SITI creates unique theater experience
Traveling from New York City, the Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI) has been at Utah State University teaching their techniques for the past week and a half. SITI’s focus is to create new work, train theater artists and commit to an international collaboration, said Barney O’Hanlon, a member of the SITI cast.
This workshop is open to theater students on campus as well as students in the music department and writing students. O’Hanlon said SITI is for students “to work together and to explore ideas together.”
O’Hanlon is part of the four-member ensemble which includes Stephen Webber, Akiko Aizawa and Susan Hightower.
SITI Company’s training is twofold. According to the company’s Web site, www.siti.org, the first part is called Viewpoints and grew out of postmodern dance. It is a way to create structure of movement and explore the boundaries of theater and dance.
The second is the Suzuki Method. It’s a rigorous physical and vocal exercise for actors designed to restore the abilities and powers to the human body. This method of whole-body healing was started by one of the SITI’s founders, Tadashi Suzuki.
O’Hanlon said SITI began 10 years ago in Saratoga Springs N.Y. by Anne Bogart and the founder of the Suzuki Method, Tadashi Suzuki. Since then they have traveled the world teaching their techniques, Webber said.
“One of the philosophies of the company is that other performing artists have discipline that they practice their whole lives to make themselves better; that they practice throughout their whole career,” Webber said. “Performing artists in the theater think that they can go to school and act for a couple years and then go out and work and have a career without any practice. So our objective here is to give actors practice that they can do so they can have a way to get better.”
Brian Bahr, a junior at USU majoring in theater performance, said this workshop has been physically and mentally demanding and it helps him to focus and be aware on stage.
“It has helped me see that even doing nothing is interesting. It’s been great to get a basic focus and discipline to see how I relate to people on stage – going deeper than the basic acting,” he said.
Melissa Thoreson, a freshman majoring in theater performance, said, “We focus a lot on focusing our energy and showing it to the audience and when something hard happens [on stage] not to show it to the audience.”
The workshop has been going on since last Monday and will have a performance to show the work the group has been doing on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chase Fine Arts Center’s Morgan Theatre.
Thoreson said the SITI workshop has taught her how to react instead of act.
“You have to be focused,” she said.
Their objective, Webber said, is to give these young actors a practice that they can do to get better and become better, primarily for stage acting.
“This is so much more useful to us than we see now. We’ll use what we have learned from this workshop through our entire career,” Bahr said.