Master's in Authorial Acting Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU)

The Authorial Acting Program at DAMU comes out of the humanist and dialogical traditions. It views performance first and foremost as creative public behavior. We cultivate psychosomatic condition, i.e. creativity of body, voice and of mind in real-time by exploring the ability of being in a public situation through the lenses of different disciplines such as movement, voice, speech and theatre performance. Students are encouraged to go beyond traditional forms of theatre, crossing boundaries and drawing on personal experiences in fields like education, social work and psychology.

Studies at our Department are focused on a psychosomatically oriented approach to dramatic culture and creation, to authorship and concept of play. The key disciplines are Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner, Authorial Reading and Authorial Presentation. The Department also conducts research in cooperation with the Institute for Research Into and Study of Authorial Acting.

There are mandatory seminars, courses, workshops and practical exercises and various elective courses and workshops with guest pedagogues and professionals. The Authorial Acting Program cooperates closely with FAMU International, supporting students to participate in film projects. DAMU International also provides a wide range of Electives, Exploratory Courses, Non-credit Lectures, and Cultural Excursions, which comprise a vital aspect of each student’s educational experience.

You can enroll for Authorial Acting 2-year Master’s Program at DAMU, if you have completed a Bachelor’s Degree and wish to either explore and improve your abilities and creative self through acting disciplines, or, if you have previous experience in dramatic arts you can expand your knowledge and skills in the field of authorial acting. We do not demand previous theatre experience or a completed theatre degree. We welcome experiences from different fields as well.

This is a full-time program taught in English. Applicants are expected to speak English fluently and have a keen interest in dramatic arts and other related fields. Applicants should demonstrate the will, interest and capacity to study, learn and work on themselves, a capability of analytical reflection, imagination, communication ability, and independent thinking.

The graduate of the Master´s Degree in Authorial Acting Program is an independent individual with the ability of self-reflection, a creative and educated artistic personality. Each student gains an in-depth specific knowledge of psychosomatic disciplines through their own experience, deepen their ability to create authorial presentations and be in the public situation, knowledge of theatre and related fields such as philosophy and psychology. The graduates of Authorial Acting Program are independent thinkers, creative individuals who find their authorial voice and are able to communicate their ideas to the audience.

Authorial Acting students are guided towards becoming creative personalities – capable of making and standing by their own authorial solo and group work based on their own personal themes. Students grow psychosomatically and gain experience in key areas of human expression: voice, speech, movement, acting, authorial reading, and Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner (formerly known also as (Inter)acting with the Inner Partner), but also in philosophy, psychology and theatre history. Studies take the form of weekly studio and lecture classes supplemented with intensive workshops with accomplished pedagogues, theoreticians, performers, and authors.

The Authorial Acting Program focuses on practical and theoretical explorations of the following questions:

• What are authorship and creativity and what does it mean to be an author, a creator?
• How does one discover and cultivate personal themes?
• How can I/we share these themes in a performance situation, with the self fully and authentically present?
• What sort of psychosomatic fitness does that require – and how can I study and develop it?
• What is the social, political, and pedagogical significance of our work?

Students pursue multidisciplinary studies, both practical and theoretical, rooted in a psychosomatic (psycho-physical) understanding of the individual (e.g., Stanislavski, M. Chekhov, Brook, Donnellan, Vyskočil, Zarrilli) and a philosophical foundation stemming from humanism, personalism, and the dialogical self (e.g., Buber, Frankl, Fromm, Hermans).

Key Outcomes

Over the course of their studies, students deepen their understanding of their personal themes and learn how to express them in performance situations. The program nurtures and develops their expressive (psychosomatic) capabilities. They also deeply absorb the ethics of authorial creativity.

At graduation, students are able to create a text outline of a 45-minute authorial performance and know-how to structure its stage form. They understand and can explain the authorial aspects of acting in the context of European culture, and understand the basic philosophical, anthropological, and psychological aspects of authorship. Students will also be able to understand and explain the principles of using theatrical approaches in non-artistic spheres.

After Studies

Because our goal is to cultivate self-confident, creative personalities, graduates’ profiles, and employment tend to be very diverse. Frequently they work as authors/creators of their own projects of a theatrical, visual, literary, or other nature; some find work in media. Graduates also often work in a variety of pedagogical professions, from youth theatres to universities – often teaching psychosomatic disciplines. Some continue their studies in arts-practice-based Ph.D. Programs.