SPRING 2026
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Creating Comedic Character from the Self
Led by emily newton
a two day intensive that Blends Clowning Foundations, Personal Discovery, Costumes & Objects
WHEN & WHERE
April 18th & 19th
11am-4pm At New Expressive Works
In this playful, high-energy workshop, participants will discover how to create original comedic characters by drawing directly from their own personality, quirks, impulses, and imagination. Using core principles of clowning—authentic presence, emotional honesty, bold physicality, and joyful failure—we’ll uncover the unique humor each person carries naturally.
Through guided exercises, improvisations, and creative exploration, participants will:
Tap into their own stories, habits, fears, and delights as sources for comedy
Experiment with movement, voice, rhythm, and exaggerated emotion
Build characters through physical discovery rather than intellectual planning
Explore how costumes, found objects, and personal items can transform or amplify a character
Learn to play with the audience (real or imagined) through responsiveness and vulnerability
Participants are invited to bring costumes, accessories, or everyday objects that spark curiosity or silliness—these become powerful tools in revealing new comedic personas.
Whether you’re a performer, creator, or simply curious about clowning, this workshop offers a supportive space to embrace your ridiculousness, amplify your uniqueness, and craft comedic characters that feel both surprising and deeply authentic.
Emily June Newton is an international comedic performer originally from Australia, now based in Portland, Oregon. Known for her eccentric, fully embodied characters and dynamic audience interaction, Emily’s work pushes the boundaries between performer and spectator. Her signature creations include Frank (the world’s most entertaining entertainer), Pat McKensie (Australia’s self-appointed Cultural Ambassador), The Rat King, and The Bard (Mike Bennett Studios).
Emily has performed nationally and internationally with acclaimed companies such as Terrapin Puppet Theatre (AUS), Oregon Children’s Theatre (USA), CoHo Productions (USA), The Children’s Art Theatre of China (CHN), and Dell’Arte International (USA).
Described as “comedic gold” by Broadway World and a “standout clown” by The Mercury PDX, Emily holds an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theater from Dell’Arte International. She is the co-artistic director of the CoHo Clown Cohort, faculty at the Institute of Contemporary Performance (PETE), and a proud member of the Portland chapter of Fou Fou Ha, San Francisco’s premier burlesque clown troupe.
*Open to individuals of all backgrounds and levels.
COST $250
SOLO
CREATING NEW WORK FOR SOLO PERFORMANCE
A weekEND intensive that traverses the early fragile stages of new solo work creation. Taking you from idea to reality. FOSTERING each Artist’s unique voice TO BRING IT fully to life.
Led by Katherine Murphy Lewis
when & where
Astoria, Oregon
May 16th & 17th
11am-4pm
What is the gravitational pull of your work? What story do you keep telling over and over? What makes your story compelling and urgent?
Grounded in the practices from devising, viewpoints, autobiographical theater, moment work and movement/body based storytelling, Katherine brings her unique process of new art creation to the craft of solo performance.
We will explore the craft of solo performance. In this week long intensive Katherine will take you from the ‘idea’ to a fully formed vision.
Solo performance creates the possibility of innovative storytelling, fully utilizing the potential of the performance space. You will create a variety of writing, movement sequences, audio content creation, theatrical moments and visual images, sifting through each piece to discover your voice and unearth your story.
Harnessing the magic of the theatrical space, inviting the unusual, expanding on what is unique to each participants vision, as we push against the boundaries of performance and story.
Katherine’s Bio
Katherine Murphy Lewis is the creative architect behind From the Ground Up — a director and dramaturg whose penchant for experimentation has produced award-winning performances, launched viable artistic careers, and redefined what an incubation model can look like in the American theater landscape.
Lewis works fluidly across contemporary dance, physical storytelling, comedy, and devised performance. Under her direction, resident artist Andrea Parson won the Best Physical Theater award at the Fall United Solo Festival 2024 in New York City for You Can’t Be Serious — a four-year collaboration hailed as “real and raw yet polished and top-tier” (All About Solo, NYC). Her work has been recognized for putting “distinctive voices center stage” and embodying a “rejection of patriarchal standards” (Willamette Week).
Lewis grew up in Ashland, Oregon — her mother working the box office at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, making theater accessible to a family “living very close to the edge.” That proximity to both art and precarity shaped everything that followed: the conviction that creativity belongs to everyone, the refusal to accept gatekeeping as inevitable, and ultimately the responsive, non-linear curriculum she spent ten years building at FTGU. Her formal training spans physical theater, mask, and clown at Dell’Arte International, devised touring work with Company of Wolves out of Glasgow, and theater arts at Southern Oregon University. She is currently developing The End, an immersive exploration of grief built from audio recordings made during her father’s fifteen-month journey with terminal cancer, in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize finalist Amanda Gronich.
*Open to individuals of all movement backgrounds and levels.
COST $200
Limited Subsidies Available
Email Katherine at katherineftgu@gmail.com to request financial support, make payment or if you have any other questions.
dance X Camera
A Creative Exchange
led by rachel slater
a two-day interdisciplinary experience that is part workshop and part creative lab for artists working across movement and cinema.
when & where
New Expressive Works
May 2nd & 3rd
11am-4pm
Designed for dancers, filmmakers, and hybrid artists.
This workshop explores the creative relationship between movement, the camera, and editing. Participants will engage in a curated mix of discussion, short screenings, hands-on exercises, and collaborative experimentation - building practical tools, exchanging ideas, and generating raw material.
Over two days, we’ll explore the choreography of the camera, planning for the edit before you shoot, and how framing, pacing, movement, and perspective inform each other. The workshop emphasizes process, collaboration, curiosity, and creative exchange, supporting participants in developing ideas, approaches, and material they can carry forward into future work.
Participants should wear movement-friendly clothing they’re comfortable being filmed in, and bring a notebook and a phone or camera.
RAchel’s Bio
Rachel Slater is an interdisciplinary artist working across dance, film, and storytelling. Based in Portland, Oregon, she maintains a strong connection to New Orleans, where she serves as Director of Dance Film at BODYART’s International Dance Festival NOLA. She is also the co-Artistic Director of Muddy Feet Contemporary Dance, alongside Suzanne Chi.
A graduate of the former University of the Arts, Rachel has performed for Minh Tran & Company, Franco Nieto, Tracey Durbin, Carla Mann, and BODYART, among many others. She is an alumna and former faculty member of the Jefferson Dancers, and a dedicated mentor to young artists.
Her choreographic work has been presented across the Pacific Northwest and nationally, in cities such as Detroit, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, as well as internationally in Amsterdam and Melbourne. Dance films created with Muddy Feet Contemporary Dance have screened in 25 countries and at over 45 festivals worldwide, earning multiple awards.
Rachel’s creative work orients around visceral, textural movement and the excavation of memory and emotion. A Resident Artist at FLOCK Dance Center and 2024 Miller Foundation Spark Awardee, she is currently developing her first evening-length solo, Daughter Debris. She is offering workshops at the Portland Grief House, and will be a 2026 From the Ground Up Resident. Rachel believes that artmaking can be a radical, humanist act—one that supports and amplifies stories, deepens empathy, and builds community.
*Open to all individuals of any background, no experience necessary.
COST $300
Limited Subsidies Available
Email Katherine at katherineftgu@gmail.com to request financial support, make payment or if you have any other questions.