The Shape of a Pocket Workshop: Character Building: AQUATÓPICOS with Miguel Rodríguez-Casellas
Date: Saturday, November 2nd
Time: 14:00 – 17:00
RSVP at the.shape.of.a.pocket.24@
Character Building: AQUATÓPICOS is a transformative journey, marking my return to a place of artistic creation after a series of projects done collectively. These past projects, while seemingly successful from a creative position, left deep personal wounds and unwanted wells of misanthropic distrust. In this semi-autobiographical exercise, I aim to stage a creative battleground through the most basic form of representation, the portrait, with the all-mighty “auteur” and their seemingly inert, agency-less subject. Six subjects were chosen from my hometown and past/present life in Puerto Rico to test a co-creation methodology, mixing self-narrative, projection, scriptwriting, rendering, hyperbole, and a sense of wonder for the unfathomable edges of identity.
The exercise unabashedly embraces writing’s most rhetorical aspects, its artificiality, as it tests the power of art to foster empathy and generosity, even between strangers. I am deliberately testing the human ability to connect and understand, even in realms of contrived artificiality.
How much of a testimonial remains after the writer has butchered the biographical material? How does mutual discovery between the writer and subject erode their boundaries? How much of the initial asymmetry between the “hunter” and its “prey” is destroyed when the craft of literature negotiates each other’s vulnerabilities? How much of the task of “building up” a character un-builds the self and re-builds a past of trauma and despair into a moment of communion and love for the deep ocean of humanity?
The primary medium of the encounter is the actor’s table, where scripts will be given voice with fearless intuition. Six scripts will be read and/or acted out in real-time by the workshop participants as a back-to-back mock-up of an actual film. Before each of the scenes, or “portraits,” there will be a five-minute explanation of the characters involved in the scene, the situation, subtexts, and the possible motivations. I want to engage with the economy of words and their capacity to weaponize curiosity and empathy through an amateur approach to the art of interpretation. Some lives might fit better in a comedy, while others, like specific segments of mine, can easily pass as a horror story. Generosity towards the subjects would be the driving principle. I have calculated a three-hour marathon of reading/acting, which includes an informal discussion about the meaning and possibilities of the project. The workshop is open to everyone; no previous acting experience is required.
This series is inspired by the need to reach out and collectively heal or inhabit our shared humanity.
This workshop is open to 10-15 people. In case you are interested in joining, I invite you to send an email to the.shape.of.a.pocket.24@
BIO
Miguel Rodríguez-Casellas, a writer, actor, and trained architect with a master’s in architecture from Princeton University, started his career in the early 1990s at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. His architectural skepticism led him to a significant role in establishing a new architecture school in Puerto Rico, where he served as the dean from 2006 to 2010.
In 2013, seeking refuge from the recent wave of neoliberal violence on the Island, Miguel migrated to Australia. During his time at the University of Technology, Sydney, he collaborated with the Grandeza collective under the name ‘Bajeza’ from 2015 to 2022. Their joint effort, the Teatro Della Terra Alienata, representing Australia, won the Golden Bee award at the XXII Milan Triennale. Bartlebooth Press published a book/script of the same name, co-authored with Grandeza.
Miguel’s commitment to the political and cultural landscape of his native Puerto Rico is evidenced in his writings, radio shows, and media collaborations. His column Buscapié (2007-2016) and the Puerto Crítico radio series (2013-2017) stand out as testaments of his artistic and theoretical positions. Since his return to Puerto Rico in 2023, Miguel has been exploring new avenues in his career. He has ventured into scriptwriting and art direction as part of a new television show, Casi Casi Familia (Almost Family).