SIZE OF COMPANY
6 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small

PERMANENT STAFF
Company Member/Artistic Director
Peter S Petralia
Company Member/Trainee Producer
Rachel Baynton
Company Member/Performer
Gillian Lees
Company Member/Performer
Andrew Westerside
Company Member/Lighting Designer
Rebecca MK Makus
Performer
Alice Booth
Performer
Adam Nash

ARTISTIC POLICY
Proto-type Theater is a company of multi-disciplinary artists interested in live performance. Creating original works that are diverse in scale, subject, and medium, Proto-type is currently exploring the relationship between sight and sound, the virtuoso performer, and the role of the spectator in performance. Proto-type’s work is demanding and intricately crafted to create experiences for a diverse audience of intelligent, modern humans.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
An intriguing brush with altered reality…with the feel of a supernatural, psychological thriller.
Anita Gates, The New York Times (Whisper)
The strange melding and disconnect between image and sound sucks you in.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian (Whisper)
Whisper is quite simply an extraordinary piece of theatre.
Carole Gordon, What’s On Stage (Whisper)

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Whisper
50 minutes long with no interval, strong language, 3 people on stage, 3 tech/admin on road (6 total)
Audience members each receive a pair of headphones and are seated in front of a large white screen. Through the headphones they hear the voices of three live performers narrating a walk through a city, along with live sound effects and cinematic visuals.
About Silence
60 minutes long with no interval, strong language, 1 person travels with show – 3 performers are sourced locally.
In About Silence, paranoia, beauty and the pain of intimate human relationships are explored with 3 people, 3 laptops, and music from out of this world. About Silence is unrehearsed and the performers will have never seen the text before. None of the lines are assigned; all of them must be spoken; and the order cannot change.

FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Virtuoso (working title)
110 minutes with no interval, strong language, 3 people on stage, 3 tech/admin on road (6 total)
In Virtuoso (working title), three performers stage a film about a stagnant suburbia where the minutiae of everyday life has become strange: glass windows portend violence, a spot on the wall promises freedom, a stranger appears in the living room. The audience witnesses the construction of a film on three flat screen television monitors, behind which three performers assemble the necessary backgrounds, costumes and props to craft the perfect image.

WRAP-AROUND
Writing Workshop: Re-mapping the City – age 16+ all skill/experience levels, max 20 participants, 3–4 hours (longer version available)
This workshop explores some of the inspiration for Whisper, and give writers practical ideas and techniques for creating performative writing, based on the city. This workshop will touch on world-building, site-as-inspiration, psycho-geography, mathematics, and architecture and will include time for gaining inspiration, writing and providing peer feedback. Appropriate for writers of all types. Workshop uses the neighborhood around the hosting venue as a source for inspiration.
Headphone Performance Workshop – age 16+ all skill/experience levels, max 20 participants, 4 hours (longer version available)
This workshop includes a primer on the creation of live sound effects using the film technique ‘foley’ and will see workshop participants creating their own short performances using this technique. Participants will also learn how to use the headphone technology employed in Whisper and will work in small groups to develop original material.
Using Technology in Performance – age 18+ professional artists, max 15 participants, 6 hours (shorter version available)
This workshop looks at issues of using media in performance and explores techniques for using live feeds, recorded video, screens, projections, televisions, the internet, GPS and other technology in the context of live performance. Participants will be exposed to case studies from Proto-type’s work and from the work of other practitioners and will create short performances of their own to conclude the workshop.
How to Give Feedback – age 16+ all skill/experience levels, max 20 participants, 1.5 hours
This workshop is a primer for how to get and give constructive feedback when showing work in progress or completed performance work. It is most appropriate for practicing artists but can be adapted to work with university groups or colleges. Participants will learn about 'critical response', a technique developed by the American choreographer Liz Lerman, and will employ it to give constructive, useful feedback to each other.
The company is also available to teach devising and other less specialised workshops upon request and we are happy to create custom workshops where appropriate.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2008 USA: Whisper
2007 USA: Invisible Messages
2006 USA: Apostasy, Third Person, Museum of Dreams

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Whisper – available anytime
About Silence – available anytime
Virtuoso (working title) – available from 23 April 2009