Scene work for Actors & Directors

Sat Oct 29 2022 at 12:00 pm to 06:00 pm

K77 Studio | Berlin

Sondos Shabayek
Publisher/HostSondos Shabayek
Scene work for Actors & Directors Scenework for Actors and directors
About this Event


“Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?”
― David Mamet



The workshop is designed to offer actors, directors, scriptwriters, and storytellers the opportunity to dive deeper into scene work and analysis using Robert Cohen’s GOTE ‘Goal, Obstacle, Tactics and Expectation’ from his book Acting one and techniques from Method acting also known as the Method.


The workshop will support actors and equip them with tools and knowledge on how to better prepare for auditions and rehearsals, explore new techniques and deepen their understanding of scenes and characters. The workshop is also tailored for scriptwriters curious to explore character building and scene writing, and directors looking to explore and learn new methods for coaching their actors prior filming and on set.


Participants will explore 10 characters and 5 scenes, learning tools and techniques for character building, identifying scene objective and the tactics of each character based on their profiles. Participants will receive tailored feedback on how to work further on their scenes and characters with specific guidance and suggestions for exercises, references, and tools. The workshop also introduces participants to tools for drawing from personal experience to enrich one’s performance and character building, and help prepare for auditions and films, and performances.



Workshop Outline

1) What is the scene about?

2) Who are those characters?

3) What does he/she want and why?

4) How does she/he pursue that goal?

5) What are the obstacles for her/him?


Participants will be assigned scenes and characters prior to the workshop, with guidance on how to prepare. During this session participants will explore the character profiles and history of their assigned roles via hot seat exercises and improvisation. Each pair of participants will explore their assigned scenes and learn how to identify scene objectives for each character, as well as the obstacles, tactics, and expectations. The instructor will also guide the process of dissecting the scene to understand subtexts and tactics and facilitate exercises that allow the scene characters to explore the history of their relationship in the scene, the power dynamics, and the different layers at work.


Many times, over preparing causes actors to fixate on techniques and shut down their instinctual ability to be in and respond to the present moment. In this session, participants explore how to find innovative ways to approach the scenes, what happens when suddenly characters switch objectives and what happens when you check in with your body and give an unprepared off scripted response, and the different tools and methods to break away from redundancy and fixation.





The assigned scenes will be from the following films:

1- Blue Valentine

2- August Osage County

3- Scenes of marriage

4- Short term 12

5- Blue is the warmest color

6- Tuesday after Christmas



This is a series of regular workshops that aim to offer actors in Berlin space and time for study and practice of different characters and scenes as well as space to exercise ‘their instrument’.

And offer writers, directors, and non-actors the opportunity to learn about acting, explore and ‘play’. The workshops will focus on scene analysis and exploration, characters study, drawing from personal experience to enrich your performance and character building, and acquiring new tools and techniques to help you prepare for auditions and films, and performances.



References

The workshops and one on one coaching sessions draw from various schools of acting and years of experience coaching actors and non-actors. However, for this precise workshop you can use the list below:

Directing Actors, Judith Weston

Acting one, Robert Cohen

An Actor prepares, Konstantin Stanislavski

Mike leigh on Mike leigh, Amy Raphael

True and false, David Mamet


Event Photos

Fees

Early bird: 35 euros (if you register before October 15th)

Regular: 40 euros (After October 13th)



Biography of instructor

Sondos Shabayek is an Egyptian filmmaker and acting coach based in Berlin. She has over 12 years of experience working with actors and non-actors, facilitating storytelling workshops, documenting personal narratives, and directing theatre performances of women and gender-based stories.

Sondos was the recipient of the 2021 Voices that Matter scholarship – Women in Screen industries and last October completed her MA in directing at the Metfilm school in Berlin. ‘She said no’ is her most recent project; a short film about a cathartic moment between an Egyptian couple based in Berlin waiting in line to view a flat. At the moment, she is working on her first feature film ‘And me too’. The film is still in its’ development phase and recently took part in Torino film lab ‘Next feature film’ as well as Durban talents. In 2013 she wrote and directed award winning ‘Girl’ a short film about harassment in Cairo, as part of ‘Women in new Egypt’ project launched by Misr international film company, the British embassy in Egypt, and the British council. The short film portrayed a few minutes of the life of a young girl while walking through the streets of Cairo, exposing the brutalities of street harassment at the time. In 2019 she wrote the short film ‘The Night Before’, produced by Arabiska teatren in Sweden, and was also assistant director of the production. “The Night Before” is about a prebridal henna party (cultural equivalent to hen night), where the bride is on a secret and unorthodox quest to find more about what her first sex is going to be like.

Prior to her work in film, she worked as the director of The BuSSy project; A performing arts project that documents gender based stories and presents them on stage. She has also worked as a freelance storytelling workshop facilitator in Egypt and abroad with different cultural and social entities. She developed over the years a methodology for creating safe space in workshops where participants can openly share intimate stories about sensitive topics and explore how to take those stories to the stage, and for the documentation of personal narratives and working with story-owners on how to take the stories to the stage. Her work in this kind of documentary/psychodramatic theatre has deepened her understanding of the actor’s process and inner world and allowed her to explore and experiment with individuals through a more human-centered approach that focuses the process on authenticity, fully dedicating the methodology and tools of the work, to the goal of bringing truthful representations of characters and stories to the stage and screen.


The passion for authentic artistic expression continued to guide Sondos’s choices and artistic voice, as she shifted from the theatre to the film world. Inspired by the renowned director Mike Leigh’s method of character and story development, and building on her own experience of working in theatre, writing and directing testimonies and stories and developing stage performances with non actors, Sondos created her own world and technique of screenwriting where she recreates the story and rebuilds characters with her cast through improvisational workshops/guided improvisation. She believes that this technique allows the cast to be part of the process and brings to the film a strong sense of boldness and authenticity.


Originally, she studied broadcasting journalism and worked in media for 5 years, with a focus on personal narratives and social issues. Sondos is passionate about exploring authentically telling stories of herself and other women and being part of a truthful and honest representation of the lives of women on screen.


Event Venue

K77 Studio, Kastanienallee 77, Berlin, Germany

Tickets

EUR 35.00

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