About

Instructors

PATRICIA EGLESTON, INSTRUCTOR

Patrice Egleston is the Head of MFA and BFA Movement-for-Actors at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago.  She is also Head of BFA Acting. Recently, she choreographed the stage violence there for “Water by the Spoonful” and “One Flea Spare”. A certified Feldenkrais practitioner, a student of Bartenieff Fundamentals, and the Michael Chekhov work, she recently completed workshops with Frantic Assembly of Great Britain and the MoCap Vault Summit in L.A. At Elements Theatre, she choreographed the violence for “The Pilgrim’s Progress” in 2017.  As a professional actress, Patrice has worked at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Steppenwolf, Remy Bumppo Theatre, First Folio, Light Opera Works, several regional Shakespeare festivals, and other Chicago and Texas theaters including the Dallas Theater Center. 

SUSAN DIBBLE, INSTRUCTOR

Susan Dibble is the Louis, Frances and Jeffrey Sachar Professor of Theater Arts at Brandeis University. Her areas of expertise, among many, include movement for the actor, historical dance, movement styles, modern dance, composition and choreography, clown, mask, Rudolf Laban Movement Theory, and history of dance and movement training.

Susan served as chair of the Theater Arts Department 2007-2014 and 2017-2018. She is the director of Susan Dibble Dance Theater and has performed her work for over 30 years in New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont as well as numerous times at Shakespeare & Co. (Lenox, Mass.) in the program “DibbleDance”. Susan is a founding member of Shakespeare & Co. where she is Director of Movement Training, a master teacher and choreographer. She has choreographed dances and served as movement director for Actors Shakespeare Project, Berkshire Theatre Group, The Nora Theater and Underground Railroad Theater, Merrimack Repertory, and numerous theaters in NYC. Before Brandeis, she taught at New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts, the Denver Center Performing Arts Center, University of Ohio, University of Utah and Webster College. She also traveled to Orvieto, Italy where she taught in a theater and movement workshop sponsored by Fordham University. Susan has presented lecture demonstrations on dance, theater therapy, and visual arts. Shakespeare Honors the Three Centers of the Bodyis an article written by Susan Dibble in Movement for Actors, published by Allworth Press.  Susan received the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Festival of Creative Arts Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Arts at Brandeis.

Susan Dibble’s approach to teaching movement for actors focuses on motivation and specificity in gesture and resilient body language. She believes that versatility and physical discipline make the actor/performer a dynamic and educated artist for the stage. Clarity in movement, intelligence in form, freedom of expression, and trust in ones intuition are all woven into the art of telling a story in theater. Susan’s approach to dance training incorporate’s what  E.M. Tillyard says about dance in his book The Elizabethan World Picture-“Dance is at the heart of civilization. Susan gives the actor a chance to enjoy moving in time and space. She allows her students to discover a positive and invigorating experience of dance as “the mother of all the arts” (Curt Sachs).

HOSTING DIRECTOR, DANIELLE DWYER,CJ

A founding member of Elements Theatre Company and current Artistic Director, Danielle Dwyer, CJ  has either directed or performed in nearly eighty of the Company’s productions since its inception in 1993. Classically trained but also skilled in contemporary drama, Dwyer earned her Master of Arts Degree with distinction from England’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the University of London. She also studied voice, acting, and writing with Joanna Weir Ouston at Central School of Speech and Drama (London, England); with David Male at Cambridge University (Cambridge, England) and Shakespeare at Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA) and at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City. She is the author of video scripts, poetic monologues, and narratives for worship and meditation.

In collaboration with Spirit of America Band, Dwyer was involved with directing the Wind Opera performances in South Korea, and the band’s theatre shows in South Africa. As opera co-director of the 2005 New England premier, and in 2017 the opera director of Vaughan William’s opera The Pilgrim’s Progress, she received rave reviews. She has devised and directed several shows for performances at home and on tours in Tuscany, Italy, the Eastern U.S., New York and Chicago. Dwyer’s directorial experience ranges from the timeless humanity of Shakespeare (King Lear, Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar), Ibsen (Pillars of the Community) and Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard) to the biting comedy of Oscar Wilde (Lady Windermere’s Fan) and Yasmina Reza (God of Carnage) to the razor-sharp wit and deeply felt humanity of Alan Bennett (Talking Heads). 

As an actress, Sr. Danielle Dwyer is equally highly acclaimed.  Her recent roles include Blithe Spirit, Madam Arcati,  All My Sons, Kate Keller, Merchant of Venice, Shylock; Talking Heads, Irene; Julius Caesar, Calpurnia; God of Carnage, Annette Raleigh; Pillars of the Community, Lona Hessel; Twelfth Night, Malvolio; The Cherry Orchard, Ranevskaya; Lady Windermere’s Fan, Mrs. Erlynne; The Lion in Winter, Eleanor; Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles; Richard III, Queen Elizabeth; Everyman, Everyman; and Lettice and Lovage, Lettice Douffet.

Registration

Photos

Travel & Housing

TRAVEL DETAILS:
Retreat participants should plan to arrive on Sunday, July 14. Registration available from 12—5 p.m., and the retreat opens at 5pm. Acting instruction begins first thing Monday morning through Saturday morning. The retreat concludes after lunch on Saturday, July 20.  

ACCOMMODATIONS:
Enjoy five days, and six nights of accommodations overlooking Cape Cod Bay at Rock Harbor in Orleans, MA. All rooms are single occupancy and beautifully decorated. All meals are exceptional.

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS:
Orleans is located about 90 miles from both Logan International Airport in Boston and T.F. Green Airport in Providence.
Address: 5 Bay View Drive, Orleans, MA 02653 USA

If you need any further assistance or have any questions, feel free to contact Betsy at Betsys [at] elementstheatre [dot] org or call 508-247-3147.

Contact

Contact Betsy Sorensen, Elements Theatre Company at Betsys [at] elementstheatre [dot] org or call 508-247-3147.