Participant Feedback from Lancaster

Proto-type’s Fortnight is heading to Manchester soon. In case the mystery is all a bit too much for you, see what participants in the Lancaster Fortnight have to say about the project:

Why did you sign up?

What do you remember most?

Would you recommend Fortnight?

New company mentorship scheme

Proto-type Theater is delighted to announce a wonderful opportunity for one emerging young contemporary theatre/live-art company in Lancashire.

With the support of Lancashire County Council, Proto-type Theater will provide a one-year mentorship to graduate companies who completed their studies in or after summer 2008.

The 2011 Mentorship Scheme is designed to offer both emerging companies and prospective companies the chance to learn, through experience and resources, the creative and organisational aspects involved in establishing a touring company with a focus on theatre and live arts.

In the mentorship, we will offer:

•  Monthly training delivered by company members and outside experts, focusing on: general company administration; successful marketing strategy and evaluation; working creatively with local communities; developing and delivering educational workshops; producing theatre, and fundraising.
• A showcase event at the end of the year for the graduate company to perform their work for the local community, key venues, and funding partners in the county and the North-West region.
• Desk space in our office, access to rehearsal space, equipment use and facilities, monthly meetings with the company, a yearly bursary and detailed feedback at work in progress showings.

Over the course of the scheme, the graduate company will:

• Create at least one piece of touring theatre
• Develop a venue pack
• Participate in the design and execution of our winter school
• Develop a mission statement and artistic policy
• Conduct at least one outreach project in one of the Lancashire districts
• Develop a website
• Draft an application to the Arts Council’s ‘Grants for the Arts’ for a future project
• Submit a report one year after the scheme that tracks their continued progress

The chosen company will be required, by the terms of the scheme, to live in Lancashire for the duration of their time with us. If you are unsure whether or not you/your company is eligible for the scheme, contact us, in the first instance, at admin@proto-type.org.

To apply for the Proto-type Theater Mentorship Scheme request an application pack from admin@proto-type.org

Deadline for applications: Tuesday 15 February 2011

Interviews: w/c Monday 28 February 2011

Proto-type Theater Mentorship Scheme is supported by Lancashire County Council.

DVDs now for sale

Proto-type Theater is pleased to be able to offer for sale high-quality DVDs of Whisper and Virtuoso (working title).

Each DVD comes packaged in a six-panel, paper case that includes images from the respective show, descriptions of the piece, credits and press quotes.

Prices:

£15 Individuals (for personal/research use only – not for public presentation)

£25 Institutions (for libraries, educational organisations and others who will have volume viewers of the works)

These DVDs are available for sale at all Proto-type performances and can also be ordered online. To order a copy, download the order form here(DVD ORDER FORM INDIVIDUALS or DVD ORDER FORM INSTITUTIONS) or email us at admin [at] proto [hyphen] type [dot] org.

Sunday Lunch Club awarded ACE funding

Proto-type Theater has been awarded one year of funding at £12,000 to allow the company to run the Sunday Lunch Club for another year. This funding is matched by support from Nuffield Theatre Lancaster and New Work Network – two of the organisations that helped to start the Sunday Lunch Club back in 2008. Here is a run down of some of our plans for 2010, made possible by the generous support of ACE, the Nuffield Theatre Lancaster and New Work Network:

We plan to host at least 6 events this year, possibly 7 or 8 pending funding. These events will primarily be in the NW of England which the exception of a national and an international event. We are currently in the process of putting together a list of venues and dates. We hope to have a year’s worth of events to announce by the end of April/beginning of May.

We plan to host one national event outside of the north region. We are currently in talks with organisations in Birmingham and London to host the national event. Through the generous support of the Arts Council England and Nuffield Theatre Lancaster we will be able to offer ten travel bursaries for artists from the NW to attend the national event. There will be an application process for the bursaries and we’ll announce more information about this when we have all of the dates fixed.

We plan to host one international event in mainland Europe. We are currently pursuing options in Belgium and Germany. Similar to the national event, we will offer ten bursaries for NW artists to attend the international event. We will also seek to bring ten artists from the international event to the NW for one of our local SLCs. Again, more information on this is forthcoming.

The Nuffield Theatre Lancaster and Proto-type are in the process of putting together an idea for a book about the Sunday Lunch Club. Our aim is for it to be a useful tool for other networks to use to setup their own events that follow some of the principles that we’ve tested with the Sunday Lunch Club. In other words, it won’t be just another documentation project – we want it to be valuable for artists, funders and venue managers. We will be putting out a call to lunch club members to contribute, comment on the structure of the book and help to ensure that it is as useful as possible. Watch this space for more soon.

Membership in the Sunday Lunch Club is generally by invitation only, through the recommendation of someone who is already a member. However, if you believe you should be invited to an event, send us an email at sundaylunchclub [at] proto [hyphen] type [dot] org telling us who you are and why you’d like to come. Please note that the membership is focused on artists based in the NW at this time.

Proto-type awarded theatre sandbox commission

Proto-type has been awarded a £10,000 commission from Theatre Sandbox with support from Arts Council England!

Proto-type Theater is proud to announce that we are one of the six commissions to receive support from the Theatre Sandbox. From Theatre Sandbox:

Each of the six successful recipients receives £10,000 to develop their groundbreaking projects at prestigious partner venues across the country ready for public events and testing in September. This will be followed by a final showcase event at Watershed in November. Theatre Sandbox seeks to grow an active community of experimentation and learning and includes a structured programme of commissioning and knowledge exchange to grow awareness of technology in the theatre sector. IShed aims to encourage innovation and to leave a lasting legacy as part of the scheme. The commissions were selected following an intensive application period, during which 275 theatre makers attended nationwide introductory workshops and almost 100 applications were received.

Proto-type will be developing the Fortnight Project (formerly called cityEscape) in partnership with the Bristol Old Vic. Fortnight is a two-week long performance experience located in the spaces, technologies and occurrences of our daily lives: an unfolding adventure into the limitless ‘local’. Fortnight is also commissioned by Nuffield Theatre Lancaster, Soho Theatre London and Contact Theatre in Manchester and will premiere in 2011. As part of the Theatre Sandbox award, a work in progress showing will occur in Sept/October 2010 in Bristol.   Theatre Sandbox is originated and produced by iShed, part of Watershed. It is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and delivered in partnership with Bristol Old Vic, Soho Theatre Lyric, Hammersmith, mac, Contact and The Junction.

Mapping intermediality in performance

Artistic Director Peter Petralia has contributed to a new book on the impact of acting and performance of digital technologies. His chapter focuses on Proto-type’s Virtuoso (working title) in regards to the use of screens as a fragmenting element of performance.

Full details:

Mapping Intermediality in Performance

Sarah Bay-Cheng, Chiel Kattenbelt, Andy Lavender, Robin Nelson (Eds.)

This volume examines afresh the impact upon acting and performance of digital technologies. It is concerned with how digital culture combines the traditional ‘liveness’ of theatre with media interfaces and internet protocols. The time and space of the ‘here and now’ are both challenged and adapted, just as barriers between theatre-makers and the ‘experiencers’ of events are broken down. Today many of us are everyday players performing the interconnectedness of digital culture and a key aim of the book is to unpack the multiple interrelations within the landscape of contemporary performance. Access to a range of ‘instances’ (The Builders Association, Castellucci, Castorf, Gob Squad, Lepage, Second Life and VJing) is through ‘portals’ which afford perspectives on the main characteristics of theatre and performance in the digital age.

‘A magnificent achievement that is likely to set critical agendas in the field for many years to come.’ – Steve Dixon, Professor of Digital Performance, Brunel University

‘Reading this book is like surfing the web: it not only maps intermediality in performance – it exemplifies it.’ — Philip Auslander, Professor, School of Literature, Communication and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology

The editors

Sarah Bay-Cheng is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre at the University at Buffalo. Chiel Kattenbelt is Associate Professor in Media Comparison and Intermediality at Utrecht University. Andy Lavender is Dean of Research and Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Central School of Speech & Drama at University of London. Robin Nelson is Professor at Central School of Speech & Drama at University of London.

ISBN 978 90 8964 255 4 * July 2010 * paperback, 304 pages * €32,50 www.aup.nl

For more information or a review copy, please contact Laura Claud on l.claud@aup.nl