Aims and Objectives:
CASL (Centre for Actors in a Second Language) functions under the larger umbrella of Nu Nu Platform. Nu Nu Platform represents the association of CASL with the theatre and performance producing company Nu Nu Theatre Company. The aim of conjoining the two entities is that research, discussions and artistic contacts generated or hosted by CASL could flow into and inform the practical work produced by Nu Nu Theatre and vice versa.
CASL (Centre for Actors in a Second Language) will be a forum dedicated to the study of the work, presence and influence of the Second Language Actor within the domains of Performance/Theatre Studies/Film and other adjacent domains.
CASL is also dedicated to representing a point of convergence for the voices of Second Language Actors, both in the UK and internationally.
In the domain of theatre produced as an exchange of two or more cultures/languages, CASL aims to recognise and disseminate the role of the Second Language Actor in performance and to look deeper into the creative processes involved in the actor’s work. This will be done both through the particular structure of CASL and through the projects it will develop, as explained below.
CASL structure and activity:
CASL has two branches: an ‘active’ one and a ‘passive’ one.
Active CASL
The ‘active’ compartment of CASL will be represented by and totalise all activities to be organised and produced, as it follows:
A) Introducing the aesthetic concept of Second Language Actor to industry/theatre/performance professionals, to specialists of the relevant academic fields and to members of the general public. This desideratum will be achieved through:
– Encouraging the engagement of Second Language Actors, active in the UK and abroad, with the work and research conducted at Nu Nu Theatre and CASL.
– Presenting work done by Nu Nu Theatre Company – which uses mainly Second Language Actors – together with introducing and presenting the aims, objectives, activity and research of CASL, in joint events on the following format: performance and post-performance presentations/discussions and workshops.
– Liaising with members of the bodies representing actors as professionals in order to draw attention towards and open dialogue about the importance of the Second Language Actor within the wider Performing Arts context.
– Opening the dialogue with actors’ representing bodies will endeavor to identify if there is a need to change current attitudes, in the sense of developing particular criteria defining the Second Language Actor’s position and importance within the various creative industries.
– Establishing communication with actor’s training bodies (schools and conservatoires) – in the UK and abroad – in order to promote discussion and exchange and to enrich knowledge.
– Establishing communication with academics, researchers and students with interests in the domains of intercultural performance or to whom the topic of Second Language Actors/Acting will be relevant.
B) Organising events – meetings, conferences, workshops, presentations – in order to achieve the level of dialogue mentioned above and to encourage deeper specialist and non-specialist communication on the topic of Second Language Actors.
C) In collaboration with Nu Nu Theatre and based on an intensified use of Second Language Actors in productions, CASL will aim to develop a training programme for the Second Language Actor, with the purpose of developing skills and potential for a better integration within the general cultural landscape of certain foreign countries and for a better understanding of the position and significance/influence of the artist upon that particular cultural landscape.
Passive CASL
The ‘passive’ side of CASL will be constituted by an archive in which material will be stored regarding the activity of Second Language Actors.
– The aim is to historicise material on the artistic presence and work of Second Language Actors from the past through to contemporary times.
– The archive will also contain documents (printed, video and/or audio), communications, feedback and research produced at and for the events organised by CASL (seminars, workshops, conferences, presentations, etc.).
– The long term aim of the CASL archive is to become public, so that its accumulated material can be accessed by researchers, theatre and performance makers and all other interested parties and members of the public.
ALL EVENTS ORGANISED BY CASL WILL BE REFLECTED BY COMMUNICATIONS ON NU NU PLATFORM’S WEBSITE:
www.nunuplatform.com