The public is invited to attend a performance of the Women From Mars' clown-noir cabaret, "Silent Reflections," at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24 in Hedrick Little Theatre on the Catawba College campus. he performance is a movement based, offered like a silent film, and requires the trio of three female actors to employ physical theatre techniques in tandem with an original soundtrack.
The premise for the one-hour show involves a girl, a diva and a mother who are trapped in a world without voice or color, forced to confront their insecurities as well as the expectations and boundaries society places on women. The piece attacks the portrayal of women in media and the role women play in supporting these highly sexualized, and many times, demeaning and powerless stereotypes.
The characters employ physical theatre techniques, animation, projections, comedy, modern dance, music and drama to reflect upon and expose the inherent struggles in three stages of womanhood. Admission will be on a "pay what you can" basis.
Women From Mars is a theatre company formed and based in Italy by three American, female performing artists, Dory Rebekah Sibley, Echo Sunyata Sibley, and Francesca Marie Chilcote. The company will be visiting Catawba on Jan. 24th to conduct a workshop for the campus' theatre arts students prior to the 7:30 p.m. performance of "Silent Reflections." That workshop, which is not open to the public, will explore the relationship between the sung voice and the actor.
Using a combination of Meisner, Alexander and a variety of other Acting and Vocal Body techniques, participants will be challenged to connect to their song through the needs of their character and the circumstances surrounding the world of their song, creating a profound change in the way the actor approaches music. The participants will investigate the text and the music in order to inform their choices, free their imaginations and create confident, supported voices in the vocal body.
Participants will be guided through practical vocal exercises and warm-ups garnered from a variety of classical, musical theatre, and physical theatre techniques that are tailored specifically for the singing actor. They are then introduced to music and text analysis towards the aim of performing their song spoken and as a monologue. After they have a better understanding of their character and story, we will begin to integrate the singing voice with the Vocal Body technique.
The Vocal Body technique allows the performer to maintain the integrity of vocal production while speaking and singing in extreme or unconventional situations: as a masked actor or acrobat for example. Weight sharing, kinesthetic response, body mapping and emotional engagement will be utilized in order to free the whole voice. These exercises are employed to find unlikely characters and unleash a three-dimensional sound to uphold the rigorous demands of the physical actor. Students will discover greater range, flexibility, sustaining power and emotional presence through concentrating on the sung sound and systematically challenging their boundaries in terms of pitch and quality. This technique will be paired with Meisner based acting techniques, as well as other physical exercises to allow the actors to find ease and honesty in the acting and singing of their musical scenes.
For more details on Women From Mars visit www.womenfrommars.com, the Women From Mars Theatre Facebook page, or WFM Theatre "Silent Reflections" Preview on YouTube.
