Schedule & Tickets

Story

Bios

P3 east

Contact

P3 east

The Pacific Performance Project east (P3) was founded in 1994 by Robyn Hunt and Steve Pearson in response to an expanding dialogue about culture and theatre, and a need to more fully integrate physical conviction in performance with inner conviction. For the past twenty-five years movement-based production, drawing on elements of dance, performance art, new vaudeville, circus and other related disciplines, has become more prominent in American theatre, requiring innovative methods of training, rehearsing and performing. Formal styles of Japanese theatre have provided useful training skills for actors in this country and have had a marked influence on the development of new productions, both avant-garde and mainstream.

Hunt and Pearson began working with noted Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki and his company in 1982, studying his theatre techniques and acting in productions in Japan over the next twelve years. After several years of study Mr. Suzuki encouraged them to be among the first to teach his techniques in the United States. This method has become very influential in contemporary American actor training, receiving considerable attention in American Theatre, The Drama Review, Theatre Forum, The New York Times, and other national publications.

In 1987 Hunt and Pearson saw the Tenkei Company perform Shogo Ohta’s masterwork MIZU NO EKI (The Water Station) in Tokyo. They were struck by the elegant simplicity and extraordinary power of the work, and realizing that the demands of slow tempo complemented the Suzuki training in important ways, began in 2000 working intensively on slow tempo and silence. They worked with Mr. Ohta in Kyoto and were directed by him in a new version of the play, after which he encouraged them to use and expand on his methods.

Pacific Performance Project east produces productions which employ a synthesis of the core of Suzuki training, modern dance, slow tempo, circus technique, silent narrative, and a fresh response to Stanislavski’s ideas. Additionally, P3 offers workshops in Physical Approaches to Performance which address the integration of a strong inner conviction with full and powerful conviction in the body. These workshops have been very productive for actors, dancers, directors and performance artists.

Pacific Performance Project east is now based out of Columbia, South Carolina, and can be found online at www.p3east.com.