Text

Bringing the written word to spoken life, requires an understanding of the structure of a text, the sounds that make up the text, and a commitment to the intellectual and emotional journey of the text.

Kirsten has worked with Patsy Rodenburg for the past ten years as one of her teaching associates. Kirsten utilizes Patsy's work with the spoken word to train students for work on heightened text and Shakespeare. 

SHAKESPEARE PREPARATION

or how to use poetry to speak Shakespeare

Kirsten trains actors using poetic texts that help them to understand rhetoric and to engage body, breath, intellect and emotion while bringing Shakespeare to life. 

Through this work, students crack the code of Shakespearean text. They learn to speak what they mean and mean what they say.

Kirsten offers this training to one-on-one clients and can bring a workshop to your group or school. 

 "Kirsten taught us to be present and vulnerable and to enjoy playing with sounds and meaning." —participant Orange County School of the Arts

"Stand Up and Talk About Me*"

or how to prepare for diverse American playwrights through poetry

*Langston Hughes, "Note on Commercial Theatre"

As someone who has been teaching in the classroom setting for two decades, Kirsten has witnessed the need for diverse poetry to train student voices for the diverse canon of contemporary American playwrights.

In response to this need, Kirsten was given research time to complete a progression of American poetry to train voices for the American stage and screen.

She began with her research with the following questions:

She discovered a clear lineage of poetry that came out of the experiences of early America. Not afraid to face difficult conversations and knowing that her niche was not in the area of indigenous voices, Kirsten gathered a specific progression of American poems and worked with colleagues to find countless ways that branches can be built off of this progression to represent the diverse voices of the American classroom.

One of her specific desires has been to empower students and actors to find the poetic voices that they need to prepare for any project on which they are working.

Once a student knows how to recognize rhythms, cultural influences, sounds, and structures within writing, they can then find poetic writers who mirror the rhythms and structures of dramatic writers.

Kirsten has offered this workshop at both conferences and in arts classes at schools. 

She is available to lead actors through this poetic progression or to tailor a coaching protocol for a theatre ensemble.

WHAT THEY SAY

or feedback on the American voices diverse poetry progression

On "Stand Up and Talk About Me:" Diversifying Voice Pedagogy Through Poetic Texts: 

"To work through the progression of American poetry was not only a historical journey but a lyrical journey. We were challenged when we took the deep dive into understanding the rhythm of Dickinson in the 19th century. And we were enlightened all the way to the 21st century with poets like Quenton Baker and the sporadic structure of his stanzas. The passage of time through poetical schemes was fascinating and even polarizing. 

In a way, it feels as if there is never enough conversation or time or practice to fully grasp the beauty and power of language. The body of poetry is like a passage way into theater, performance, acting. One cannot understand the text of a script if one does not practice meter or rhyme in poetry. The structure of poems is a reflection of the narrative in performance. Decoding poets like the modern and nuanced Gwendolyn Brooks or the early 20th century revolutionary Amy Lowell, is the key to performing Chekhov or Arthur Miller or Nottage or Gurira. Without mastering poetry there is no bountiful performance on the stage."

Jenelle Smith, filmmaker & actor

"Before being able to comprehend, digest, and appreciate the work of Shakespeare it was vital to start with old English poetry in my work with Kirsten. It was imperative to understand the journey that English poetry took and the phases it went through in order to pave the way for Shakespeare himself.

But what if we went beyond this? What if instead of just understanding the journey to Shakespeare we also understood how American poetry came to be what it was today?

Often when I think of great playwrights, my mind hops over the pond. What these American poems and progression taught me was the beauty and DIVERSITY of pieces written by people right here at home. I never realized how the same building blocks that led to Shakespeare were also diverging on their own journey here.

By studying a diverse set of playwrights I also understood American history in a way I never had before. Instead of reading lines in a history book I got to feel the rhythm, the heart heartbeat, the life, the struggle, and the honest human experience in a different way.

Overall I was exposed to and gained a whole new appreciation for poetry I may have never discovered otherwise. The ability to study the progression of poetry beyond Shakespeare made me realize the key contributions that were made after him in order to arrive to where we are modern day. I not only read modern poems differently, but entire plays as well. I have a whole new outlook which adds depth and insight to any piece I approach, modern or classical."

Sophia Guernsey, actor