The Moving Dock Theatre Company creates new work for theatre out of focus on the Art of the Actor. We discover how to tell our stories through a creative exploration of movement, imagination, and soul. Our approach explores the inner movement of human experience and expresses it outwardly, bringing new light to the question of who we are.
“… so ambitious, so fearless, so compelling, so enigmatic and so physically beautiful that you also may find yourself wondering how it ever managed to come to fruition.”
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times
ENSEMBLE DEVISED, IMAGINATION CREATED, MOVEMENT AWAKENED
We are an ensemble of actors, actor-directors, and teaching artists, engaged in projects that devise theatre, explore plays, and adapt literature through the actor’s artistic process.
The Moving Dock began with an artistic impulse of a group of artists who came together to explore the possibilities of movement and imagination to create theatre. This adventure became our first show, Galway Bay.
The quest to explore was further realized as our Studio, initially called, The Studio of The Moving Dock. Through the work of our Studio, more actors became familiar with the theatre method of Michael Chekhov and eventually we could draw on the interest of actors in this approach to unify our artistic modus operandi. We renamed the studio to reflect our growing dedication to offering training in the Michael Chekhov Technique - Chekhov Studio Chicago.
The Studio was integral to the company as it was the place where artists could explore new ways to approach acting and theatre creating. All of our projects either began in the Studio or were initiated by artists of the Studio. Always, the aim was, and is, artistic exploration. We continue to be a project-oriented company, coming to production after an extensive artistic gestation.
The Moving Dock’s ensemble-created works have included Galway Bay, based on an ancient Celtic myth, Savage/Love, transforming the poems by Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard, Celestial Mechanics – or the Questionable Attraction of Entities, which ventured out into the cosmos, Tales Through the Night and Where Our Imaginations May Lead Us, which ventured inwards, Ocean Sea and Einstein’s Dreams, both original adaptations of expansive novels, Undercurrents, embodying a short story by Edith Wharton, Eleemosynary, a classic contemporary play revisited through our explorative process, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, a colorful adaptation of Jeff Brumbeau’s beautiful children’s books, Frugal Love – Poor Theatre for Poor Dates, about love and money, Dear…Reply, Forward, Send, a piece on a stairwell, The Lydia Etudes, about loving Anton Chekhov, Unsung Stars, a true story about women in astronomy, The Anton Chekhov Book Club, The Anton Chekhov Book Club Returns, and Voices from the Dark.
“The actor in the future must not only find another attitude towards his physical body and voice, but to his whole existence on the stage in the sense that the actor, as an artist, must, more than anyone else, enlarge his own being by the means of his profession.” Michael Chekhov
"The actor's profession is such that the actor cannot count on being alone on the stage, As a rule he is one of a group of people - an ensemble - the members of which must find the right connection with each other in order to establish a constant harmony among themselves.” - Michael Chekhov
We believe in the transformative power of the arts to enrich lives and revitalize communities. Our aim to give each artist freedom to create and discover more of their ability supports a commitment to sustaining a diverse, inclusive, and equitable space where everyone feels valued and respected regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, or ability. We recognize that our ability to realize this aim is a constantly evolving process as we strive to meet the needs of the artists and audience of our community.
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