a2 Theatre Intensive

Running into the Sun is an international theatre project that asks the question “what does it feel like to be a young person looking at the future of the world?” And more specifically, “What is the role of an artist in the world in 2025?”

The show debuted with Long Cloud Youth Theatre in 2021, in 2024 was remounted by a2 Company at the Melbourne Fringe and won Best Theatre and The Emerging Company Award. Now, a2 Company are touring the show around Aotearoa and, for one week, are taking up residence at Rātā Studios to teach our method of creating devised theatre. In the process of teaching that, we are going to make a whole new version of Running into the Sun.

Across the week, participants will devise a new piece of theatre around our core questions, and present it in a showing to invited friends and family at the end of the week. The process will be lead by Ben Ashby (co-director of a2 Company, former Artistic Director of Long Cloud Youth Theatre), and through the week you will work with, and have masterclasses from, the entire touring company of Running into the Sun: Choreographer Nadiyah Akbar (co-director of a2 Company, former Footnote company member); cinematographer and designer Asha Barr; musicians Tobias Leman, Lennox Grootjans, and Seth Boy; actor Ethan Morse; and contemporary dancers Jasmine Susic, Alec Katsourakis, and Luke Romero.

You will gain practical acting tools, skills in how to translate an idea/concept into a performance, and learn how to work across creative disciplines, and how to use text, dance, live music, and recorded film to express your artistic intention. This is a unique chance to learn from an international touring theatre company and to have them support you to bring your theatrical ideas to life.

This workshop is best suited for actors and dancers of any level of experience (minimum age: 15 years old) who want an intensive week of on-the-floor workshops creating, testing, and performing ideas.

If you are from a different creative discipline (e.g., musician, designer, cinematographer) and feel like this is a week of theatre making you want to be a part of, please let us know in your application. You are also very welcome.

So how do you feel about the world? Lets make some physical, experimental theatre full of fear, rage, and most importantly, hope for the future.