Hennepin Theatre Trust Partners with Perpich for Intimacy Direction Training & Slay! Workshop For Educators

Brian Bose leads a workshop. Photo courtesy of Ari Koehnen Sweeney, Hennepin Theatre Trust.

December 15, 2021

Along with our partner, Hennepin Theatre Trust, Perpich Center for Arts Education was excited to offer a workshop for educators from IDC, Intimacy Directors and Coordinators on December 11, 2021. Designed with K-12 theater teachers and directors in mind, this course provided resources for creating lesson plans, games, and exercises centered on the value of personal agency and consent. The full-day workshop also included an open community conversation about casting with a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access focus, a SLAY! workshop with Brian Bose, and an optional happy hour for educators. CEUs (Continuing Education Units) were available for these sessions.

“We were thrilled to host our first in-person theater educator event since the pandemic began, in collaboration with Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Spotlight Education Program!” said Dr. Stephanie Lein Walseth, Perpich Education Specialist in Theater. “Not only does our partnership allow us to reach more theater educators and directors across the state than either of us could alone, it also brings to bear our unique and complementary strengths as organizations in providing professional development opportunities. This workshop day worked toward one of our biggest mutual goals – breaking down theater educator isolation – while simultaneously offering new skill sets for creating consent-forward classrooms and rehearsal spaces thanks to IDC. We finished the day with Brian Bose’s intense and empowering SLAY! dance class, re-energizing participants amidst a very challenging academic year. We look forward to offering similar opportunities in the new year!” 

Photo courtesy of Ari Koehnen Sweeney, Hennepin Theatre Trust.

Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) is the leading organization pioneering a variety of best practices for performed intimacy, simulated sex, nudity, and hyper exposed scene work for theatre, live performance, tv and film. Their mission is to equip every institution and individual artist in the entertainment industry with the resources and education needed to create a culture of consent in which intimate stories can be told with safety and artistry. They envision a world in which intimacy is a vital and joyful part of storytelling, and all artists are able to work consensually, bringing their whole selves to the work and honoring one another’s individual humanity.

Brian Bose is an AEA actor-singer-dancer, rapper, choreographer/director, emcee, international teaching artist, and creative consultant who is considered one of the “Faces to Watch in Arts” by the UT San Diego. Brian received a Double BA in Theatre & Dance from UC San Diego. He also trained at the British American Dramatic Academy, Steppenwolf West, and CSULA Academy of the Dramatic Arts. His deep resume includes performing and/or choreographing at The Ordway, Mixed Blood, Ten Thousand Things and Chanhassen Dinner Theaters. Brian is a proud Teaching Artist for Upstream Arts Inc. & Guthrie Theater Education, where he also hosts his own class: the SLAY WORKSHOP. Learn more about SLAY through his TEDx Talk “Dance your way to empowerment (no experience required).” https://youtu.be/ko8Fxz_5w8w