An Offbeat Method to Learn Drama
A group of theatre students in Thycaud, India, sat in the sweltering summer heat, under a huge tree, and threw sharp words at each other as part of a drama workshop. The day’s guest was Terry John Converse, WSU emeritus professor of theatre, who specializes in acting with “neutral mask.”
Converse arrived in the city after journeying through Kolkata, Darjeeling, Varanasi, Jaipur, and many other places in India. Last year, he was in Kochi at Lokadharmi Centre for Theatre Training, Research and Performance for a Fulbright program on learning the mass acting technique.
“There is a step-by-step process for teaching acting in a group. Everyone gets involved in it,” said Converse. Now 68, he has a 30-year-academic experience in theatre, which he finds “helps to keep him young.”