Margolis Brown Adaptors Company
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The Margolis Brown Adaptors Company (MBAC) is a physical theatre company established in New York City in 1984 by Kari Margolis and Tony Brown. As co-artistic directors, Margolis and Brown have thus far co-authored, directed, and sometimes performed in 13 full-length theatrical productions, as well as numerous site-specific works at such places as the Brooklyn Museum, Coney Island, and the historic Roebling Bridge on the Delaware River.
The MBAC were artists in residence at the Brooklyn Arts and Culture Association (BACA) in New York City from 1985-1990. In 1987 they established an independent performance space and multimedia center in Brooklyn and mounted four original productions there. The company has toured nationally and internationally to Barcelona, Berlin, London, Singapore and throughout Canada and Mexico. The company relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1993. There they continued to create and produce multimedia theater productions and trained actors in the Margolis Method for over 12 years. MBAC established an international training center in Sullivan County, New York in 2005 and divide their time between New York and Minneapolis.
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[edit] Margolis Method
Margolis has developed a physically-based approach to performance called the Margolis Method. The method, along with 25 years of personal research, takes inspiration from the research of such artists as Etienne Decroux, Bertolt Brecht, and Jerzy Grotowski. The method's goal is to analyze and focus the dramatic force and emotion created by an actor's physicality to further the creative and expressive process. It seeks to empower the actor to work simultaneously as a director, playwight and performer.
The Margolis Method was developed in response to what Margolis saw as a fragmented and ineffective way of teaching actors in America. Pedagogically, Margolis rejected the notion that actor training could be broken down into separate contexts (i.e.: stage "voice" and "movement" classes) and instead suggested that all aspects of actor training are inextricably linked. Rather than focusing primarily on establishing character through developing the character's psychological motivations and emotional states, Margolis sought ways to approach drama and character from a physical perspective as well. To accomplish this, Margolis Method focuses on theatrical notions like conflict, timing, and neutrality and employs concepts borrowed from physics, such as inertia, lines of force and density (as well as concrete manifestations of these principles, such as: pendulums, pulleys and elastics).
[edit] Performances
MBAC theatrical productions are collaboratively-written original performance works produced by the company. Productions are characterized by frequent utilization of multimedia and sparse text, thereby relying on unconventional means of dramatic conveyance. Examples of those alternative dramatic vehicles are projected images, prerecorded or live sound, or an actor's physicality. In addition, the actors often appear in non-representational dramatic situations.
[edit] Performance History
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- Autobahn - 1985, BACA, Brooklyn, NY
- The Bed Experiment - 1987, BACA, Brooklyn, NY
- Decodance - 1988, BACA, Brooklyn, NY
- Suite Sixteen - 1990, BACA, Brooklyn, NY
- In Search of Planet Eden or Sodom by the Sea - 1991, Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
- The Dilemma of Desmodus & Dyphilla - 1991, Arts Awareness, Lexington, NY
- Koppelvision - 1992, St Clement's Church, New York, NY
- Cafe Paradise - 1993, Second Story Theatre, Brooklyn, NY
- Vidpires - 1995, The Southern Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
- Vanishing Point - 1996, The Southern Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
- The Time of Your Life - 1998, Minnesota Science Museum, Saint Paul, MN
- Starry Messanger - 1999, Children's Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
- American Safari - 2000, The Red Eye Theater, Minneapolis, MN
- Sleepwalkers - 2002, O'Shaugnessy Auditorium, St Paul, MN
- The Human Show - 2005, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN
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[edit] Sources
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- Barnes, C. “Autobahn: Life in The Fast Lane,” New York Post December 26, 1986
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- Kriegsman, Alan M. , “Bed Experiment,” Washington Post November 16, 1987
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- Keating, D. , "Living Poetry, With More Appeal in Expression than Message," Philadelphia Inquirer June 4 1993
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- Steele, M. , “Vidpires: A Deftly Done Look at Pop Culture,” Minneapolis Star Tribune March 24, 1998
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- Sparber, M. , "Lost in America," City Pages December 6, 2000
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- Potter, N., ed. (2002) ‘’Movement for Actors’’ pp. 173-186 New York: Allworth Press
