PRACTICE LAB is a year-long peer-to-peer skills exchange programme with twice-monthly free workshops by and for migrant theatre makers, offered in partnership with Rich Mix in London. These workshops are aimed at broadening the knowledge base of the migrant artist community and extending our network of creative connections
If you’re a first generation migrant theatre maker, PRACTICE LAB is for you!
To sign up for a workshop, just email the artist leading the workshop to reserve a place. They will contact you directly with more information.
All workshops take place at Rich Mix, East London’s vibrant home for culture and creativity - 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA, England.
Sunday 12th May, 3.30-5.30
Documentary Performance: How to Write Real Stories for the Stage - led by Emma Dorfman (US)
Do you have a passion for verbatim or documentary theatre? Perhaps you’re itching to share your own story with an audience but not sure where to begin? This hands-on workshop will offer practical tools, tips and tricks for developing new performance work from real events, whether they be biographical or autobiographical.
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 29th May, 6.30-8.30
Cultivating Presence - led by Lola May (Nigeria/Eritrea)
Community Building using World Music, Movement, Storytelling and Improvisation.
What does it mean to be present? Is there a way music can help us achieve this? This will be a session of exploring how music and movement can help us become more present. Using storytelling and improv, we will also connect with each other and in that way, build community. This session is open to all disciplines and backgrounds - please bring one piece of music or a song that you connect very much with.
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 16th June, 3.30-5.30
Movement Storytelling: togetherness and connection - led by Ewa Emini (Poland)
During this 2-hour playful workshop, we will be working in pairs and trios to create connection and stories through touch and partnering. The workshop will explore leading and listening using exercises from Contact Improvisation and physical theatre, culminating in devising short movement stories. The workshop is open to artists from diverse backgrounds and of all movement levels.
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 3rd July, 6.30-8.30
Building The Ensemble - led by Shane Dempsey (Ireland)
This workshop will draw on core strands of European Ensemble Training. In this engaging and playful session, participants will create physical scores, develop a heightened approach to physical transformation and make bold choices while working as an ensemble. This session is open to all artists who are curious about developing new approaches to ensemble practice.
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 14th July, 3.30-5.30
Physical Storytelling and Puppetry - led by Charon Scerra (US/Italy)
In this session we will explore how to create narrative through physical movements and bringing objects/puppets to life. We will be working on how to use our bodies to create story, introducing puppetry elements and spoken words. No previous puppetry experience necessary!
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 11th August, 3.30-5.30
Find your inner babӑ - led by Andreea Tudose (Romania)
babӑ= Romanian for elderly woman (sometimes perjorative), pronounced like the British ‘barber’; pl. babe, pronounced buh-beh
CRY FOR ME is a dystopian cabaret by Andreea Tudose & iulia isar about outsourcing crying to a cheap migrant workforce. Two babe, professional mourners for the dead in their home country Romania, move to London in search of clients, and upon witnessing life in London, begin to cry for the living.
We all have a babӑ inside of us, whatever our age, whatever our gender. Whether she’s based on a grandmother or other influential older women in our lives, this workshop is a celebration of the babe that shaped you, and the trauma they inflicted on you - through clown.
This workshop is an invitation to use the voice of the babӑ as a tool to reflect on our lives in rampant capitalism and ultimately, to empower our resistance. There will be provocations and invitations for writers, actors and theatre-makers. Wear comfortable clothing, bring a pen and paper and come ready to tell us your biggest problems.
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 31st July, 6.30-8.30
Reinventing the classics - led by Paula Rodriguez (Spain)
This workshop is for anyone interested in storytelling. We'll explore classics with fresh eyes and create new tales inspired by our heritages, focusing on marginalised voices such as those of women and migrants. Fragments from Shakespeare and Calderón de la Barca's works will guide us throughout the process; participants are also welcome to bring their choice of classical/ancient texts to work with. This is a safe space where everyone is welcome!
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 28th August, 6.30-8.30
Migrant stories - led by Sandra Preciado (Mexico)
As part of the writing of her upcoming project about migration and integration, Sandra is holding a space to share personal (or family) experiences related to migration and collectively make them into art. We will be using devising exercises, object storytelling, and mutual inspiration to create pieces in different formats and mediums. This is a space for experimenting, sharing, and growing from our collective knowledge without the pressure of “performing”. You’re welcome to bring a notebook and pencil, as well as an object of some significance for you.
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 8th September, 3.30-5.30
Theatre + Technology - led by Marisol Spensieri (Argentina)
What might a hyperlinked narration look like? During this session, we will explore ways in which concepts from the tech world can inspire, or even be applied to, the process of theatre making. We will also explore new material via extracts from a piece in development. Rather than providing set answers, this session will be a playground to imagine new possibilities together. Open to all artists and disciplines!
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 25th September 6.30-8.30
Intro to Clown - led by Aldi Zulaica (Italy/Argentina)
This introductory workshop is aimed at expanding the tool kit you need to be present on stage, and to discover that mistakes and accidents are a treasure trove from which you can create powerful improvised narratives. This session will give you permission to follow impulses and let your inner child ‘out to play’. By involving the body as a dramatic and narrating tool, you will discover new ways to express yourself without a dramatic text.
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 13th October, 3.30-5.30
Taking The Fear out of Freelance Finance - led by Peter Mooney (Ireland)
Managing freelance finances can be a bit of a minefield! This workshop will take a light hearted approach to it, mainly looking at de-mystifying the tax process for creatives, with plenty of Q&A time for you to bring your specific queries, curiosities or even anxieties around freelance money management. From pensions to benefits, foreign income to funding applications, Peter's aim is to make these topics genuinely accessible for everyone and put your mind at ease in an often (unnecessarily) overwhelming space. And who knows, we might even have a bit of craic while we're at it!
This workshop has already taken place.
Wednesday 30th October 6.30-8.30
Dramaturgy 101: Using dramaturgical inquiry to develop work & incorporate wellbeing into your practice - led by Pamela Farrugia (Malta)
What is Dramaturgy? How can it support you and your work? This workshop delves into dramaturgical inquiry and how to incorporate it into your own creative practice. We will also explore incorporating care into our everyday lives and how this translates into our work. Come prepared to dance, write and play!
This workshop has already taken place.
Sunday 10th November 3.30-5.30
Movement Before Voice, Text as the Final Touch - led by Jagoda Kamov (Croatia)
Are you interested in breaking the conventional boundaries of storytelling through theatre? This workshop is designed for those eager to explore a unique approach by using movement as the core element in creating compelling theatrical moments. In this dynamic and highly interactive session, we will dive into a series of exercises aimed at exploring physical language, embracing the power of silence, and integrating text with movement.
To sign up for this workshop, please email Jagoda.
Wednesday 27th November 6.30-8.30
Storytelling: finding your inner voice through your body - led by Isabella Sperotto (Brazil)
Is writing only a mental process? Or is it flowing in our bodies, experiences and intuition? In this workshop, you will embody your voice and rhythm to unblock writing, storytelling and originality. It's a sensory practice that provokes artists to reach their inner references and learn how to listen to their own impulses and insights, offering practical tools for how to get back to motivation & inspiration when creativity gets stuck. This session is open to all disciplines and backgrounds.
To sign up for this workshop, please email Isabella.
Sunday 8th December 3.30-5.30
Tarot for Storytelling - led by Giulia Maglione (Italy)
Ignite your storytelling with tarot - join our immersive workshop and discover how tarot enhances creativity. Explore tarot's symbolic language, draw cards for story elements, and delve into character arcs and settings. Let tarot spark your intuition and elevate your storytelling. No knowledge or prior experience with tarots is required. Bring a script or play that you are writing and that you are stuck with, or a blank paper for new ideas. And feel free to bring your own tarot deck if you have one!
To sign up for this workshop, please email Giulia.
Wednesday 18th December 6.30-8.30
Kinaesthetic Intelligence - led by Rasa Niurkaitė (Lithuania)
This workshop delves into the practical application of kinaesthetic intelligence in rehearsals and devising, offering a hands-on approach to enhancing your creative process. You will learn valuable techniques for safely accessing deep or challenging emotions, ensuring you can fully embody your character without compromising your mental well-being. Additionally, the workshop provides strategies to avoid the common 'emotional hangover' that can occur after intense performances, helping you to maintain a healthy balance between your emotional and mental health. This is a movement based workshop so please wear comfortable clothing!
To sign up for this workshop, please email Rasa.
Sunday 12th January 3.30-5.30
Embodied Stories: Exploring Movement Heritage - led by Nasia Papadopoulou (Greece)
This workshop invites participants to delve into the rich movement heritage that their bodies carry, shaped by their ethnic origins, cultural backgrounds, and family histories. Through guided exploration, participants will uncover and express their unique personal stories through movement. The workshop aims to foster a deeper connection to individual identity, offering artists a space to develop their expressive tools and celebrate the diversity of their embodied experiences. Everyone is welcome, please come with an open heart and comfortable clothes.
To sign up for this workshop, please email Nasia.
Wednesday 29th January 6.30-8.30
Stepping in Situ - led by Francesca Matthys (South Africa)
This workshop is informed by parts of Francesca’s known South African lineage, spiritual and artistic practice. Participants will be guided through a compassionate yet rigorous practice encompassing improvisational scores and choreographic explorations, acknowledging the pelvis as a site that holds connections and disconnections to ancestral wisdoms, intuition and identity, as well as original adaptations of the Nama Stap Dance that finds rhythm in the feet. The Nama Stap Dance, originating from a rite of passage practice of the Nama people who are descents of the Khoi and San indigenous people of Southern Africa, where Francesca finds parts of her lineage.
To sign up for this workshop, please email Francesca.
Sunday 9th February 2025 3.30-5.30
Body & Voice - led by Rudzani Moleya (South Africa)
In this workshop we will be exploring how the body and voice are connected. Using daily gestures/actions we will use improvised movement to create movement phrases/scores. Once these phrases and scores have been developed we will explore how the voice is impacted or impacts the scores. This is an embodied practice which is open to everyone.
To sign up for this workshop, please email Rudzani.
If you’d like to run a workshop, please contact Anna on anna@projekteuropa.org