Intimacy for the Stage

Presentation, Q&A session, and Workshop for Actors / Directors

Mon., April 15, 6pm at Next Act Theatre Performance Space

With Tonia Sina

Co-Founder of Intimacy Directors International

Executive Director/ Head of Pedagogy

Creator of the Intimacy For The Stage method

6:00 pm

Doors open

6:30pm

FREE Presentation

7:30pm

Q&A with Tonia Sina

8:30 - 10:00pm

Workshop (By registration only, $20 fee)

Register here: https://www.theaterred.com/registration/index.php?event=32

ABOUT Intimacy Directors International (IDI)

A not-for-profit organization that investigates and develops the most effective methods for performing simulated sex, intimacy and nudity for theatre and film, IDI educates Intimacy Directors and Choreographers for theatre as well as Intimacy Coordinators for TV and film.

IDI believes that scenes of Intimacy must be handled in a professional manner that adheres to the highest standards of artistry and safety, whether that be on stage or on set. The company utilizes The Pillars as a standard for simulated intimacy.

The choreography of these scenes must accurately tell the characters' stories, as intended by the writer through the interpretation of the director and the actors involved, while respecting the physical and psychological safety of all involved. Various specific rehearsal methods and practices are used to ensure this to be the case. Professionals certified through IDI operate in a specific code of ethics, with a high artistic standard, while operating their rehearsals in a professional, respectful, appropriate and amiable atmosphere.

ABOUT TONIA

Tonia is the founder, Executive Director, and Head of Pedagogy of Intimacy Directors International (along with co founders, Alicia Rodis and Siobhan Richardson). She was the Intimacy Choreographer for the production of The Bakkhai at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, as well as being an international sexual harassment prevention advisor for theatre and film. Recently featured in the NY Times, American Theatre Magazine, CBC Radio and several other publications and radio shows, she is the former Artistic Director of Reduxion Theatre Company in Oklahoma City, and an international Intimacy for the Stage workshop teacher and choreographer. Tonia has been researching Intimacy for the Stage and Sexual Harassment in the industry since she began research for her thesis in 2004.

Originally an actress, fight director, and movement teacher, Tonia translated exercises for duels and mass battles into her method for choreographing safe intimacy between couples and groups. After eight years in academia as a movement Professor, Tonia wrote the article: Safe Sex: A Look at the Intimacy Choreographer for the Fight Master periodical, and is continuing to publish her work in the form of a book currently in the works. She has taught Intimacy at several SAFD regional workshops including MACE's Winter Wonderland, The Tourist Trap, The Lonestar Smash, and the Louisiana Tech Stage Combat Workshop, where she first began teaching Intimacy for the Society of American Fight Directors. Tonia also advises Universities on their curricula to help avoid harassment and abuse in academia.

Tonia invented her own method, Intimacy for the Stage, and teaches it internationally, but is also very interested in teaching and providing other methods of safe practice as well for stage and film. You can hear her interview on CBC radio here.

Also a director, playwright, model, and performer, Tonia is a soon to be triple kidney transplant recipient and rare and chronic disease patient advocate and national motivational speaker. She attended Niagara University for her BFA in theatre performance, and Virginia Commonwealth University where she studied movement under Fight Master David Leong and Certified Teacher and Fight Director, Aaron Anderson, and earned her MFA in Movement Pedagogy with a specialty in Intimacy for the Stage.