Feminist Summer Masterclass Series:
5 SESSIONS, 2-PARTS EACH

Each session in the masterclass series was comprised of two elements: a Thursday night salon, which introduced the subject matter and provided source-material for theatrical interpretation in the Sunday afternoon, theater masterclass.

Through the series we taught the following Performance Techniques:

• Composing autobiographical performance

• Narration using poetic movement

• Developing feminist narrative structure

• Transforming ideas into visual form using poetic movement, character, and storytelling

• Enhancing performance skills such as physical presence, vocal technique, embodied movement and acting.

Masterclass topics:

Session #1: UNOTHERING: SPEAKING OURSELVES INTO POWER

A FREE Afternoon Salon/Masterclass Combo (Complimentary and open to all, commitment-free)

Sunday June 24th, 3:00-7:00 PM [Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave BK]

Learning Objectives:

To discuss and embody sisterhood as an opposing force to the alienating and marginalizing impacts of oppression. We will build rituals, agreements and actions that cultivate the power of the collective feminine.

Session #2: CONSTRUCTING THE HEROINE: JUDITH AS FEMINIST

Evening Salon. Thursday July 12, 7-9pm [245 Varet Street, Bushwick, BK]

Afternoon Masterclass. Sunday July 15, 3-7pm [Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave BK]

Learning Objective:

Through a collaborative retelling of the Judith text, we subvert power structures of patriarchal narratives by translating the plot through shifting perspective. We will revise Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s journey to invent the heroine’s journey based on the diversity and subjectivity of our lived experiences.

Session #3: SUBVERTING OPPRESSION THROUGH THEATRICAL REPRESENTATION

Evening Salon. Thursday July 26, 7-9pm [245 Varet Street, Bushwick, BK]

Afternoon Masterclass Sunday July 29, 3-7pm [Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave BK]

Learning Objectives:

To understand oppression, we outline the contemporary map of violence and repression in America and discuss its psychological and material motivations for repression such as fear, scarcity and greed. With this model, we personify the forces of aggression which call Judith to resistance, with new interpretations of her adversaries.

Session #4:  THE CALL: ACTIVISM AND SPIRITUALITY

Panel event: Thursday August 9, 7-9pm, [Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave BK]

Afternoon Masterclass. Sunday August 12, 3-7pm [TBA]

Learning Objective:

To understand Judith’s POV in the climactic moment when she murders the Assyrian general as both an act of retribution for her own sexual trauma and an expression of spiritual devotion. We will listen to and interpret true accounts of survivors of trauma who have transmuted their experiences to become activists.