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Intimacy Direction

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Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number Two
Video
Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number Two
Celebrate the Release of the First Textbook to Address Intimacy and Consent Work in our Theatre Classrooms.
Monday 18 March 2024
United States
Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number One 
Video
Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number One 
Celebrate the Release of the First Textbook to Address Intimacy and Consent Work in our Theatre Classrooms.
Wednesday 21 Februrary 2024
United States
Staging Black Intimacies
Podcast
Staging Black Intimacies
by Jordan Ealey, Leticia Ridley, KAJA DUNN
4 October 2023
Intimacy Directing For Theatre Book Release Event Logo.
Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number Two
Video

Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number Two

Celebrate the Release of the First Textbook to Address Intimacy and Consent Work in our Theatre Classrooms.

Monday 18 March 2024
United States

This livestream event celebrates the book release of Intimacy Directing for Theatre: Creating a Culture of Consent in the Classroom and Beyond with selected readings from the textbook and a Q and A.

Intimacy Directing For Theatre Book Release Event Logo.
Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number One 
Video

Intimacy Directing for Theatre Book Release: Reading Number One 

Celebrate the Release of the First Textbook to Address Intimacy and Consent Work in our Theatre Classrooms.

Wednesday 21 Februrary 2024
United States

This livestream event celebrates the book release of Intimacy Directing for Theatre: Creating a Culture of Consent in the Classroom and Beyond with selected readings from the textbook and a Q and A.

Daughters of Lorraine Podcast teaser.
Staging Black Intimacies
Podcast

Staging Black Intimacies

4 October 2023

Hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley interview Kaja Dunn, who is an intimacy professional, director, actor, and scholar. They discuss her journey as a theatre artist, the importance of intimacy coordinator for theatre and television, and Kaja’s own artistry and creativity.

Gender Euphoria teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Making Space: Consent, Collaboration, and Queer Access Intimacy
Podcast

Making Space: Consent, Collaboration, and Queer Access Intimacy

With Guests J.C. Pankratz and Emmett Podgorski

12 July 2023

J.C. Pankratz returns to the podcast to reflect on the first full production of their play Seahorse, directed by Nicolas Shannon Savard, starring Emmett Podgorski. Nicolas, J.C., and Emmett discuss how the collaborative process, from auditions through closing night, was informed by queer community building, access intimacy, and consent-based practice. They offer behind-the-scenes perspectives and concrete examples of how tools and ideas discussed in previous episodes played out in practice.

Gender Euphoria teaser image featuring guest profile images.
Queer-Trans Intimacy: One Foot in the Academy and the Other in the Nightclub
Podcast

Queer-Trans Intimacy: One Foot in the Academy and the Other in the Nightclub

With Guests Raja Benz and Joy Brooke Fairfield

5 July 2023

Nicolas Shannon asks Joy Brooke Fairfield and Raja Benz how their intimacy work is informed by queer theory and critical theory. Their conversation bounces between queer of color theory, decolonial theory, disability theory, and the dim glow of the night club; between past, present, and future; between the ideas they’re sure of and the ones they’re working out in real time. Bonus! It comes with dozens of recommended readings.

Gender Euphoria teaser image.
Queer-Trans Intimacy Work: Cracking Gender Open
Podcast

Queer-Trans Intimacy Work: Cracking Gender Open

With Guests Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield and Raja Benz

21 June 2023

In the first part of a two-part conversation on queer-trans intimacy direction and choreography, Nicolas talks with Theatrical Intimacy Education faculty members Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield and Raja Benz about their courses Working with Trans & Non-Binary Artists and Staging Intimacy Beyond the Binary. They discuss crafting courses that are less Trans-101 and more cracking gender open, resisting patriarchal and colonialist scripts, and bringing queer culture into the rehearsal room.

Global Majority Intimacy Directors Reception event poster.
Global Majority Intimacy Director Reception Keynote by Kaja Dunn
Video

Global Majority Intimacy Director Reception Keynote by Kaja Dunn

We Will Dream: New Works Festival

Friday 28 April 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana

Hosted by Intimacy Coordinators of Color, the Global Majority Intimacy Director Reception is a gathering of stage and screen intimacy professionals, artists, educators, directors, and producers to connect, learn, and inspire. Keynote by Kaja Dunn.

Six masked performers gather on or around a bed on stage.
Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography
Essay

Challenging “Certification”: Revising Hiring Practices in Fight and Intimacy Choreography

18 October 2022

Fight director and theatre artist Danielle Rosvally and founder of Heartland Intimacy Design and Training and associate professor Kate Busselle come together to interrogate the concept of “certification” in fight direction and intimacy coordination by illuminating current training practices, opportunities, and programs in the field.

Two actors in their underwear caressing one another.
Celebrating the Spirit in Intimacy Work
Essay

Celebrating the Spirit in Intimacy Work

A Conversation with Cha Ramos

2 September 2022

Ann James interviews Cha Ramos about her approach to intimacy direction, which pulls from Cha’s multidisciplinary theatrical career, her Cuban American upbringing, and—perhaps most crucially—her intentional rediscovery of spirituality as an essential part of artistic practice.

An actor touches the face of another actor while standing on a darkened stage.
Bringing Identity to Staged Intimacy
Essay

Bringing Identity to Staged Intimacy

A Conversation with Adi Cabral

1 September 2022

Ann James talks to Adi Cabral about Cabral’s path though the intimacy industry. As a practitioner and professor, Cabral approaches intimacy choreography by centering harm prevention while working to create opportunities for students to identify and grow within their boundaries.

A woman sits looking at a camera while two others kiss in the background.
Being Authentic in a New Theatre Practice
Essay

Being Authentic in a New Theatre Practice

A Conversation with Jyreika Guest

31 August 2022

Ann James chats with Jyreika Guest, who works as both an intimacy specialist and an actor, about framing intimacy work for actors. Jyreika shares her hopes for a future in which consent is an automatic part of rehearsal processes.

Two actors staring lovingly into each other's eyes.
Erasure is Not an Option: Intimacy Advocacy Through a Transgender Lens
Essay

Erasure is Not an Option: Intimacy Advocacy Through a Transgender Lens

A Conversation with Raja Benz

30 August 2022

Ann James sits down with intimacy choreographer Raja Benz to discuss her experience implementing cultures of consent in rehearsal rooms, cultivating a localized approach to intimacy work, and centering trans perspectives in theatrical processes.

Two actors kissing on stage.
The Queering of Intimacy: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Action
Essay

The Queering of Intimacy: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Action

A Conversation with Brooke Haney

29 August 2022

Ann James interviews Brooke Haney, creator of The Actor’s Warm Down, about closure practices in intimacy practice, when to pass work to someone else, and the need to represent queer stories through an authentically queer lens.

Balancing Power Through Intimacy in the Rehearsal Space
Essay

Balancing Power Through Intimacy in the Rehearsal Space

26 August 2022

Ann James chats with Rocio Mendez about her work as an intimacy director, connections between intimacy choreography and fight direction, and getting excited about theatre’s fieldwide trend toward including intimacy specialists in production teams.

Actors working together during rehearsal.
Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice
Essay

Making Our Own Table: Defining Black Intimacy Practice

A Conversation with Kaja Dunn

25 August 2022

Ann James interviews Kaja Dunn, who works both as an intimacy specialist and a scholar of race and choreography, about her decade-long path through the intimacy industry. They discuss the way to bring intimacy professionals into a production process, the importance of citing Black women’s contributions to the field, and the need diversify who is telling stories on our stages.

A person in the foreground with another person behind them.
Minding the Gaps: Making Space for All Identities in Intimacy Work
Essay

Minding the Gaps: Making Space for All Identities in Intimacy Work

24 August 2022

Ann James sits down with Chelsey Morgan to discuss the way their background in multiple intimacy work methodologies informs their work as a facilitator, director, writer, and intimacy specialist. Across all their work, Chelsey curates a practice that individualizes approaches to intimacy based on the needs of both the actors and the story.

sculpture floating above a theatrical stage.
Intimacy and Equity: A Balancing Act
Essay

Intimacy and Equity: A Balancing Act

23 August 2022

Ann James introduces the Rebuilding for the Future: A Convergence of Thought Leaders in Intimacy Practice series with this call for intimacy professionals to build a foundation of equity in the industry by interrogating available mentorship and training structures. This essay begins that work by highlighting the need for a diverse pool of training ideologies and methods; and the interview-based series that follows takes up that need by highlighting the perspectives of eight practitioners who navigate the intimacy industry in a variety of ways.

event poster for no summary: Tap In, Tap Out: On Dangerous Storytelling.
NO SUMMARY: Tap In, Tap Out: On Dangerous Storytelling
Video

NO SUMMARY: Tap In, Tap Out: On Dangerous Storytelling

Kholoud Nasser, theatre artist and trauma-informed therapist, hosts a conversation with intimacy coordinator Maya Herbsman and fight director Carla Pantoja

Thursday 28 April 2022
United States

Golden Thread Productions presented NO SUMMARY: Tap In, Tap Out: On Dangerous Storytelling livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 18 April 2022 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Gender Euphoria teaser image.
Gender Euphoria, Episode 4: Training Cisgender Producers and Directors: It’s More than Remembering Pronouns
Podcast

Gender Euphoria, Episode 4: Training Cisgender Producers and Directors: It’s More than Remembering Pronouns

With Maybe Burke

3 March 2022

Gender Euphoria, the podcast, host Nicolas Shannon Savard sits down with actor, writer, and human rights advocate Maybe Burke to talk about her role at the Transgender Training Institute and their signature course, “Supporting Transgender Actors & Creatives.”

Several actors standing or sitting in a practice space.
Casting Roles with Nudity: Body Checks and Why They Never Should Have Existed
Essay

Casting Roles with Nudity: Body Checks and Why They Never Should Have Existed

17 February 2022

Katrina Stelk discusses the role of nudity in theatre and the problem with requiring body checks during the casting process.

Money Matters With Ann James of Intimacy Coordinators of Color.
Money Matters
Podcast

Money Matters

With Ann James of Intimacy Coordinators of Color

8 September 2021

Yura Sapi sits down with Ann James, founder of Intimacy Coordinators of Color, whose mission is to support and promote decolonized intimacy education and inclusive hiring practices in the entertainment industry.

The silhouettes of a Black woman and a Black man in an embrace against a pink-purple ombre background.
Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director: Black Love and Human Rights
Essay

Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director: Black Love and Human Rights

7 June 2021

Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson believes that when it comes to intimacy directing, choreography can celebrate Black love as an act of racial and sexual justice.

Two actors lifting another one from the top of a pile of hay.
Dismantle the Hierarchy: Best Practices for Creating a More Equitable, Consensual Theatre Classroom
Essay

Dismantle the Hierarchy: Best Practices for Creating a More Equitable, Consensual Theatre Classroom

17 May 2021

Alli St. John shares a guide she developed for directors of youth theatre to prioritize consent and safe practices for staging theatrical intimacy.

silhouette of two people embracing, with a red and purple starry background.
Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director with Dr. Ayshia
Video

Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director with Dr. Ayshia

A talk on Black sex, Black bodies, and Black love led by Dr. Ayshia Stephenson

Monday 15 March 2021
United States

Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson presented Confessions of a Black Intimacy Director with Dr. Ayshia livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 15 March 2021 at 3 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 5 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 6 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

two actors onstage
What Playwrights Can Learn from Intimacy Directors
Essay

What Playwrights Can Learn from Intimacy Directors

A Conversation with Gaby Labotka

1 September 2020

Playwright Hallie Palladino chats with intimacy director Gaby Labotka about how intimacy directors approach scripts, the importance of a well-chosen adverb, and the necessity of innovation, now more than ever, to keep performers healthy and safe.