From 1999-2003, Fordham University in association with the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards offered an intensive Actor Training Program for Advanced Undergraduates, Graduate Students and Young Professional Actors in Orvieto, Italy.

Lawrence Sacharow (1937-2006), former Director of the Fordham Theatre Program, and OBIE Award-winning director of Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Three Tall Women, was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Orvieto Institute.  His renowned actor-training workshops focused on energies and presence, actor-created work from poetry and paintings, and approaching Chekhov with psycho-physical actions.

The Fordham Theatre Department would like to thank all the prestigious international master teachers who graciously contributed their time and talents to this extraordinary training program: Thomas Richards, Mario Biagini, Richard Armstrong, Susan Dibble, Andrei Droznin, Natalia Fedorova, Kristin Linklater, Matthew Maguire, Yoshi Oida, Dawn Akemi Saito, Ratan Thiyam, and Jean-Rene Toussaint.

“The Fordham Orvieto program is a four-week summer theatre school that concentrates on what Grotowski and Konstantin Stanislavski called physical actions: how an actor creates precise movements with the body as a way to communicate character, story and the actor’s intentions.”
Lawrence Sacharow
The New York Times, August 20, 2000

NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ON
THE FORDHAM ORVIETO PROGRAM
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)