksgiving, 11/23
5th Trimester
Jan. 7, 2013 – Mar. 15, 2013
Scheduled Holiday: 1/21 MLK Day
th
6 Trimester
Apr. 1, 2013 – Jun. 7, 2013
Scheduled Holiday: 5/27 Memorial Day
Equipment
Required Equipment
4 Neutral Masks
20 Character Masks
10 Larval Masks
20 Clown Noses
Mask Making materials
6 Mensio Matts (5x10 feet)
1 Piano
Ratio
5:1
1:1
2:1
1:1
1:1
3:1
20:1
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Provenance
Amleto and Donato Sartori
Balanese and Sartori
The Maskery
Industry Grade
Industry Grade
Industry Grade
Yamaha
Facilities
APT is housed in the newly renovated “Crane Old School”, a 19th century focal point of the
infamous Know-Nothing Riots located at 1425 North Second Street (between Jefferson and
Master) in Philadelphia. Set directly adjacent to St. Michael's Church, the building sits against
the church's cemetery, with its beautiful sycamore trees creating an urban oasis. APT will be
located in two studio spaces on the building's first floor. Each studio has been renovated to have
more than 1,500 square feet.
The Crane Old School will also be a home to an eclectic array of visual artists, graphic design
studios, and other arts organizations; together with the Crane Arts Building only a block away, it
will form the centerpiece of a rapidly-emerging arts district. The school is within a three-block
walk to the nearest subway station, and students have easy access to the thriving cultural and
nightlife opportunities located in nearby Northern Liberties and Fishtown.
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Course Descriptions
Courses are divided into five categories: Body, Voice, Ensemble Creation, and Seminars:
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO ACROBATICS
COURSE NUMBER: 1.1B
INSTRUCTOR: Geoff Sobelle & Quinn Bauriedel
COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled between 9:30am and 10:20am, Tuesdays and
Thursdays
COURSE LENGTH: 50 minutes, twice weekly for 30 weeks
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Acrobatics is a physical discipline that is vitally important for the physical actor. The study of
acrobatics helps the student deepen their understanding of the possibilities of the body onstage.
The core principles are balance, risk-taking, flexibility, strength and movement analysis.
Fundamentally, this course helps the student to find balance upside down and all the variations
that come from the handstand. Creatively, this work is intended to help the student see the world
from a different perspective.
There will be two assignments in this course that will result in in-class presentations. These are
group projects: a movement-based partnering acrobatics piece and a play that emerges from the
object manipulation and object juggling portion of the course.
COURSE TITLE: MOVEMENT ANALYSIS I
COURSE NUMBER: 1.2B
INSTRUCTOR: Sarah Sanford
COURSE SCHEDULE: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:30am – 10:30am
COURSE LENGTH: 1 hour per session, three days a week, over the course of 30 weeks
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COURSE OVERVIEW:
Movement Analysis is designed to deepen one’s understanding of movement in all its forms and
to train one’s body to be flexible, strong, precise, transformative, and articulate. The course will
examine movement, the movement of the body but also the movement of objects, elements,
materials, animals, light, sound and the earth itself. Far beyond a study of gestures and postures,
the course will examine deeper questions about the origin of movement (the “motor”), the
rhythmic possibilities of movement, and the impulses that guide movement on the stage.
Students will be exposed to many core movements. All the work of APT is rooted in the study
of movement. The course also asks students to become very careful observers of the world in
order to draw inspiration from the limitless movements outside of their own bodies. The goal is
to create a language of movement that each student speaks fluently and that can, ultimately,
translate onto the stage. The course culminates with several projects including a solo movement
piece utilizing the 20 movements learned during the course of the year as well as a group dance
theatre creation in which a new movement vocabulary is created and debuted.
COURSE TITLE: VOICE I
COURSE NUMBER: 1.3V
INSTRUCTOR: Jean-Rene Toussaint
COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled for Mondays from 10:30am-12:30pm
COURSE LENGTH: One two-hour session per week for 30 weeks.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
The Voice course is a complementary course to Movement in many ways. These two
components of the performer’s “instrument” must be trained for full control but before that they
must be opened up and explored. The first year of Voice does just this. Our socialized voice is
very limited in its expressiveness because it is rarely required to move beyond a very thin band
of pitch, tone, breath and articulation. The course intends to open up the socialized voice to
discover the enormous potential that lies within. Through exercises designed to un-censor the
voice, to make sounds that one might think are ugly, wild, frightening or other-worldly, and to
expand the range of what is vocally possible, the student will be able to have control of and use
the voice as a creative tool toward original performance. Often, the physical and vocal work are
aligned so there will be considerable synergy between these two programmatic nodes.
COURSE TITLE: IMPROVISATION I
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COURSE NUMBER: 1.4E
INSTRUCTOR: Quinn Bauriedel & Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey
COURSE SCHEDULE: Not yet available
COURSE LENGTH: 90 minutes or 2 hours per session, four days a week, over the course of 30
weeks
COURSE OVERVIEW:
The Improvisation course focuses on the fundamental skill needed for devised theatre or actorgenerated theatre: the skill of writing on one’s feet. Through daily practice on improvisation, the
student will become adept at making all of the moment-to-moment choices that a creative actor
faces to deepen the connection with the audience, to advance the drama, to further articulate the
character, to build and release tension and to bring the audience on a theatrical journey. The
course, itself, is an artistic journey winding through a variety of performance territories intended
to train the student to become a fearless, curious, dynamic theatre-maker. The course begins
with an examination of the poetic possibilities of theatre, then continues through the Neutral
Mask and observations of the drama of nature. The work then situates itself on an examination
of masks and an actor’s transformation and finally on to character, theatrical treatments, ordinary
and extraordinary dramatic states and dance theatre work.
COURSE TITLE: CREATION I
COURSE NUMBER: 1.5E
INSTRUCTOR: All core faculty
COURSE SCHEDULE: Not yet available
COURSE LENGTH: 90 minute sessions 4 times per week, 1 50-minute session per week and a
90 minute showing per week
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Creation is at the very core of APT and is the synthesis of all the other courses that are part of the
program. Creation allows students to take the vocabulary, themes, values, techniques and skills
that are part of the other courses and apply them toward the making of original theatre. Students
are placed into groups of various and will create an original work of theatre each week during the
course of the program. The themes for the creation will be given out on Fridays and presentation
of the creations will take place the following Friday. Creation is otherwise led by the students
who work collaboratively in response to the assignment and show the finished results of the
work on Fridays for faculty evaluation and feedback. The course is meant to give the students an
opportunity to wrestle with the question of how to construct a vibrant, engaging piece of theatre
11
in a collaborative ensemble. The journey of this course is a journey toward developing an
artistic voice, not through discussion or reading, but through hand-making theatre. Failure is an
ingredient in artistic discovery; the ultimate goal of the course is to engender rigorous and
precise working methods for creative and collaborative theatre artists. The course will culminate
in a public performance of works created during the course of the year.
COURSE TITLE: CONTEMPOARY ART & CULTURE SEMINAR
COURSE NUMBER: 1.6S
INSTRUCTOR: Dan Rothenberg
COURSE SCHEDULE: Tuesdays, 2-4pm
COURSE LENGTH: 2 hours per session, once a week, over the course of 30 weeks
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course introduces students to the contemporary art world in order that they can find their
own place in it. The course looks at contemporary art from many different lenses and looks
beyond the performance world, hoping that connections can be made between sculpture, for
instance, and performance. The questions raised in different disciplines and the ways of
approaching work in these artistic forms will spark a rich conversation among the students and
faculty about the specific role that live performance plays and, even more pointedly, what
contribution ensemble-devised theatre can play in the international conversation about art and
society. Many of the individuals and groups to be covered have influenced Pig Iron’s work both
directly and indirectly. Attempts will always be made to connect the seminar work to the
classroom work.
COURSE TITLE: ACROBATICS AND DANCE
COURSE NUMBER: 2.1B
INSTRUCTOR: Geoff Sobelle & Quinn Bauriedel
COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled between 9:30am and 10:20am, Tuesdays and
Thursdays
COURSE LENGTH: 50 minutes, twice weekly for 30 weeks
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Advanced Acrobatics continues the work begun in Introduction to Acrobatics. The course trains
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students to have physical virtuosity that they can utilize in their creation projects. While the core
principles of this course remain the same as in the first year - balance, risk-taking, flexibility,
strength and movement analysis – the Advanced Acrobatics course is intended to offer students a
movement palette so that they can become movement inventors rather than simply movement.
There will continue to be considerable work on the handstand but the focus will move from
stillness towards kinetic acrobatics, sequences, partnering and eventually acrobatic numbers that
can be incorporated into clown routines.
There will be two assignments in this course that will result in in-class presentations. These are
group projects: a movement-based partnering acrobatics piece and a clown acrobatics piece.
COURSE TITLE: DANCE THEATRE & CORE PHYSICAL TRAINING
COURSE NUMBER: 2.1B
INSTRUCTOR: Sarah Sanford
COURSE SCHEDULE: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:30am – 10:30am
COURSE LENGTH: 1 hour per session, three days a week, over the course of 30 weeks
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Dance Theatre & Core Physical Training continues the work begun in Movement Analysis;
though in this second year course, the emphasis is on using the body as a creative tool toward
creation. Additionally, the course offers a daily physical training regimen that is intended to
increase core strength and to help prepare the body for a healthy and long physically active
artistic career. It is intended that this core physical practice will become part of the student’s
regular routine. As in Movement Analysis, this course demands physical presence and a body
that is flexible, strong, precise, transformative and articulate. The daily core physical training
will involve exercises culled from yoga, Pilates, Alexander technique and Feldenkreis. This is
an on-going work that builds throughout the year. It also serves to prepare students for a dance
theatre exploration in which the body is the primary tool for communication. Much work
explores the physical language onstage and the possibilities for expression. The work primarily
involves movement; though at times the voice will also be introduced. Some of the assignments
will work with music, others with silence. We define dance-theatre as the intersection between
character and story on the one hand with gesture and corporal expression on the other. This
course will work to further define the genre.
COURSE TITLE: VOICE & MUSIC– YEAR 2
COURSE NUMBER: 2.3V
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INSTRUCTOR: Jean-Rene Toussaint
COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled for Mondays from 10:30am-12:30pm
COURSE LENGTH: One two-hour session per week for 30 weeks.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
The Voice & Music course Year 2 is both a deepening of the vocal work done in Year 1 as well
as an exploration of music for live performance. Beyond continuing to train the performer’s
voice, the course will also address creating musical ensembles to support theatrical work.
Individuals with specific instrument skills will be asked to work with those instruments. Other
will be given training on a variety of instruments including piano, drums, tuba and xylophone,
among others. When possible, the Voice & Music course will align with the Improvisation and
Creation courses.
COURSE TITLE: IMPROVISATION II
COURSE NUMBER: 2.4E
INSTRUCTOR: Quinn Bauriedel & Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey
COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled daily, Monday through Thursday
COURSE LENGTH: 90 minute or 2-hour sessions 4 times per week
COURSE OVERVIEW:
The Improvisation course focuses on the fundamental skill needed for devised theatre or actorgenerated theatre: the skill of writing on one’s feet. Through daily practice on improvisation, the
student will become adept at making all of the moment-to-moment choices that a creative actor
faces to deepen the connection with the audience, to advance the drama, to further articulate the
character, to build and release tension and to bring the audience on a theatrical journey. The
course, itself, is an artistic journey winding through a variety of performance territories intended
to train the student to become a fearless, curious, dynamic theatre-maker. The course begins
with music, looking at the various possibilities of music onstage and the inherent power in
music. We will look at melodrama, music theatre and ultimately commedia dell’arte and halfmask work. We will then continue in Trimester 2 with a study of the grotesque, satire (stemming
from the ancient Greek satyr plays) and tragedy. Finally, the 3rd Trimester looks at clown, comic
forms, the absurd and dance-theatre.
COURSE TITLE: CREATION II
COURSE NUMBER: 2.5E
INSTRUCTOR: All core faculty will teach Creation
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COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes are scheduled
COURSE LENGTH: 90 minute sessions 4 times per week, 1 50-minute session per week and a
90 minute showing per week
COURSE OVERVIEW:
Creation 2 is an extension of the first year of creation and is at the very core of APT. It remains
the synthesis of all the other courses that are part of the program. It is intended that Year 2
Creation will intensify the collaborations of Year 1 and will enable students to dive deeper
artistically and to make far more complex, nuanced and rich theatrical pieces. The goal of
Creation 2 is to prepare students to create work that can stand on its own outside of the school
context. Thus, the public showings that are integrated into Year 2 are meant to raise the stakes of
the creation and to learn from the encounter with a fresh audience. As in Year 1, Creation allows
students to take the vocabulary, themes, values, techniques and skills that are part of the other
courses and apply them toward the making of original theatre. Students are placed into groups of
various sizes and will create an original work of theatre each week during the course of the
program. In year 2, individuals will begin to explore artistic affinities so the creating of
individual groups will be less random as in Year 1. The themes for the creation will be given out
on Fridays and presentation of the creations will take place the following Friday. Some projects
in Year 2 will last longer than a single week. The end of each trimester is a time to re-visit work
created during the trimester and to prepare it for public showing. A great deal of emphasis will
be placed on “finishing” pieces. Creation is still led by the students who work collaboratively in
response to assignments and show the finished results of the work on Fridays for faculty
evaluation and feedback. The course is meant to give the students an opportunity to wrestle with
the question of how to construct a vibrant, engaging piece of theatre in a collaborative ensemble.
The journey of Creation Year 2 is a journey toward opening up theatrical possibilities, exploring
the breadth of theatrical expression and style and ultimately toward helping students create their
own provocations and inquiries, processes of creation, and methods for self-evaluation and
feedback. In this way, the course is a preparation for creating original work well after they have
left APT.
The course will culminate in 4 public performances of works created during the course of the
year.
COURSE TITLE: CONTEMPOARY PERFORMANCE & LIFE OF THE ARTIST
COURSE NUMBER: 2.6S
INSTRUCTOR: Dan Rothenberg & Pig Iron Administrators
COURSE SCHEDULE: Tuesdays, 2-4pm
COURSE LENGTH: 2 hours per session, once a week, over the course of 30 weeks
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COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course continues the work of the Contemporary Art Seminar in Year 1 but in Year 2 the
focus is a bit more practical. Individual sessions will focus on the professional non-profit theatre
world, how to make a sustainable life in the theatre and how to produce one’s own work. There
will be many guests in the course to hear from working professionals about their artistic process
to begin to become conversant with specialists: dramaturges, designers, writers, etc. There will
be multiple video showings to begin thinking about dramatic structures that are longer than the
5-10 minute Creation pieces presented each Friday. Considerable discussion time will focus on
full-length pieces and the dramaturgy of a full-length work. There will also be a portion of the
course dedicated to theatre history and to theatrical reference points from Shakespeare to
Chekhov to the Greeks. Attempts will always be made to connect the seminar work to the
classroom work.
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Faculty
The School Director
Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award-winning
Pig Iron Theatre Company. Since 1995, Quinn and the company have created 20 original works of
theatre, touring them to venues and festivals in Brazil, Germany, Scotland, England, Romania and Poland,
among others. Quinn was a Henry Luce Fellow in Bali, Indonesia in 2000-2001 and was a Pew Fellow in
Performance Art from 2002-2004. He teaches at Swarthmore and at Princeton University.
Core Faculty
Geoff Soebel is co-artistic director of rainpan 43, a renegade absurdist outfit devoted to creating original
actor-driven performance. He has been a company member of Pig Iron Theatre Company since 2001.
Geoff was awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship and grants from the Philadelphia Theatre
Initiative to create all wear bowlers (Innovative Theatre Award, Drama Desk nomination), machines
machines machines machines machines machines machines (Obie award for design), and Flesh and Blood
and Fish and Fowl. He has been nominated for three Barrymore Awards and was named Best Theatre
Artist 2004 in Philadelphia Magazine. Geoff received a 2006 Pew Fellowship in the Arts and is a 2009
Creative Capital grantee. He is a graduate of Stanford University, and trained at L'École Jacques Lecoq in
Paris.
Sarah Sanford studied at École Jacques Lecoq prior to joining Pig Iron on Shut Eye in 2001. Since then
she has appeared in PITC creations including The Lucia Joyce Cabaret, Hell Meets Henry Halfway, Love
Unpunished, 365 Plays/365 Days, and Welcome to Yuba City. In addition to her Pig Iron work she has
performed with BRAT Productions, the Lantern, the Wilma, the Arden, Theatre Exile, Mauckingbird, and
in Jo Strømgren's The European Lesson. Sarah has also performed with Toronto company Volcano (The
Four Horsemen) inVancouver and Victoria, B.C. She recently brought her original piece Appetite, a
collaboration with Toronto dance and theatre artists, to Philadelphia. Sarah was a finalist for the 2008 and
2009 F. Otto Haas award and recently named Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly:
Up-and-coming Theatre Artist.”
Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey was classically trained at Ecole Superieur d’Art Dramatique de la ville
de Paris, and studied physical theatre at Ecole Jacques Lecoq. Emmanuelle has performed in Paris and
throughout Europe in such productions as Lettres a Stalingrad (dir. by Laurent Terzieff). A former
member of Pig Iron Theatre Company for eight years, Emmanuelle has been a performer and co-creator
of such critically acclaimed productions as Gentlemen Volunteers, Flop!, Hell Meets Henry Halfway
(Barrymore nomination for best supporting actress) and James Joyce is Dead and So Is Paris, for which
she won a Barrymore Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. She performed in Interact
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Theatre’s world premier of Feast of the Flying Cow and other Stories of War and co-created and
performed Madame Douce-Amere, a wordless duet at the 2005 Lives Arts festival (for which she received
an Independent Foundation grant), which has been produced by 1812 Productions at the Walnut street
theatre in October 2006. Emmanuelle has taught Clown at University of the Arts, Moliere and Racine at
Swarthmore College and organizes clown workshops in Philadelphia for professional or non-professional
actors. She currently teaches a 2 semester-Lecoq-Techniques-Class at Temple University for
undergraduate and graduate students.
Adjunct Faculty
Jean-Rene Toussaint is a French actor, director, and internationally recognized theater/voice teacher.
He is the founder and director of the Stemwerk International Centre for the Voice in Rotterdam (The
Netherlands), founded in 1988.
Here Jean-Rene offers guided vocal exploration for individuals, couples,
and groups, as well as certification in his methods for aspiring voice teachers and theatre artists. In recent
years, he also has established a center for summer intensive voice retreats in Avanos, Turkey. His unique
voice work is the result of 25 years of research and development, stemming mainly from working with
deaf adults and children and from extensive world travel researching the primitive
voice. His particular
technique is based essentially on the movement of the body, on delineating the difference between 'voices
to be' and 'voices to do', and listening based on bodily perception. He has directed theater groups and
theater schools in France and the Netherlands since 1975 (in France 1975-1987; in the Netherlands 19882005) He has collaborated with artists such as Jerzy Grotowski, Robert Wilson, Annick Nozati and
companies such as Theatre du Radeau, Theatre de Feu, The Living Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater
and The Roy Hart Theatre, among many others.
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Policies and Procedures
Admissions Requirments and Procedures
Overview
The Pig Iron School is a post baccalaureate program, appropriate for students with an
undergraduate education in theatre performance or its equivalent.
Process
Pig Iron does not have a formal application deadline, and will accept applications on a rolling
basis. However, it is strong encouraged that applications are submitted no later April 22, 2011 to
avoid waiting lists.
Upon receiving a complete application and $75 application fee, Pig Iron will send written
notification of receipt. If the application is incomplete, Pig Iron will indicate which materials are
insufficient or missing. Once Pig Iron has notified an applicant that a complete application has
been received, the student will be notified within four weeks if they have been accepted to
interview with the School Director and Director of Operations.
If an applicant is accepted as a student of the program, they will be required to sign an
enrollment agreement. Full tuition is due within 30 calendar days of signing the enrollment
agreement. In the event that a student withdrawals before the start of classes, the enrollment
agreement describes the full terms of tuition refund. Please contact the school for any additional
questions regarding enrollment or tuition refunds.
Entrance Requirements
For consideration, applicants must meet these minimal standards:
1) Applicants must be a minimum of 21 years of age.
2) Applicants must be able to ascend and descend stairs.
3) Applicants must pass a basic physical and/or produce a letter from a physician that
indicates the student is in appropriate condition to pursue physical theatre training.
4) Applicants must have either a BA/BFA, an international equivalent, or possess
extraordinary artistic credentials* that are considered the equivalent of an undergraduate
education.
5) Applicants who do not speak English as a first language—or do not have a BA, BFA or
its equivalent—will be required to score a 15 on the Wonderlic Basic Skills Test, which
may be issued on site or remotely.
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6) Applicants must present evidence of catastrophic health insurance. If the applicant
wishes, they may purchase this insurance through a provider recommended by the Pig
Iron Theatre Company.
*Extraordinary artistic credentials will be considered at the discretion of the School Director,
and may include documentation of writing, creating or designing professional level
productions, letters from known artistic authorities that recommends the student for our
program, or a submission of materials that demonstrate the student has an exceptional
mastery of performance, despite a lack of formal education or training.
Application Materials
Statement of Purpose:
The statement of purpose should be a two page written statement expressing your interest in
physical and ensemble based theatre training, how you intend to engage the work, how your
current work will be influenced by this training, and how you intend to apply this training to your
life and artistic career.
Additionally, we ask for you to summarize your assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as
a creator, a generative performance artist, an ensemble player, etc. We also ask that you
summarize your capacity to change, willingness to embrace new ideas to improve, and evaluate
your receptiveness to criticism.
Artistic Statement:
The artistic statement should describe the artistic values that guide your work. You may want to
include your artistic inspirations and/or work that has had an impact on you. We want to get to
know you as an artistic creator. What would a dream project look like? Please try to limit your
artistic statement to two pages.
Resume or Curriculum Vitae:
Your resume or Curriculum Vitae should include any performance, directing, writing, and
devising experience, training, skills, and other such things that you feel are pertinent to this
application.
Evidence of Qualifications:
Enclose photocopies of relevant degrees, certificates or transcripts. Applicants should have a
Bachelor’s degree or international equivalent, although candidates with an exceptional artistic
background may be considered.
Portfolio, Artistic Samples or Live Audition:
Although the Pig Iron School does not require a formal audition, we are interested in reviewing a
snapshot of an applicant’s artistic work, which may include a section of a play that has been
written or created by the student, a video sample of a student’s performance, or a representation
of a design project. If an applicant would prefer, she/he may choose to audition in lieu of
producing a portfolio or representative artistic sample.
3 Letters of recommendation:
Please include three letters of recommendation from former teachers, directors, or any other
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artistic or academic professional who can speak to your creative skills, your artistic promise and
your capacity for growth. Letters may be sent to admissions@pigiron.org, or mailed to:
Pig Iron Theatre Company
P.O. Box 17275
Philadelphia, PA 19105
Attn: Pig Iron School
Wonderlic Exam:
This requirement is waived for students who speak and read English as a first language. The
Wonderlic exam is a twenty minute test consisting of twelve questions that measures English
reading and reasoning skills. This test can be taken remotely or in person, and will be conducted
in English only.
Photo:
Please provide an updated photo or headshot such that we might recognize you upon meeting
you in person.
Financial Plan:
Please include a short statement in how you plan on paying tuition and living expenses. All nonresident applicants who require a student visa, please provide a written statement outlining how
living expenses will be met while in the U.S. This information is necessary when applying for a
student visa.
Application Fee:
You may pay your $75 application fee with a credit card via our website, or by calling 215-8730883, or you may send a check or money order made payable to Pig Iron School for Advanced
Performance Training with your application to PO Box 17275, Philadelphia, PA 19105, USA.
Contact
For questions regarding admissions procedures, please contact the school at 215-873-0883, or
email to admissions@pigiron.org.
CANCELATION AND WITHDRAW REFUND POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
If initiated by School…
Rejection:
An applicant rejected by the school is entitled to a refund of all monies paid.
Probationary Review:
All students are subject to a 10 week probationary review. The School reserves the right to terminate
training at the conclusion of the probationary period if a student’s progress is determined to be
unsatisfactory. If training is terminated during the probationary period, the student is entitled to a refund
of all unearned tuition, to a maximum of a 66% tuition refund. Please refer to School Catalogue for full
details.
If initiated by the student…
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Five-Day Cancellation
An applicant who provides written notice of cancellation within Five (5) business days of enrollment,
excluding weekends and holidays, of executing the enrollment agreement is entitled to a refund of all
monies paid, including the $75 registration fee.
Other Cancellations: An enrollee requesting cancellation more than Six (6) business days after executing
the enrollment agreement, but prior to the first day of class is entitled to a refund of all monies paid, less
the $75 registration fee.
Withdrawal Procedure:
A. In case of injury or if special circumstances arise, a student may request a leave of absence, which
should include the date the student anticipates the leave beginning and ending. If the leave is due to
injury, then the student must submit their request with a doctor’s recommendation of absence. The
withdrawal date will specify the date the student is scheduled to return from the leave of absence but fails
to do so. If a student requires an extension of the leave of absence, it is necessary for the student to
communicate extension with the Director of Operations to avoid withdrawal.
B. A student will be determined to be withdrawn from the institution if the student misses five
consecutive instructional days and all of the days are unexcused.
C. All refunds, if applicable to according to the below table, will be returned to the student within 30
calendar days of the withdrawal date.
Tuition refunds will be determined as follows:
Please note that the following text provides the minimum
refund policy pursuant to ACT 174 of 1986 and The
Regulations of The State Board of Private Licensed Schools,
Title 22, Ch. 73.134:
Proportion of Total Program
Taught by Withdrawal Date
Within 5 calendar days after enrollment
After 6 business days of enrollment and before class begins
Within first 7 calendar days of the school term
Less than 25%
25% up to but less than 50%
50% or more
Tuition Refund
100% of total amount paid
100% of program cost, less $150
registration fee
75% of program cost
55% of program cost
30% of program cost
No Refund
Attendance Policy
Regular, punctual attendance is mandatory. Excessive unexcused absences or tardiness will result in
academic probation, and may result in being withdrawn from the program.
Excused Absences. Students are required to notify their instructors prior to being absent. Students will be
required to arrange make up during scheduled free periods, after scheduled class time, or after the official
end of the trimester. If a student does not make up excused absences, the absence will be considered
unexcused.
Unexcused Absences. If students do not notify their instructors prior to being absent, they will be
considered unexcused. Three nonconsecutive unexcused absences will place the student on academic
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probation. Students will be determined to be withdrawn from the program if they accumulate more than
six nonconsecutive or five consecutive instructional days and all of the days are unexcused.
Tardiness. A student will be considered absent from class if they miss more than fifteen minutes of class
time. The absence will be considered unexcused if the instructor is not notified beforehand.
Academic Probation. If placed on probation, the student’s progress will be evaluated at the end of the
trimester to determine their future in the program. More than two consecutive periods of academic
probation will result in a student being withdrawn from the program.
Leave of Absence and Make up Work policy
Leave of Absence. In case of injury or if special circumstances arise, a student may request a leave of
absence, which should include the date the student anticipates the leave beginning and ending. If the
leave is due to injury, then the student must submit their request with a doctor’s recommendation of
absence. If a student requires an extension of the leave of absence, it is necessary for the student to
communicate extension with the Director of Operations to avoid withdrawal. If a student fails to return
on the scheduled date and does not request an extension, then the student will be considered withdrawn.
Make up Work. When a student returns from a Leave of Absence, the School will make every effort to
provide adequate and meaningful make up work that will be catered to the circumstances of the Leave of
Absence. In general, this make up work will manifest as a student driven solo project that will be
developed with scheduled one-on-one meetings with the School Director. When possible, a student will
be expected to observe classes to minimize the amount of classroom and creation hours missed.
If the nature of the student’s absence—whether by serious injury, illness, or family emergency—does not
provide a realistic make up work scenario, then the student and Director of Operations will arrange either
a temporary hold, allowing the student to be reinstated in the following year’s class, or a permanent
withdrawal, which will invoke the refund procedures and policies, and would require the student to
reapply in order to be readmitted into the program.
Tuition and Fees
1. Tuition will be $12,000 annually for two years.
2. A materials fee of $50 will be charged at the beginning of each year.
3. An activities fee of $100 will be charged at the beginning of each year.
4. There is one $75 application fee, due at the time of an applicant’s submission.
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