STEPHEN RAPPAPORT

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A thirty minute lecture produced by Kulture Akadamien 

on 

THE INTUITION IN ACTION WORKSHOP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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INTUITION IN ACTION workshop

A journey to the Other Side with Stephen Rappaport

 

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” -Carl Jung

 

The Intuition in Action workshop is an ongoing process whose foundation is formed primarily through my experience as Actor/Director/Playwright, but also through other creative processes I am involved with;  Singing, composing music, painting etc.  

 

At the beginning of each workshop, the space is defined as one where there are very few rules. One may not have the intention of hurting anyone, and one cannot destroy things. That’s it.  The space is defined as a place of research, where nothing has to be done well, the thought being, that the need to be “good” is an impediment to creativity. 

 

The workshop becomes a framework for the unraveling of an imaginal choice that leads to the in-depth research and development of characters and stories.   Participants are encouraged to allow, acknowledge and accept, the presentation of material that comes up out of the unknown... The Other Side.  The ultimate objective is for the participant to build a greater trust in their intuition, impulses, imaginations, ideas...in their innate creativity. 

 

“The place where culture is experienced is located in the potential space between the individual and the environment. The same can be said of playing. Cultural experience begins with creative living first manifested in play”

D.W. Winnicott, psychologist 

 

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.” Rumi 

 

“When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.”
Martin Buber 

 

The major tool I offer participants is what I call “the third thing”.  It is what Winnicott refers to as the “potential space”, what Rumi calls “the field" and "the electricity" that Buber calls God.  For me, it is where life perpetuates itself. It is the only place where the desired unraveling can occur.  Play cannot exist without it. The workshop begins where participants experience simple exercises that reinforce the awareness of the third thing and use those experiences as reference points for the rest of the workshop, which steadily grows in its level of challenge. 

 

Connection and Catharsis are at the core of my work as an artist.  Catharsis is defined as.... “the purification and purgation of emotions through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration.”  The act of teaching, for me, is part of my artwork. Like performing, my teaching depends on a developed trust in intuition and imagination, leading to a passionate, powerful presence. There is acute listening. There is the willingness to be seen that gives permission to others to do the same. There is the existential need to be understood, to offer something, the need to have meaning in one's life.  As an active artist, being in touch with and developing these qualities is what makes me an effective teacher.  See TESTIMONIALS below....