Latest Embassy Programs
Cultural Envoy Revolutionizes Techniques of Contemporary Theater Education in Nepal
August 31, 2009
With Chargé d’Affaires Jeffrey Moon and other theater enthusiasts in attendance, U.S. Cultural Envoy Steve Clorfeine and Nepali theater Director Anup Baral staged performances with the artists of the Actor’s Studio. Part of a play, Conference of the Birds, adapted by international theater director Peter Brook from a 12th century Sufi poem, was the main event. In this play the characters search for an answer to the riddle of the meaning of life through an allegorical journey. This play and other sample performances were a reflection of a three-week long workshop conducted with an aim of providing advanced theatre training for Nepali actors and dancers in techniques of contemporary American theatre.
During Cultural Envoy Steve Clorfeine’s three-week project he worked particularly with the development of original material through improvisations in sound and movement, props and costumes. The daily sessions were divided between training exercises and creative expression. In the latter part, the group worked with fairytales as a vehicle for accessing universal themes that have passed through centuries of storytelling and come forth now through the imaginative process of Nepali actors.