Living Speech
With Séamus Maynard & Meaghan Witri
a Recording of a workshop in Sep 2020
We engage in exercises to better understand the principles of living speech. Through working with speech it is possible to strengthen our connection with the nourishing forces that wish to participate in the living word.
“We must fill our souls with what can really inspire us when we speak. We must find a way to make the heart speak through the lips. We must find a way to penetrate the words with our entire being.” (Rudolf Steiner, from Empty Phrase to Living Word)
Free to participants of the year long-course Speech and Drama as Living Arts.
Séamus Maynard
Séamus Maynard completed his degree in acting at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. While there, he studied speech, classical acting and Shakespeare with Patsy Rodenburg. Prior to that he trained intensively in the Michael Chekhov Technique for several years studying and performing with Ted Pugh and Fern Sloan who founded the Actor’s Ensemble based in Hudson NY. Séamus co-founded a two year acting training entitled Shakespeare Alive! which was based on the teachings of Michael Chekhov and Rudolf Steiner’s indications for speech and drama. Alongside Shakespeare Alive! Séamus studied speech formation with renowned speech artist Christy MacKaye Barnes. He then attended Artemis School of Speech and Drama in West Sussex England where he studied speech formation with Christopher Garvey. Currently, Séamus teaches the art of speech at Inner Work Path workshops and retreats (www.innerworkpath.com). Séamus also supports and facilitates the arts program on behalf of Developing the Self Developing The World (www.developingtheself.org).
Séamus has taught acting, speech and movement at Emerson College in England, Stephens College Missouri, California State University’s Summer Arts program, The New School NYC, Saint John’s College in Istanbul Turkey and is a faculty member for The Michael Chekhov School Hudson, as well as MICHA (the Michael Chekhov Association).
As an actor and musician Séamus has worked with Improbable Theatre (London), The Belgian National Theater, Triple Shadow (La Mama NYC), Heads Theater Company (NYC) and The Actors Ensemble (NYC & Hudson NY). Séamus is a co-founding member of Third Wheel Collective – a collaboration based theater company. As a musician, Séamus studied classical guitar and composition with classical guitarist and composer Ed Flower. Séamus composes for and co-founded Quiet In The Head, a music group that composes original, instrumental music for violin and classical guitar. He also writes and performs with an acoustic folk group called Living Roots. He is the author of the book Parzival A Journey of Initiation.
Meaghan Witri
Meaghan has worked with parents and families in a variety of capacities for over twenty years, including as an early childhood and parent-child educator and currently as the founder, main lesson teacher and mentor of a spirit-led education initiative in upstate NY. The Phoenix Initiative is dedicated to freedom for all in education. Meaghan also teaches and facilitates the Health and Wellbeing programs on behalf of Developing the Self Developing the World. This work has brought her to numerous schools across the country and in Canada where she teaches students in 4th – 12 Grades, and offers professional development training for faculty and school communities. Meaghan also works through consultation directly with parents and families in the home-setting offering practical support and understanding of child development from birth through adolescence, in the light of anthroposophy.
As an artist with a degree in theater, performance, and English Studies, Meaghan’s artistic work explores how music and story support inner and outer striving within the human condition. Meaghan has led singing, performance, and movement workshops in various contexts for children, teenagers, and adults. She is a contributing author of the Spirit-led Education for a Spirit-led Life subject course and the co-author of the EduCareDo subject course Speech and Drama as Living Arts.
Speech and Drama Offerings
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