Tag Archives: workshop

Open Practices Return Monthly via Zoom in 2022

Feeling the itch to play? Have you shared it — to extend this embodied, beloved community, to use a vision from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Friday, January 21, 2022 is the kick off of River Crossing Playback’s Third Friday Open Practices? Register now! 

We’re excited to invite you every month this spring to watch, listen, tell and play with us, developing a community of practice together. All levels of players are welcome as we continue to find meaningful, authentic joy in this work and play, even via Zoom. Here’s when:

  • Friday January 21, 7-9 pm
  • Friday, February 18, 7-9 pm
  • Friday, March 18, 7-9 pm
  • Friday, April 15, 7-9 pm
  • Friday, May 20, 7-9 pm

Each session engages our deep listening and improv skills, building a group “practice” of listening, telling and enacting stories through games, warm-up activities and Playback Theatre forms. Curious to join us? Read on…or register now

“I was honestly surprised. What started out feeling like obligation with a bit of curiosity turned into connection and amazing creative energy. I’m glad I came to this Open Practice.”

Cary Miller

Each evening follows this schedule (approximately):

7:00 pm – Arriving and welcoming each other
7:05 pm – Warming up and centering, physically and mentally
7:30 pm – Welcoming feelings in the room with Playback Theatre forms
8:15 pm – Welcoming stories in the room with Playback Theatre forms
8:45 pm – Reflections and closing

Why this? We offer Open Practice to build our expressive skills, our community connections and our capacity to create beauty and healing. We hope it leads to more transformative theatre throughout South Central Pennsylvania and beyond.

Arrive a few minutes before 7 PM to set up your Zoom connection. A computer and webcam is encouraged since handheld devices limit visibility and playing. Bring your favorite beverage…and loose-fitting clothes. So, see you there?

Register with your name, email and a $5-25 donation below. A Zoom link will follow. Donate $50 or more, and you’ll be registered for all five Third Friday practices! Contact us at rivercrossing@jubileearts.net or (717) 382-8292 with questions.

Open Rehearsals with River Crossing Playback Theatre

Workshop! A Taste of Playback Theatre

Learn improvisation that makes a difference

Sunday, March 22, 2020
10 am – 4 pm

Carriage House of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York
950 South Duke Street, York, PA (street parking only)

Join us to learn and practice Playback Theatre, a form of improvisation, storytelling and community building, with the River Crossing Playback Theatre troupe. Led by Lenore Bajare Dukes, Cintra Harbold and Chris Fitz, the workshop will progress from warming up and tuning into our improvisational skills to learning “short forms” portraying emotional dynamics and “long forms” that capture the essence of stories. The workshop will give you tools to be a more fluid improviser, learning, playing and getting to know a passionate cast of community-minded improvisers, with even a delicious break for “afternoon tea.”

Learn a community-building improvisational theatre.
Discover your own stories.
Hone your intuition.
Play!

Suggested donation: $25 payable to “Jubilee Arts” by March 14, $35 thereafter.

Email rivercrossing@jubileearts.net or call (717) 382-8292.

Jumping In, Stepping Out – Learning Playback Theatre

Learn improvisation that makes a difference

Sunday, October 6, 2019
1:30-6:30 pm

Lancaster Friends Meeting; 110 Tulane Terrace, Lancaster, PA

Join us to learn and practice Playback Theatre, a form of improvisation, storytelling and community building, with the River Crossing Playback Theatre troupe. Led by Chris Fitz, the workshop will progress from warming up and tuning into our improvisational skills to learning “short forms” portraying emotional dynamics and “long forms” that capture the essence of stories. The workshop will give you tools to be a more fluid improviser, learning, playing and getting to know a passionate cast of community-minded improvisers, with even a delicious break for “afternoon tea.”

Learn a community-building improvisational theatre.
Discover your own stories.
Hone your intuition.
Play!

Suggested donation: $60 payable to “Jubilee Arts” by September 29, $75 thereafter.                    Email rivercrossing@jubileearts.net or call (717) 382-8292.

Exploring the Essence - and its ripple effects

Exploring the Essence: A Playback Theatre Retreat for Growth & Change

January 8-10, 2016

Camp Eder Retreat Center  (near Gettysburg, PA)

Friday, January 8 at 7 pm — Sunday, January 10 at 2 pm.
Hosted by River Crossing Playback Theatre
Facilitated by Deb Scott, Asheville, North Carolina

Exploring the Essence is a weekend to dig into the deeper notes of the stories all around us using Playback Theatre and related improvisational methods. The retreat will help us listen to stories more deeply and respond to them authentically with improvisational skill. It provides an intensive experience with Playback Theatre core skills and long-form stories focusing on both personal empowerment and social change.

Deb Scott - right - with Shawn at the 2014 Playback Theatre Leadership Course

Deb Scott – right – with classmate Sean Cai at the 2014 Playback Theatre Leadership Course

Deb Scott, M.A. is an accredited trainer and graduate of the Centre for Playback Theatre (New Paltz, NY). She began Playback with Asheville Playback Theatre in 1994 and was Artistic Director for 18 years. She studied acting with Stella Adler in New York City, working for 15 years as an actor and designer. Deb currently works as a coach with low income individuals who are re-writing their stories toward self-reliance. She also teaches open monthly Playback Theatre workshops and is most interested in how sharing stories leads to empowerment.

Is It for You?

Want to learn, grow, refresh, sharpen your improvisational artistry? The weekend welcomes people with all levels of experience with Playback Theatre, though some prior training is recommended. Hosted by members of River Crossing Playback Theatre, it is designed to equip you with broadly applicable tools to listen and respond to stories more deeply and sensitively.

What’ll we do?

  • Friday will open with Playback Theatre and interactive games to warm us up and build trust in our group
  • Saturday will take an intensive look at deepening our skills and our to work in a Playback Theatre troupe
  • Sunday will close with time to reflect, celebrate and integrate what we’ve learned for our personal growth and service to the community

Participants from the 2015 training-retreat, Playing with Privilege

Participants from the 2015 training-retreat, Playing with Privilege

How much?

$175 is the standard discount, $195 the full price (institutional rate). Includes dynamic leadership, cozy lodging and prepared meals in a newly rebuilt lodge in wooded South Central Pennsylvania. Sleeping accommodations are in two shared bunkrooms.

We strive to make this retreat affordable and appreciate your honest self-assessment of how much you can afford. If you would like to attend but cannot afford the discount rate, contact us to arrange a scholarship or work-share.

Because the weekend increases in intensity and requires increasing trust, we ask that you stay for the duration.

How to get there?

Camp Eder is located at 914 Mount Hope Road, Fairfield, PA 17320. (1.5 hours drive from Washington, DC and 2.5 hours from Philadelphia.) Members of River Crossing may be able to pick you up at bus stations in Gettysburg or York or train stations in Lancaster or Harrisburg; please request by Jan. 2nd.

How to register?

Reserve your spot online below or send a check payable to Jubilee Arts to 5075 Admire Road, Thomasville, PA 17364.  Please include: 1) Your name, 2) Your email and address, 3) Your lodging preference (male or female bunkroom), 4) Any dietary or other preferences/ restrictions. Space is limited so register ASAP!


Registration Options
Weekend Lodging
Your Name
Special dietary, other needs



PA Council on the Arts logo
This project is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Questions?  Contact the registrar, Carol Stowell, stowellcarol@gmail.com or 717-292-0708.

We Belong Workshop: Intro to Community-Building Improvisation

Saturday, March 14, 2015
9 AM – 4 PM
York Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse
135 W Philadelphia St, York, PA

Hosted by River Crossing Playback Theatre

Learn an improvisational theatre that plays back the deeper notes of stories and bridges divisions in our community.

River Crossing Playback Theatre at a community performance in Gettysburg 2011 - Dessylyn Arnold Photography

River Crossing Playback Theatre in Gettysburg 2011 – Dessylyn Arnold Photography

What does it mean to belong? Where in our community do we feel belonging—and where do we miss it? You will explore these questions with other community-minded participants using improvisational exercises that build skills for listening, communicating and transforming our stories. The workshop provides a basic training in Playback Theatre (further training would be required for performing) and a basis for a community performance-dialogue series in April, May and June. 

Register now via PayPal or send a check for $50 to Jubilee Arts, 320 E. Walnut St, Marietta, PA 17547. Scholarships available by contacting the registrar below. Register by Sunday, March 8 to guarantee your spot!


The workshop kicks off a second-Saturday dialogue-performance series this spring in partnership with the York YWCA, York Friends Meeting and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, We Belong, on:

Saturday, April 11 ~ York Central Market
Saturday, May 9 ~ Unitarian Universalist Church of York
Saturday, June 13 ~ York YWCA

Chris Fitz, a York native living in Marietta, PA, will lead the workshop’s progression of warm-ups, theatre games, interactive discussion and training in basic Playback Theatre techniques. Chris is the executive director of the Lancaster-based Center for Community Peacemaking and has practiced Playback Theatre and other interactive arts for more than ten years. He is a graduate of the international School of Playback Theatre based in New Paltz, New York.

PA Council on the Arts logo

This project is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Questions?

Contact the registrar, colleen@jubileearts.net or at 717-747-1605.

We look forward to a fun and insight-filled workshop!

Playing with Privilege: A Playback Theatre Retreat for Community Change

January 2-4, 2015

Camp Eder (near Gettysburg, PA)

Friday, January 2 at 7 pm to Sunday, January 4 at 2 pm.
Hosted by River Crossing Playback Theatre

Who we are impacts our access to power and privilege…and it’s complicated. Our identities are made up of lots of aspects: age, race, gender, sex, class, and on and on. As Playbackers we can’t playback what we can’t see or understand in others or access in ourselves. Each identity is like a different lens and in this workshop we will be exploring these different lenses as tellers and performers, with the goal of making our playback work more inviting and affirming for all.

Workshops with River Crossing Playback Theatre

Who will be there?
River Crossing Playback Theatre members will host the weekend, designed to equip anyone having at least minimal Playback experience with broadly applicable tools to listen and play stories more deeply and sensitively.

Pamela Freeman and Sarah Halley, co-founders of Playback for Change in Philadelphia will provide facilitation and leadership
Pamela is a LCSW psychotherapist, trainer and activist. A gradute of the School of Playback Theatre, she is currently on the board of the Centre for Playback Theatre.
Sarah is a consultant, trainer and activist. She is a lead facilitator for the Whites Confronting Racism series at Training for Change and an artist-in-residence with the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts.

What’ll we do?

  • Friday will open with Playback Theatre and interactive games to warm us up and build trust in our group
  • Saturday will take an intensive look at the privilege in our own lives and our work in a Playback Theatre troupe
  • ​Sunday ​​will close with time to reflect, celebrate and integrate what we’ve learned toward a whole self and community

​How much?
$165 to $180. We strive to make this retreat affordable for everyone and appreciate your honest self-assessment of how much you can afford.
$165 is the standard discount. $180 the full price (institutional rate).

Includes food, cozy lodging and dynamic leadership in a newly rebuilt lodge in wooded Pennsylvania.
Sleeping accommodations are in two bunk rooms.
Because the weekend increases in intensity and requires increasing trust, we ask that you stay for the duration.

How to get there?
Camp Eder is located at 914 Mount Hope Road, Fairfield, PA 17320.
1.5 hours drive from Washington, DC and 2.5 hours from Philadelphia.
Members of River Crossing can pick you up at bus stations in Gettysburg or York or train stations in Lancaster or Harrisburg.

How to register?
Reserve your spot online below or send a check payable to Jubilee Arts to 320 East Walnut Street, Marietta, PA 17547.  Please include: 1) Your name, 2) Your email and address, 3) Your lodging preference (male or female bunk room), 4) Any dietary or other preferences/ restrictions. Space is limited so register asap!


Payment Options
Weekend Lodging
Your Name
Special dietary, other needs



Questions?  Contact the registrar, colleen@jubileearts.net or at 717-747-1605.