Why Not Theatre Hosts Suzuki and Viewpoints with Anne Bogart and SITI Company Members

August 2008

A week long Suzuki and Viewpoints intensive led by SITI Company's Ellen Lauren and J. Ed. Arazia.

The Viewpoints and the Suzuki Method of Actor Training are two distinct methods of actor training used in building and staging SITI productions. SITI Company has been trained by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki and are uniquely qualified to introduce and train other theater artists in these challenging and innovative methods.

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"Without doubt, the SITI workshop was an important event for Toronto's theatre community. With Viewpoints and Suzuki, the SITI company proposes a radical reconsideration of the fundamentals of the theatrical process. By eliminating analytical and psychological investigation from the actor's process, by placing the actor's body as the centre of all interpretive action on stage and by giving creative and authorial power to the actor in the rehearsal process, the SITI Company asks me to re-evaluate my role as director. The success that they have had as a company in creating vital work further lends credibility to their proposal. I believe that a healthy community is one what constantly challenges and questions its own assumptions and institutionalized modes of behaviour. I want to thank Theatre Why Not and the SITI Company for provoking debate in our city's theatre community and hope that the discussion will continue."

- Brendan Healy

I've just had one of the best weeks of my life. Training with the SITI Company was extremely challenging, physically exhausting and entirely inspiring. Ellen Lauren was able to brilliantly articulate the "why"s and "what for"s of the Suzuki Method and I know that I will be seeking it out for the rest of my career. Theatre Why Not and SITI Company together created a wonderful training atmosphere where we were completely free to confront our individual challenges without judgement. And it was a real thrill to "Open Viewpoint" under the guidance of the one and only Anne Bogart!

- Aislinn Rose

The Anne Bogart Workshop was only my second encounter with Suzuki and Viewpoints training methods. I was made aware by both teachers at the workshop that these disciplines are an ever evolving discovery and consequently the immediacy of the teaching was unlike any I have ever experienced. Both Ellen and J.Ed were not merely trying to teach it but trying to discover it anew for themselves as well. The class made up of all ages and various countries were committed and open to the moment-to-moment realizations in a way that eliminated all goal-oriented ambition and let every second of the workshop become a discovery. Suzuki was a physical exploration and preparation for work that surpasses any training I have faced, and I say faced because it is a life long challenge with oneself to understand it physically as well as understand it in terms of the actor's relationship to the audience and its power to move both performer and viewer at the same time. Viewpoints was the once in a lifetime experience of learning to speak a universal language that is understood by the instinct and body as much as the cognitive brain. J.Ed taught Viewpoints in a way that forced the actor to launch themselves into the unknown and trust that the learning will be discovered within. Encouraging, challenging, breathtakingly powerful, and always enhancing the actor's capability to be both the Artist and the Art. Why Not Theatre has given this city the potential to start a permanent relationship with some of the most important modern artists in the world who create art to enact a re-consideration of the social agreements we blindly let narrow and isolate our existence. They are political, spiritual, sensual, academic and ultimately pure culture. Many many thanks.

Thank you mostly for igniting in this 33 year old actor the excitement I had when I was in University, the belief it is possible, and the way (Suzuki / viewpoints) to express what you never thought you would be able to, not being a writer or director myself yet. This workshop may prove to launch a big life and career focus shift for me, and it is making me feel very much alive as a result.

- Dylan Smith

In Cantonese, we say that it is YUENFENG (fate) that brings strangers together. It was YUENFENG that brought me from the far part of the world to Toronto. It was YUENFENG that brought us – 30 participants together to learn with SITI’s amazing instructors. But YUENGENG makes the start, it requires our effort to accomplish anything. I witnessed and felt how much concentration and effort each of us has put into this week. The sheer experience of being exposed to the conviction and passion in theatre the instructors and participants made this week memorable and valuable for me. I am sure it will inform me and each of us in our future artistic development.

- Wu Hoi Fai

The workshop met all my expectations. I had come to the Viewpoints work work through a colleague several years ago and after some research found Anne's writing. I was taken by the way she addessed some of the questions I had about collaborative creation and her desire to provide a common language for making that process efficient and transparent. Susuki was new to me. I had heard that dancers don't like it because of its regimented way of working and the too percussive quality of the movement on joints. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the experience. I am sure much of it has to do with Ellen's capable teaching. And J. Ed's too. Having Anne in the room for two days was simply the icing on the cake. She is such an engaging artist who generously gives of herself. There is no bullshit in the way she thinks or treats others. I love the way she places herself inquisitively in the world. Thanks for bringing this experience to our community.

- Michael Trent