"When a student comes to us & says 'I want to be an artist' we take them seriously & respect them enough to teach them with all our skills." - Artistic Director Ron Bieganski
There will be 30 youth working in ensembles with Free Street as the start of a two-year training intensive. We will begin developing creative writing skills, acting technique and emotional flow that will deepen as we practice over the coming months. Free Street workshops are free, and teens can earn a stipend through After School Matter.
People who are serious about gaining skills as an artists should realize that developing strong creative habits in body and mind take time to deeply experience and absorb. This is why we encourage committed young artists to study with us for two years. Many of our ensemble members stay for many more than two years.
Free Street Theater Youth Alum, Christoph Horton Abiel, Accepted into Professional Acting Program at Juilliard Only 18 students are accepted into the Juilliard program each year.
"Free Street has given me a real entry into a life that is healthily defined by creative and nourishing risks. I am going to continue my creative education in the Professional Actor Training Program of the Drama Division at The Juilliard School.
I would not have gotten this far, this quickly, without the careful consideration that was offered me as a young artist at Free Street. It was impressed upon me to live meaningfully in each moment of my life and labor as an artist. There was never any easy way into or out of those walls. And we were encouraged to take responsibility for this reality. Free Street is not about being safe and simple. Free Street is not about being rebellious and isolationist. It is being real and honest and relevant. It is being urgent to make a contribution to society that will not come back null and void. It must not spoil. Sour. Or smell. "
- Christoph Horton Abiel, May 2009
We will develop Ritual and Conceptual Performances Outdoors
Each morning we begin with meditation and yoga for 80 minutes. We are strong people. Then we will practice theater techniques for emotional flow, immediate body reaction, and character development. All physical work leads to creative writing.
Lunch is a social time to interact and eat.
In the afternoon, we build performance ideas- conceptual performance ideas, ritual performance ideas and micro-performance ideas.
We will spend three weeks, performing our ideas in public for the unsuspecting public.
Some of the ideas we created during the summer of 2008:
45 people singing “Yellow Submarine” to themselves in a subway car.
35 youth as a Flock of geese in the public square.
35 youth as a school of fish at the Shedd aquarium and in public fountains.
A simple juxtaposition ritual performance in a shaded park.
One on one “micro-performances" for people having lunch.
45 people dressed in orange forming a perfect square in a crowded public area.
Meditative “ZenSpaces” moving through the Thompson Center. (We were stopped by the police).
Whenever a Police siren goes by we all lean towards the sound and contemplate their well-being.
A long improvisational “ant line” along the curvy bridge in Millennium Park.
Our performances are risky and subversive in their stealthiness. We seem to emerge out of the ground or water. "Success" in performance is the audience and performer's realization that the ground we walk on everyday is now not the same.
"During the summer of 2008 we began working with Ritual and Conceptual performance with youth. I am so amazed and proud of our work that summer. I had fears that 12-17 year old youth would not do this in public. I have come to realize that work like this is so risky and delicate- a single stray negative thought can blow the performance over.
Our last Ritual performance was a 2 hour solo in the busiest area of downtown Chicago. 50 youth total. 25 performing at a time. 25 youth as protectors. We are strong people. It was magnificent. Come join us in 2009"
. -Ron Bieganski, FS Artistic Director
Free Street Summer 2008 performance created and filmed in one afternoon at the Agora statues.
"Since my first day I have been able to open my mind and spirit to accept things for what they are and realize that anything is possible with the right focus"
"The first day I could have never got through a 2 hour performance, but yesterday I did and I had more focus than I ever thought I could."
"Free Street teaches me more than what I would've learned in 5 years at school. It is the best art program I've ever been in."
If you would like to study at Free Street, contact us at (773) 772-7248 or gogogo@freestreet.org
