Rejuvenate, Create, Connect:

A Virtual Retreat for Artists and Creatives in Dark Times

June 6th & 7th, 2020

Rejuvenate, Create, Connect has ended!

We are so grateful to all our teaching artists and participants! Thank you for spending the weekend with us and bringing your whole, authentic selves and open hearts.

We will be hosting similar events in the future so if you missed it, don’t worry, you can join us next time! Sign up for our newsletter to get information on all our upcoming events!

Breathe new life into your creativity and surround yourself with an artistic community of collaborators during these isolating and difficult times.

Dip your toes into something new or revisit an area you are already familiar with to rejuvinate and keep your creative spirit alive.

Both days will begin with our yoga and meditation class and half hour breakfast discussion with Susan, and will end with a short session of stretching and breathing. Participants may take as many or as few workshops as they want, although we do encourage all participants to begin and end each day together.

We will use Zoom as our platform for all workshops. 

Time: See below for times for specific workshops. All workshops are EST.

Weekend Pass: $60 per person for entire weekend and unlimited sessions; take as many or as few sessions as you like.

In the spirit of collaboration and the climate of economic hardship, we have tried to price the retreats accordingly. If any of our fees still seem difficult we invite you to please contact us and we can work something out together.

Full Retreat Schedule

Let’s Sing!

with Susan Lambert

Saturday, June 6, 2020
1:00pm-2:00pm

A beginner's class to get into the body,  find our voices and explore the singing spirit  through breath, sound, basic vocal technique and some fun tunes! Anyone can take this class: whether you’re an actor who has never sung, whether you’re a singer who has never studied technique, whether you’re a writer who just loves music, or whether you just want to feel your voice resonate in your body - this is an hour for you to indulge that, and we will!

About Susan Lambert (LCSW, AEA, SAG-AFTRA): Retreat Series Founder and Teaching Artist

Susan began her studies and her performing career as a young actor and singer in Boston and on Cape Cod. She received a Bachelor of Music form University of the Arts in Vocal Performance and minored in dance and went on to enjoy a flourishing career in 20th Century Music and Opera, musical theatre and cabaret in the U.S. and abroad to rave reviews and as well as participating in the development over 30 new works.

Susan maintained successful vocal studios in both Boston and New York City for 30 years as well as designing and implementing creative intensives and summer music theatre programs for young artists around the globe. During this time she also earned her MSW at NYU and went on to a fruitful 21-year career in psychotherapy where she combines her passion for the arts, for learning and educating and working holistically in the spiritual, body/mind centered and creative realms and to assist others in their personal growth. Susan’s podcast “In the Balance” on matters of the body, mind and heart has hit the 125 episode mark. Susan loves all things creative and community building! www.susan-lambert.com

Unmasking What Matters: Keynote Presentation

by Broadway Star & Author Sandra Joseph

Saturday, June 6, 2020
4:30pm - 5:30PM

In this one-of-a-kind keynote, Sandra Joseph, who starred as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera for a record-breaking 10 years, pulls back the curtain on her legendary career and reveals pivotal experiences and epiphanies that led to enduringly meaningful success on and off the stage. Her provocative stories, insights, and exercises will help you unmask your own perspectives about life, love, loss, courage, creativity,  perseverance, and what matters most.

about Sandra Joseph

Sandra Joseph is a history-making Broadway star, a #1 international Amazon bestselling author, and a sought-after keynote speaker. Her legendary run as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera spanned ten years and more than 1,300 performances, and earned her the record as the longest-running leading lady in the longest-running Broadway show of all time. She has been seen on numerous national broadcasts, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, The Today Show, The Early Show, The View, and Oprah: Where Are They Now?

Sandra is the author of Unmasking What Matters: 10 Life Lessons from 10 Years on Broadway and the coauthor, with five-time New York Times best-selling author Caroline Myss, of Your Creative Soul: Expressing Your Authentic Voice. 

Sandra is currently on a mission to empower other people’s voices. Her one-of-a-kind musical keynote programs inspire audiences to become world-class performers and unmask what matters most in their lives and careers. She is a member of The Transformational Leadership Council, an invitation-only group of 125 top thought leaders. Some of the luminaries that endorse her work are Jack Canfield, Mark Nepo, Martha Beck, Marci Shimoff, and SARK. 

Sandra is married to her costar from The Phantom of the Opera, actor Ron Bohmer. When they are not performing, you can find them on their patio in San Diego, where they enjoy letting the birds do the singing. www.sandrajoseph.com

Create No Matter What: Tap Into the Superpower of You

with Julie Flanders

Sunday, June 7, 2020
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM

YOU ARE A NATURAL CREATOR.  Let yourself be UNSTOPPABLE We will explore how to move through creative blocks, procrastination, fear and anxiety. How to transform difficult emotions into creative opportunity.  Ridie the momentum of inspiration. Turn the power of fear and anxiety into fuel for your work as an artist and your ease as a person.  Establish and hold confidence, empathy and  compassion for yourself and others. . Learn to engage your bright spirit and your rich shadow to   channel  great work.  Use all of your experiences, even those you don't like,  through awareness, reflection. and action.  Learn to create freely  and joyfully even in the face of negative emotions and circumstances.  Let the process of creativity be a process of  fascinating Self Transformation and Healing.

About Julie

Julie Flanders is an acclaimed Achievement Expert and Success Coach, mentoring creative leaders and innovators in business, design and the arts. She provides creative business consulting, excellence training, whole-life coaching balanced lifestyle approaches and dream achievement. Her client list includes business visionaries, Academy Award winners, New York Times best-selling authors, and social influencers who are shaping the future now.

Flanders is also known for her passionate and haunting texts. Her first book of poetry, entitled Joyride, was a number-one bestseller on Amazon in its category. With deceptively simple words, she guides readers through the mysteries of the familiar to a deeper understanding of life and love, death and loss, the miracles of perception, and the magic of the ordinary.

An award-winning songwriter, Flanders is the lyricist for the band, October Project, which she co-founded with her partner, Emil Adler, and which is still celebrated for its two groundbreaking albums on Epic Records that have sold over 1/2 million copies worldwide. October Project’s newest studio album is called The Ghost of Childhood. Flanders’ songs with OP and other artists have been widely featured on TV and in film. She is considered an innovator in both the creation and marketing of independent music. Her choral work, The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace, was premiered by Chorus Austin, and is available on Sounds True Records and with Hal Leonard Publishing. http://julieflanders.com/

STAY-AT-HOME FILMMAKING: A SHIFT IN THE PARADIGM

With Claude Kerven

Saturday, June 6, 2020, 1:00PM - 3:00PM
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM 

You may not have given any thought to how this pandemic is going to impact the world of film and television, but one thing you can count on -- there's going to be a lot more content created by filmmakers working alone. And that’s what we’re going to be exploring. The core of this workshop introduces participants to the art of visual storytelling on an intimate scale. Saturday’s workshop will include intro to filmmaking elements, discussion, small group work, and project brainstorming. Participants will then have 24 hours in which to shoot a short film on their phones of no more than 3 minutes. On Sunday, we will screen and talk about the work.  

About Claude

Claude's career is highlighted by his Emmy Award winning work in children’s television, over 25 short films directed at Saturday Night Live, and his most recent directorial work, "They Never Found Her," starring Handmaid Tale’s, Elisabeth Moss. As a screenwriter, Kerven co-authored "Mortal Thoughts," which starred Bruce Willis, and worked as a staff writer for director/producer Sam Raimi (“Spiderman”). As Chair of the 1-Year and 2-Year Filmmaking Programs at the New York Film Academy, a role he has held since 1994, Claude has developed and implemented innovative course objectives to engage and effectively teach students in the areas of directing & screenwriting.

WRITING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN

With Sibyl Kempson

Saturday, June 6, 2020, 6:00PM - 7:30PM
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

This process-based instruction, an answer to Betty Edwards’ groundbreaking, radical work with drawing students, helps writers and makers to clear away or brush aside anything that might be threatening to block their most authentic and original creative expression. Here we build skills, push boundaries, and question inherited structures. Learn how to get out of your own way. Let your true creative agenda come forth, hold sway, and have its say.

About Sibyl

Sibyl Kempson began making her own performances at Little Theater and Dixon Place at the turn of the millennium. Her company, the 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr & Perf. Co., unearths and contemplates – in contexts of live performance, ritual and installation – places in human and non-human history where science, religion, and feminism intersect. Kempson is the recipient of a 2018 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for an American Playwright at Mid-Career. She is also a 2014 USA Artists Rockefeller Fellow, a 2010 MacDowell Colony Fellow and an alumnus of New Dramatists. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from CUNY Brooklyn College, where she studied under the instigation of Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney, and a BA in Theater from Bennington College.

Her plays are published by 53rd State Press, PLAY: Journal of Plays, and Performance & Art Journal (PAJ). 

She teaches experimental performance writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and at the Victoria College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Wild is the Word

with Arminé Iknadossian

Saturday, June 6, 2020
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Let your imagination run wild in this 2 hour poetry workshop geared towards writers of all levels. We will read a couple of poems to discuss the aspects of dynamic writing. Then we will try our hand at writing a rough draft of our own.

About Arminé

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Arminé Iknadossian’s family sought political asylum in California when she was four years old to escape the civil war. She earned her English degree with an emphasis in creative writing from UCLA and later completed her MFA in poetry at Antioch University. Iknadossian is the author of the chapbook United States of Love & Other Poems (2015) and the full-length collection All That Wasted Fruit (Main Street Rag). Her poetry has recently been included in Whale Road Review, Southern Florida Poetry Journal, KYSO Flash/MacQueen’s Quarterly, The American Journal of Poetry. She has received fellowships from Idyllwild Arts, The Los Angeles Writing Project and Otis College of Art and Design. She facilitates writing workshops for The Poetry Salon and lives in Long Beach, California.

COMMERCIAL VOICE OVER 101

With Walker Vreeland

Sunday, June 7, 2020
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Whether you’re a non-actor who’s always been curious about the voice over world, or a working professional who wants to sharpen your skills, this class is for any and all skill levels. A chance to discuss important industry topics and learn to interpret commercial copy while receiving lots of personal instruction.

About Walker

Walker Vreeland is an actor, voice over artist, producer and award-winning radio personality living in New York. As a voice actor, Walker recently completed work on a new documentary series for FX Network, and the German series Beat on Amazon Prime. A familiar voice to radio audiences on Long Island and Connecticut, he is best known for having hosted The Afternoon Show on 102.5 WBAZ-FM, and as the creator and host of the podcast Interview with the Artist. Walker is currently Senior Producer of the podcast In the Balance and new podcast “I Don’t Need an Acting Class” hosted by Academy Award winning producer and acting teacher Milton Justice. 

Intro to Songwriting for the Theatre

with William Antoniou

Saturday, June 6, 2020, 11:00AM - 1:00PM
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Sharing our stories through song has been the backbone of global culture and a profound part of human development that unites and brings us together. 

For thousands of years, we have shared the trials and tribulations of both heroes and the every day person, bringing our stories to the stage through performance and theatre. 

But what makes these songs effective? How does one breathe musical life into words and events? 

Over the course of 2 classes we will work together to explore the fundamentals of this art form by analyzing the great songs of musical theatre and practicing setting lyrics to music. By the end of the workshop we will have created our own original material, telling our stories in a variety of ways and through the lens of this powerful genre. 

The class is open to composers and lyricists of any level, and to anyone who has ever dreamed of writing a song!

About William

WILLIAM ANTONIOU is a composer and instrumentalist. At an unusually early age he began studying composition with Lucas Foss, Richard Danielpour, Kim D. Sherman and Theodore Antoniou. He is also the youngest composer ever accepted to the New Dramatists’ Composer/Librettist Studio held annually in New York City. Since then William has worked with many notable directors and choreographers including Lee Breuer, Giles Foreman, Kay Walker Castaldo, Eamonn Farrell, Ashley Tata, Ersi Pita, Will Taylor, Phaedra Soutou, and Alex Giannoulis among others. William’s music has been commissioned and performed by many ensembles and solo performers including Anonymous Ensemble, The National Opera of Greece, ALEA III, The Municipal Orchestra of Athens, The Municipal Orchestra of Patras, L’Anima String Quartet, Aeolos Woodwind Quintet and Idee Fix. In 2014, together with librettist Eamonn Farrell, William was a finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant, an award given for outstanding achievements in music theater, and in 2015 William was given the L.A. Shorts award for Best Original Score for his music in the film “Lucy.” In 2016 William was appointed to the board of directors of the ALEA III New Music Ensemble. (www.williamantoniou.com)

YOGA AND MEDITATION: THIS IS HOW IT IS NOW

With Marco Jo Clate

Saturday, June 6, 2020, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM

This Yoga and Meditation class will center around working with the "new normal," and meeting our bodies and minds where we are today. (In our own house!) We’ll work on finding what’s steady in a shifting world, and foster support together as a creative community. Please, dress comfortably, set up a yoga mat and a firm blanket or cushion to sit on, and any other yoga props you have or like to use!

About Marco Jo

Marco Jo is a certified yoga instructor and has been teaching hatha and prenatal yoga for 15 years. She loves finding creative ways to assist her students in connecting authentically to their bodies and minds. She started out as an actor, attending Emerson College and Tisch School of the Arts, but quickly found herself starting theatre companies, writing plays, producing, and choreographing.  Marco Jo's plays have been seen at EST, The NYC Fringe Festival and The One Minute Play Festival. She has studied and performed improv and sketch, and just wrote her first screenplay! Marco Jo  discovered yoga in her very first acting class at Emerson College, and knew from her first sun salutation that yoga would be an important part of her creative life. 

Balance Through Acting

with Karen Oster

Saturday, June 6, 2020, 3:00PM - 4:30PM
Sunday, June 7, 2020, 5:30 PM -7:00 PM 

Balance Through Acting is a holistic approach to actor training which integrates the mind, body and spirit, emphasizing the idea that achieving a balance in these areas is crucial to not only an actor’s performance but a general sense of well- being. Examine and adopt techniques that allow the release of fears and blocks through voice dialogue and archetype work.

About Karen

Karen Oster has a BFA from The Boston Conservatory in Musical Theatre and Directing and an M.Ed from Cambridge College and has facilitated, directed and coordinated the performances and involvement of young cast members in numerous productions including the Broadway/ National tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Paul Simon’s The Capeman on Broadway with Marc Anthony. Karen is a professional musician and actress as well, having performed throughout the country in various productions including: Nunsense (with Alice Ghostley and Lainie Kazan), Swingtime Canteen (with Teri Ralston) and Pump Boys and Dinettes.

She has performed at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Fullerton Civic Light Opera, the Weston Playhouse, Weston,VT, The Charles Playhouse, Seaside Repertory Theatre, Royal Poinciana Playhouse and The Parker Playhouse. She has studied with well-known cabaret artists: Margaret Whiting, Julie Wilson, Andrea Marcovicci, and Craig Carnelia. Karen’s adaptation of The King and I (G2K)  is currently licensed for performance throughout the country. She has also directed and produced the revival of The Baker’s Wife with composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and is currently working with The Stage Network (a new national streaming channel) on directing their docuseries “Let’s Play” – a series devoted to highlighting youth programs throughout the country. She is currently a PH.D candidate in the Individually Designed Program at Lesley University.

Pour Your Heart Out!

An acrylic paint pouring class with Liquid Abstract Artist

Tara Vargas Wallace

Sunday, June 7, 2020
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM

Acrylic paint pouring is the latest artistic trend, with no experience necessary! Paint pouring combines colors into abstract cell-like patterns on the canvas. It's a lot of fun and mesmerizing to watch the movement and flow of the paint and see how the colors blend together in a pattern that is as unique as you are. ... You will learn 3 to 4 different techniques depending on time, how to mix color, use pouring medium, the importance of consistency, and how colors interact. This art class is great for relaxation, art therapy, and those with sensory or developmental differences.

About Tara Vargas Wallace

Originally from the Bronx, New York, Tara Vargas Wallace has lived on Cape Cod for 22 years and has dedicated her life to social advocacy and case management by working in social service agencies including Independence House, Housing Assistance Corporation, and the Department of Transitional Assistance, all located in Hyannis, Massachusetts. 

Wallace, who was once homeless and is a survivor of childhood trauma, has remained dedicated to developing case management and advocacy skills, over the past two decades, and has an intimate ability to reach diverse populations with severe socioeconomic challenges like family trauma; addiction and recovery; and domestic and sexual violence. 
To further her activism, Wallace also serves on multiple boards within the area including People Against Trafficking Humans, Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC), and Barnstable’s No Place for Hate. 

Most recently, Wallace joined the Cape Cod Commission on the Status of Women, where she will be responsible for studying, reviewing, and reporting on the status of women in the Commonwealth, and is charged with advising executive and legislative bodies on the effect of proposed legislation on women.

Along with her successful career, Wallace is also an abstract liquid artist. With her bold and vivid masterpieces, which she creates under Artistry by Tara, she has not only found a therapeutic outlet as she tackles the many human rights issues that exist within the community, but for her own trauma as well. 

Tara can be reached at tvwallace@live.com or her Artistry by Tara facebook page: facebook.com/pg/multimediaartistry2018/about/?ref=page_internalTruro and Natio- nal Oil and Acrylic Society. Her work is held in private collections in the United States, Europe and Japan. Available work can be seen at the Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA.