Education
Current Workshop Offerings
Immersive Makers Workshop Series
with Tom Pearson
Spring Series – April 11 through May 30, 2024
Thursdays from 7:00PM* to 9:30PM Eastern Time (2.5 hrs each)
$80 to drop into individual sessions
Third Rail Projects Gift Cards are accepted.
ON ZOOM
Tom Pearson, co-founder/director of Third Rail Projects and director of the Global Performance Studio will be teaching some of his most popular sessions as an 8-part, two-month suite of offerings on Zoom. The series includes: Creative Cartographies, Scenario Development, Collaboration & Co-Creation, Frameworks, Sensory Design, Movement-based Practices, Conflict & Dramaturgy, Creative Practices.
These workshops are a deep dive into the techniques and practices Tom uses in his collaborative works for dance, theater, site-specific, and immersive productions. It offers explorations for mapping concepts and structures, scenario, and scene development, directing from the audience perspective, movement-based practices for site-specific and immersive theater, designing sensory environments, structuring creative practices, and working with designers, performers, artists, and audiences to co-create meaningful works. The series will cover an array of creative modalities and lean strongly towards site-specific and immersive collaborative processes.
Experience is not a requisite, only an interest in learning more about the multimedia components and multilayered processes Tom uses in his collaborations with Third Rail Projects, with other artists/communities around the world through the Global Performance Studio, and as a consultant and advisor. All creative backgrounds and disciplines welcome.
Spring syllabus:
April 11
Creative Cartographies:
World building, thought partnerships, idea mapping for immersive, site-specific and proscenium-based works.
April 18
Scenario Development:
Devising and directing interactive projects from audience point-of-view.
April 25
Collaboration & Co-Creation:
Personal and team style, collaborating with designers, performers, and audience as co-creators.
May 2
Frameworks:
Structures, stanzas, ceremony, and other frameworks for designing containers of legibility.
May 9
Sensory Design:
Environmental design, art, and ephemera as well as creating sensory maps that help 4-dimensional experiences.
May 16
Movement-based:
Choreography and image generation, site-specific leanings, soft bodies and hard surfaces, addressing longevity and repeat stress.
May 23
Conflict & Dramaturgy:
Finding meaning through archetypes, mythologies, and conflicts with self, scene partners, environment, and audience.
May 30
Creative Practices:
Ideation, iteration, daily practice, and self-care for art-makers, for individual projects and larger bodies of work.
Designing Immersive Gatherings
Zoom Workshops w/ Zach Morris
Third Rail Projects & Atlas Obscura
Spring Session B: Tuesdays 8 - 9:30 pm ET May 7, 14, 21, 28
$215 for 4 Sessions
ON ZOOM
In this 4-part workshop, explore the ethos and attributes of immersive experiences and begin designing one of your own.
Immersive experiences have taken center stage over the past several years, whether as escape rooms, festivals, pop-ups, and performances. But what does it mean for an event to be truly immersive, and what does it take to create one?
In this four-part seminar, acclaimed immersive theater director and experience designer Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects will walk us through the elements of immersive gatherings and guide us through the process of designing our own. Drawing inspiration and practical points from past notable immersive events, we’ll delve into the details of creating such gatherings—focusing on environment, interaction, the experiential arc, and guest-centered design.
Each week, Zach will offer optional exercises geared to help participants envision and develop their own concepts outside of class. This course is designed for everyone; whether you’d like to design a celebration or social event, create a memorable product launch or branded event, make a conference more engaging, or fold elements into a performance—this class will offer something meaningful for you and for those you're gathering.
For any questions about this workshop please reach out to experiences@atlasobscura.com
The Art & Science of Building a Creative Process
Zoom Workshops w/ Jamie Blume & Zach Morris
Third Rail Projects & Atlas Obscura
Spring Session A: Wednesdays 8 - 9:30 pm ET May 15, 22, 29, & June 5
$215 for 4 Sessions
ON ZOOM
In this 4-part workshop, explore the artistic and scientific components to building a sustainable creative process and begin putting it into practice.
Creativity is abstract, and for many of us, pretty elusive. In this course, we’ll dissect the process behind the creative process, exploring commonalities between creative practices across disciplines. Alongside clinical psychologist Dr. Jamie Blume and immersive theater director Zach Morris, we’ll integrate principles from their expertises to articulate and enact step-by-step plans to bring a big creative undertaking to fruition—whether that’s writing a screenplay, learning to sing, finishing that portrait, or performing a monologue. By the end of the course, students will have a concrete plan to achieve one of their artistic goals, as well as practices to help make their creative processes smoother and more sustainable in the future.
For any questions about this workshop, please reach out to experiences@atlasobscura.com
Writing for Immersive Theater & Experiential Performance
Zoom Workshops w/ Zach Morris
Tuesdays 7 - 10 pm ET June 4, 11, 18, 25
$300 for 4 Sessions
ON ZOOM
Creating scripts and scenes for immersive/experiential performance is, in some ways, a fundamentally different endeavor than writing for more traditional stage or screen projects. Explore the questions and considerations that arise when creating coherent, compelling scripted material without a fourth wall.
In this four-part workshop, participants will look at techniques that come into play when script-writing for immersive theater, trying out ways to convey narrative, thematic, and dramatic action while simultaneously creating invitations for audience participation. In a welcoming, warm, and relaxed Zoom atmosphere, Zach will offer insights and perspectives on the week’s topic. Over the four weeks, we’ll investigate practical tools and techniques for the creation of monologue/story-telling scenes and scenarios where a performer is in dialogue with audience members. We will also discuss considerations around crafting individual scenes within the context of longer-form performance experiences and how to create cohesion in works that feature non-sequential or multi-linear action. Each workshop will include in-class and out-of-class writing exercises, and participants will have the option to share their work and receive feedback from classmates if they wish. A performance or writing background is not required, and these gatherings are open to anyone who wishes to work, play, and/or learn more about writing practices.
NOTE: This is a four-part series that will build cumulatively and participants will sign-up for the full series (all four dates) to participate.
Subsidized rates for those experiencing financial hardship: $200
Enter code WITEP at checkout
For those who would like to contribute to making more or deeper subsidies available, there is an option to donate at checkout. All donations received on workshops tickets will go toward underwriting additional subsidy and scholarship opportunities.
Zoom sessions are each 3 hours long
For any questions about this workshop please reach out to boxoffice@thirdrailprojects.com
Educational Offerings
Workshops | Lecture Presentations | Residencies
Our education program reflects twenty years of experience as storytellers and crafters of audiences experiences across many platforms. Designed to welcome artists and creatives from a variety of backgrounds, disciplines, and communities, our
TRP Immersive Performance Workshop
educational offerings are available both privately and to the public through various organizational partnerships. We cultivate positive environments where collaboration, inquiry, and experimentation are integral to the learning process.
Creative Process Intensive at Gibney Dance
Chinook Festival
Private Offerings
We offer private workshops and lecture presentations for arts organizations, academic institutions, and companies representing a wide variety of industries. These customized engagements are tailored to meet the specific interests of each unique group and range from half or full-day workshops to multi day intensives.
Control Group Productions, Denver
Future of Storytelling Workshop, NYC
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Our private engagements are currently being offered remotely through Zoom and are available nationally and internationally on mutually agreed upon dates, times and intervals.
Connect with us at edu@thirdrailprojects.com to schedule an offering for your group.
Chaney High School, Ohio
Lincoln Center Young Patrons NYC
Devised Work Panel, Denver
Materials for the Arts, NYC
MindPark 2018, Shenzhen
Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation
Academic & Partner Residencies
For a comprehensive Third Rail educational experience, we offer residencies that take place over a span of weeks or months and culminate in a performance project. Residency participants are encouraged to bring their unique voices and perspectives into a collaborative creative process, experiencing this approach to art-making first-hand as an integral aspect of Third Rail Projects’ work. Our residencies are
Past Residency Projects
Olin College of Engineering
Texas A&M University
customized for each institution and may take place in one concentrated time frame or be spread over several intensive periods. Final projects range in scope from informal class showings to fully realized productions.
To discuss a creative residency with Third Rail Projects, connect with us at edu@thirdrailprojects.com
Wesleyan University
Florida State University
Princeton University
Albany Park Theater Project
