.png)
Actors Retreat
SEARCHING FOR THE SACRED IN ACTING
Embark on a Quest for the Ultimate Actor's Essence
Discover Your Acting Spirituality through a Transformative Journey
Unleash your artistic potential and embark on a profound journey towards self-discovery. Transform your life personally, emotionally, and creatively at our Shamanic Retreat.
5th - 14th July 2024
ALL INCLUSIVE
Price: € 2,500
We will email you with information
about enrollment process.
WELCOME!
This ten-day immersion is part of the research conducted by director, actor, and professor Gulu Monteiro, who will use his acting preparation technique EDP - Emotional Distancing Phenomenon in conjunction with shamanic rituals conducted by the Fulni-ô indigenous leaders.
Yaman Tykyra
The experiment will be hosted at Yaman Tykyra Natural Reserve located in Brazil, on the border of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, in the Mantiqueira massif.
Yaman Tykyra has altitudes ranging between 4000 ft and 9000 ft, with fascinating views of the Atlantic Forest and rock fields, waterfalls, rivers, trails, and diversified fauna and flora. The perfect place to experience healing, art, and emotions.
It combines comfort, privacy, and genuine contact with Nature. A unique place, where you can enjoy a swimming pool, sauna, games room, fireplace, grill, trails, and waterfall, in addition to all infrastructure, such as broadband internet.
Meet Your Instructor
GULU MONTEIRO
Master Teacher
UCLA School of Dramatic Arts - LA
L’Ecole du Jeu - Paris
Gulu Monteiro is a professor at UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television in Los Angeles and at L'Ecole du Jeu School of Higher Education in Paris. From 1985 to 2000, Gulu led a theater company in Rio de Janeiro - the Companhia do Gesto. They introduced the language of clowns, masks, and gestures to Brazilian theater.
In 2001 Gulu moved to Los Angeles, and his work as a director became rapidly well-known. He was invited to direct for the most important venues in town: the LA Opera, Broad Stage, and Getty Villa, among others. He received the most important awards in the city: Ovation Award, Maddy Award, and LA Weekly Award.
Gulu is a resolute researcher and experimenter of the acting process. As a result of years of research and experimentation, he created the EDP Method (Emotional Distance Phenomenon), where the actor's character can experience horrible emotions without affecting his/her phycological safety.
THE EDP METHOD
Emotional Distancing Phenomenon
During this research process, you will create a character and work on a scene by the end of the experiment.
You will work with the EDP Method, created by the awarded-winning theater, opera, and film director, acting teacher, and acting researcher Gulu Monteiro.
You will create your characters using Neutral Mask, Animals, Nature Elements, and adjectives.
In this experiment, you will learn how emotions are fundamentally physical actions/movements of muscles in the face, limbs, and internal organs, and feelings are the mental representation of these actions and the generator of the conscious mind, rationality, imagination, and creativity.
You will create a character with his own body (different from yours); the movements triggered by emotion in this new body will produce feelings and thoughts that are not yours either.
By creating a character from your body and not from your head, you will enjoy the freedom to experience your character's own feelings and thoughts without tapping into your personal psychological issues.
During the experiment process, on top of creating a character and playing a scene, you'll participate in shamanic ceremonies conducted by the shamans from the Funi-ô tribe, empowered by their ancestral knowledge of using sacred plants to understand if expanding your spiritual connection with nature forces, you'll boost, as well, your sensitivity and creativity on your acting process.
SPECIAL GUEST
Juliette Ménager
An internationally renowned casting director,
will follow the process, watch the scenes, and provide casting tips.
Juliette founded Joule Studio Casting in Paris in 1994 and is one of the world's leading casting directors. She has worked with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Alejandro Innaritù, Matthew Weiner, Darren Star, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, and Spike Lee, providing talent casting for major films, television series, and advertising campaigns. Her portfolio includes TV series such as Emily in Paris, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Marie-Antoinette, and The New Look. Recently, she completed her work on Apple TV's Franklin starring Michael Douglas and on the two spin-offs of the series The Walking Dead. Juliette Ménager is a European board member of the CSA (Casting Society of America), a member of ICDN (International Casting Director Network), and ARDA (Association of Managers of Artistic Distribution- AMPAS ( Academy of Motion Pictures Art& Science).
For the past 25 years, Juliette Ménager's interest in artists has led the studio to partake in other creative industries such as VR projects, music, stage, and contemporary art. Her eclecticism, vision, and taste for innovation keep Joule Studio continually on the cutting edge of creativity in the interconnected 21st century.
At the dawn of humanity, when humans began to gather around the fire, one day, a group member discreetly leaves the circle and returns a few minutes later wearing a rudimentary mask made of sticks and an animal's skin covering his body. Having the light of fire as a ramp and the moonlight as a backlight, he begins to sing, dance, act, and tell stories, saying that he is portraying the gods. The public, amazed and affected by the artist's performance, enters a state of collective trance culminating in a grand catharsis. Meaning: The first actor/performer was the first shaman/priest.
It was common for shamans to use plant infusions to enter a trance and begin to interact with their spirituality. They acquired then such a state of inspiration connected with nature forces that their words (which were the text that emerged from this state of inspiration) were conveyed by the artist (priest) with such a truth that surprised and amazed the public (faithful).
Since the beginning of civilization, theater and religion have been intertwined, having the actor as the priest and the faithful as the audience. Only around 600,000 BC did theatre and religion begin the separation process between art and spirituality in ancient Greece. Until then, this distinction did not exist.
Actors, the first Shamans
Research
Our research examines the actor when he is closer to this transcendent state that ancient performers experienced in their ceremonial shows.
Pre-Columbian civilizations in South America used sacred plants such as Ayahuasca, Black Jurema, and Rapé to bring shamans into this state of spiritual transcendence, authentic inspiration, and connection with natures forces.
The idea of our research and experimentation is to observe if the actor, when participating in a shamanic ceremony, would be able to get in touch, with his spirituality and transcendence.
Would this experience help the actor bring an inspired and surprising state of truth to his character in the scene they will present at the end of the process?
The Fulni-ô
The shamanic rituals that the actors will experience while creating their characters will be conducted by shamans of the Fulni-ô Indigenous ethnicity. This tribe is one of the few in Brazil that still preserve their ancient language and rituals. For centuries they have used the sacred plants Ayahuasca, black Jurema, and rapé in their ancestral rituals. With their ritualistic chants and dances, this powerful energy of secular knowledge guarantees the psychological safety of the actors so that they have an experience of pure elevation and connection with the forces of nature.
For 3 months, every year their entire village, from the youngest children to the elderly, leave the urban village and go to their sacred village in the interior of the forest to conduct the rituals they call Ouricuri. During these three months, with abstinence from alcohol and sex, they perform daily rituals praying for humanity. They believe that it is thanks to this concentration of light, love and ancestral wisdom produced during the Ouricuri, that humanity follows its path towards evolution. When the last Fulni-Ô ceases to exist and consequently the Ouricuri, it will be the end of humanity. And it is exactly when the Ouricuri ends that these shamans will come to Yaman Tykyra, with their maximum healing potential and energy, to conduct the ritualistic work with our actors.
SACRED PLANTS
Also known as power plants or entheogenic plants (entheos = God within), sacred plants have been used for thousands of years by various ancient peoples in their sacred rituals to purify man through nature.
They are a way of being in contact with the divine and carrying out a kind of “cleansing” of the soul, renewal of energy.
Plant medicine, often derived from ancient traditions and natural sources, holds a profound capacity for guiding individuals through explorative journeys and catalyzing personal development. These substances, when used intentionally and respectfully, can serve as potent allies in the quest for self-discovery. By unlocking altered states of consciousness, plant medicine provides a gateway to deeper levels of the self, revealing hidden aspects of one's psyche, emotions, and spirituality. This exploration often leads to profound insights, allowing individuals to confront and address unresolved issues, traumas, and subconscious patterns. Through these experiences, individuals can gain a clearer perspective on their lives, fostering a deeper sense of self-awareness, empathy, and connection to the world around them. Plant medicine serves as a catalyst for inner exploration, helping individuals to break through barriers, heal emotional wounds, and facilitate personal growth, ultimately leading to a more enriched and conscious way of living.
The following sacred plants will be used in rituals: Black Jurema, Ayahuasca, Sananga and Rapé.
SCHEDULE
Friday, Jul 5th - Arrival - Meet and Greet, welcoming celebration;
Saturday, Jul 6th - Introduction to EDP - Neutral Mask;
Introduction to Shamanic work with the Fulni-ô;
Shamanic work with Black Jurema, Rapé and Sananga;
Sunday, Jul 7th - Animal work; Shamanic dances and chants;
Monday, Jul 8th - Nature Elements work; Shamanic work with Ayahuasca;
Tuesday, Jul 9th - Adjectives and finishing building the character,
Healing Work with Rapé and Sananga;
Wednesday, Jul 10th - Character interviews,
Shamanic dances and chants - Rapé and Sananga;
Thursday, Jul 11th - Improvisation,
Shamanic work with Ayahuasca and Black Jurema;
Friday, Jul 12th - Improvisation,
Shamanic dances and chants - Rapé and Sananga;
Saturday, Jul 13th Presenting the scenes,
Shamanic dances and chants - Rapé and Sananga - Live Music;
Sunday, Jul 14th - Celebration all day, live music, meat and drinks;
Down day, journalling, contemplation, interviews;
ALL INCLUSIVE
We will email you with information
about enrollment process.
Price: € 2,500
What Our Students Are Saying
