Home2026 ATME Pre-Con Program

Transformation and Translation:
Connecting Forms, Bodies, and Communities

July 22 - 23 Hosted by Towson University in Towson, MD

Towson University's Center for the Arts
7700 Osler Dr, Towson, MD 21204
Dreyer Theatre Lab

Come play, participate, collaborate, and join us in the exploration of connecting forms, bodies, and communities in their interconnected nature in both practical and theoretical ways. We will be presenting an ATME Lifetime Achievement Award to featured artist Bill Bowers, who will be leading a workshop and performing.

Pre-Conference Fee covers participation in all events: sessions and discussions, workshop with Bill Bowers, happy hour snacks, performance by Bill Bowers, and an ATME t-shirt.

Participants:
Please plan to bring a lunch, water bottle (a water fountain is on site), bring clothes to move in (you may wish to bring layers), bring indoor dance/movement shoes or be prepared to work barefoot, and a journal and pen/pencil.

Parking: There is a lot adjacent to the building and a garage across the street for parking (Lot 3 and the Union Parking Garage). A paid guest pass is required. See parking info below for details.
Parking Info

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Program

Day 1: Wednesday, July 22

8:30 Registration and Arrival

9 - 9:30 Introductions

9:30 - 10:30 “The Voice of the Body: Mime and Physical Storytelling” - Bill Bowers Workshop (including warm-up)

(10 minute Break)

Sessions:

10:40 - 11:10 “Human Connection through Language of Intimacy” - Rawlings

2 .11:15 - 11: 45 “Designing Movement Access” - Butler

3 .11:50 - 12:20 “Transitions in Meyerhold's Etudes: Why they Matter ” - Kubik

12:20 - 12:35 Discussion

(5 minute Break)

12:40 - 12:55 Present Lifetime Achievement Award

12:55 - 1:25 LUNCH Break (Bring your own lunch)

Sessions:

4 . 1:30 - 2:00 “Express Yourself Intergenerational Play” - Young

5. 2:05 - 2:35 “Translating the Body: SHamzeh as Embodied Practice’ Memory and Movement” - Hamzeh

6 . 2:40 - 3:10 “Building Trust & Presence: Contact Improvisation Training for Young Theatre Artists” - Samaj

3:10 - 3:25 Discussion

(10 minute Break)

Sessions:

7. 3:35 - 4:05 “Setting a Strong Foundation, Literally” - Lopez

8. 4:10 - 4:40 “The Puppet Teaches the Actor, the Actor Teaches the Puppet: Parallel Exercises in Physical Storytelling” - Hollander

9. 4:45 - 5:15 “Falling Together: Clown & Contact Improvisation as Practices of Listening, Actor Training, and Ensemble Attunement” - Thaler

5:15 - 5:30 Discussion

(10 Minute Break)

5:40 - 6:40 Social Hour, Snacks and Gather

6:45 - 7:45 BETWEEN US by Bill Bowers

BETWEEN US is a collection of stories curated from all of Bill’s solo plays. Think of BETWEEN US as an “unplugged concert” of stories with and without words.

I will watch, hear, feel Bill Bowers whenever and wherever I can for the rest of my life. He is wit, joy, wisdom, compassion incarnate, and his physicality is the closest any of us will come to flying without wings.
~CHERRY JONES

Day 2: Thursday, July 23

9:00 - 9:30 Warm-Up (Led by Marc and Eliza)

Sessions:

10. 9:35 - 10:20 “What the Body Carries: Sustainable Practice for Theatre Artists” - Gitenstein/Vodnoy Wolf

11. 10:25 - 11:10 “How to Make Gravity Our New Best Friend” - Siegenfeld

11:10 - 11:25 Discussion

(5 Minute Break)

11:30 - 12:00 Wrap-Up: ATME Wrap Up and Board Announcements