Tom Bostock is a queer director, performance maker and live artist from Essex, and can be found making shows somewhere in the gap between theatre and live art. Tom is interested in interdisciplinary, scenographic, experiential and experimental performance, exploring strangeness, the grotesque, encounter, and the possibilities of liveness — usually in site-specific or site-responsive settings through imaginative, holistic and embodied practice. Tom was co-artistic director of Gruff Theatre, an experimental ensemble making devised performance in alternative theatre environments until 2019.

Tom has made performance with/in: Alexandra Palace’s Vaults & Basements, New Diorama’s labyrinthine ND2 Site, Serpentine Galleries, Shoreditch Town Hall, Ambika P3, The Vaults, The Space, NT Studios, The Old Operating Theatre, Morley College site, Balfron Tower, city skyscrapers, office buildings, a series of churches and Nunhead Cemetery.

Tom trained at Goldsmiths and has trained extensively in Michael Chekhov Technique with Cass Fleming, Roanna Mitchell and Gretchen Egolf, as well as seminal teacher Graham Dixon. Tom is a founding member of The Chekhov Collective UK, and teaches in universities, drama schools and higher education settings across the UK on their actor training, contemporary performance, and theatre making programmes.

Sian Clarke is a performance artist and alternative comedian making genre-pushing, experimental and provocative work. She has taken her work across the UK, including performing at the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Her artistic process is heavily influenced by Chekhov Technique, with a particular interest in using the practice for writing and creating characters. Sian has worked as a performer, writer and dramaturg across live art, comedy, theatre and film. Alongside this she teaches Chekhov Technique at Arts Educational and Middlesex University.

Gretchen Egolf is an actor, director, and teacher, originally from America, now based in the UK.  She was a Co-Director of the Chekhov Collective for a number of years working with Cass Fleming and Roanna Mithcell.  She trained at Juilliard and her theatre work includes Broadway (and Off), West End (and Off), and major theatres around the US.  She has performed extensively in television and film.  As an acting instructor, Gretchen specialises in the Michael Chekhov Technique, having studied with Michael Chekhov Association (USA), Michael Chekhov Studio NY, Praxis Studio (LA), Michael Chekhov Studio London, MC Europe, The Chekhov Collective UK, and other independent teachers and studios.  She has taught and/or directed at LAMDA, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, ALRA, RADA, Brunel, with TCCUK, and in independent practice.  www.gretchenegolf.com

Cass Fleming is the Founder and Co-Director of The Chekhov Collective and a Senior Lecturer for the department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths.  She is a director and a teacher of acting, directing and theatre making.  Cass trained at WAC Arts, Goldsmiths and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has a PhD on the use of play in actor training addressing the work of Suzanne Bing and Michael Chekhov, and the synergies between their practices. She trained in Chekhov Technique with Graham Dixon in the UK, many MICHA faculty teachers from the USA, Israel, Germany and Holland, and many colleagues through the Collective.  Earlier in her career Cass had a brief spell working in live television and was a company member of English National Opera for a few years working with the Baylis Programme in Community, Outreach and Education projects.  Her production experience as director ranges from dance-theatre, mime, classical and contemporary plays, adaptations and devised theatre.  She has taught at Foundation, BA, MA, MFA, MPhil, PhD and Post-Doctoral levels at Goldsmiths, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Rose Bruford Drama School, E15 Acting School, Brunel University and the University of Kent.  Cass has trained directors in the use of Chekhov Technique at the National Theatre Studio, the Young Vic Directors programme, E15 Drama School and with the Chekhov Collective.

Cass was lead researcher, with Tom Cornford, on the multi-institutional practice research project Michael Chekhov in the Twenty-First Century: New Pathways (2013-2016). Cass is a Senior Associate of Michael Chekhov UK, was previously Scholar in Residence at the Michael Chekhov Association in the USA (MICHA) with Roanna Mitchell and was subsequently a board member for MICHA helping to establish their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee and supporting the organisation on the development of the organisation, pedagogy and new strands of work.  She has worked as an academic consultant and an external examiner at various conservatoires and drama departments, and is a peer reviewer of proposal and book manuscripts for Bloomsbury Methuen Drama and Routledge, and articles for the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal.

In addition to her work with Chekhov Technique Cass has also been exploring and researching the work of the French actor, director and actor-trainer Suzanne Bing since 1998 and has shared her research widely since that time.  Cass also has a long-standing interest in developing non-canonical approaches to, and histories of, actor training and she conceived a special edition of the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal entitled ‘Against the Canon’ (11:3) which she co-edited with Mark Evans and Sara Reed (Routledge, 2020).

Publications include:

Fleming, C. 2021. ‘A Constant Process of Expansion’, Michael Chekhov: Imagination and Community, Performing Arts in Times of Crisis (II), FAP Revista Científica de Artes Journal, published by Faculty of Arts of Paraná (FAP) of UNESPAR, Brazil Available for free as an open access article here.

Fleming, C. and Cornford, T. 2020 (eds.) Michael Chekhov in the Twenty First Century: New Pathways. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.  This publication was named as one of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles of the year (ALA) in the USA.

Cass was the lead editor and authored the following chapters in this book – ‘Introduction: Chekhov Technique: Past, present and future’; ‘Theatre of the Future: Chekhov Technique for Devised Theatre and Catalyst Directing’; and ‘Cross Currents and Conclusions’.

Fleming, C., Evans M and Reed, S. (eds.) 2020. Extended Editorial in ‘Against the Canon’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, special issue 11.3. London and New York: Routledge

Fleming, C. 2020 ‘Playing outside the frame: revealing the hidden contributions of the women in the French tradition of actor training’ in (eds.) Fleming, C., Evans, M. and Reed, S. ‘Against the Canon’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, special issue 11.3. London and New York: Routldege

Evans, M and Fleming C.  2019. ‘Jacques Copeau’ in The Great European Theatre Directors, Vol 3 (ed.) Pitches, J (series editor Shephard, S).  London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.

Cornford, T. Fleming, C & Rushe, S. 2013. ‘The Michael Chekhov Centre UK Past, Present and Future: An Inter-Generational Dialogue’ in (eds.) Chamberlain, F. and Kirillov, A. ‘Michael Chekhov in the C21st: New Sources, New Contexts, New Perspectives,’ Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, Special Issue 4.2 , London and New York: Routledge

Fleming, C. 2013. ‘A genealogy of the embodied theatre practices of Suzanne Bing and Michael Chekhov: the use of play in actor training’. De Montfort University, Leicester.
Available for free as an open access book here.

Selected papers and events:

Fleming, C. 2021. ‘Suzanne Bing: The interior rhythm and musicality of play’, The Makings of the Actor: Rhythm in Acting and Performance Conference, Athens, 27 March 2021

Fleming, C. & Cornford, T. 2021.  ‘Talking New Pathways’ Fleming and Cornford in discussion with Charles Douglas hosted by MICHA, USA

Fleming, C. 2021. Paper and panel discussion: ‘Michael Chekhov: Questions of Identity’ MICHA, USA

Fleming, C. 2019.  ‘MICHA and the Chekhov Matriarchy’, New York: MICHA, The Michael Chekhov Association USA.

Fleming, C. 2014. Paper: ‘Genealogies of Actor Training: The work of Suzanne Bing’ Queen Mary, University of London

Fleming, C. 2009. ‘Michael Chekhov’s Embodied Play Methodology’, Department of Theatre and Performance Research Seminar Series, Goldsmiths, University of London

Roanna Mitchell is a Co-Director of The Chekhov Collective UK.  She is a senior lecturer (University of Kent), performance-maker and movement person, and was course lead for the MA Performance —Physical Acting at the University of Kent for close to a decade. She has also held teaching positions at Goldsmiths and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and delivered guest teaching across a range of institutions including Rose Bruford and the Brit School.

Roanna’s work explores performance in the intersection between acting and dance, and the ‘third space’ between theatre and therapy (article available here). In connection with the latter, she is currently the lead on the participatory project ‘Inappropriate’ Anger  which explores uses of actor training techniques and creative practice to support survivors of BPD diagnosis, and also designer of MACRO Map, a reflective tool to draw connections between creative work and other life areas.

As a maker, Roanna has directed/created/movement-directed performance internationally, often working site-responsively and including collaborations with Richard Schechner (Imagining O, UK/US/India — 5 Stars New York Times); Platform 7 (Resting Place, Ramsgate /Charing Cross Station / Folkestone seafront); Accidental Collective (Here’s Hoping, Theatre Royal Margate / Oval House London) and Portrait Theatre (Stillmine, Canterbury / Margate).

In the area of activism and the body, Roanna was Artistic Director for the charity AnyBody UK, convened by Susie Orbach, for eight years. Campaigns and projects include the Shape Your Culture schools project (funded by ROSA UK), Occupy your Body (UK wide workshops and presentation to parliament), Fat is not a Feeling (successful lobbying of Facebook), a series of reviews and consultations for government and others, and Roanna’s TEDx talk.

Roanna’s training includes a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, an MA in Movement Studies at RCSSD, a PhD at the University of Kent, along with extensive further vocational training and practice including a two-year teacher training at the Michael Chekhov International Academy Berlin.

Roanna is a member of Michael Chekhov UK, Associate Artist with Portrait Theatre, and Associate Editor for the Theatre, Dance and Performance Training journal.

www.roannamitchell.com

Roanna Mitchell publication list here.