The Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency is an annual four-week program that takes place in July in a unique California community.
Click here to learn more about the 2010 Institute Summer Residency in Pacoima this summer: July 1 - August 1, 2010.
Institute Summer Residency Program
The Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency offers an intense, hands-on collaborative experience creating theater and exploring strategies for community engagement while living with and within a small, diverse community. Students learn both through classroom training and hands-on creation of a community-specific production. Classroom curriculum and production experience combine to provide a thorough understanding of the community collaboration process. The program grows and changes each year responding to input from student participants as well as the unique circumstances of each community and location.
The Institute has proven to be a favorite project for Cornerstone Theater Company with a lasting impact on our own staff and artists, the student participants and, we hope, on the individuals in the communities we collaborate with. Many Summer Residency graduates continue their involvement with the company, working on various projects and events. Some have started theater companies that incorporate ideas birthed while they were at the Institute. Many hold close relationships forged with community participants and fellow students from a unique, creative shared experience.
Who should attend a Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency?
Institute Summer Residency students must be 18 or older. Although referred to as "students," participants need not currently be enrolled in any education program. Institute students have included men and women aged 18 to 60+. While about half the Institute students have been undergraduate or graduate students working towards a degree, many are also artists, educators, activists and/or administrators who are seeking to gain more specific insight and tools toward enhancing the community-engagement aspects of their work.
In addition to theater artists and administrators, filmmakers, clergy, arts program board members, high school teachers, social workers and other professionals have graduated from our Institute.
Each year we strive to bring together a group of 15-20 student particpants that includes a diversity of ages, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, career and life experiences.
Ideal Institute students are individuals seeking to study and collaborate with professionals who are well-versed in ensemble, community-based theater. Theater experience is helpful but not required. Ideal Institute students are also prepared for the joys and challenges of living in adapted circumstances and a very full schedule for four weeks. They are open to participating in the variety of tasks within and without their own specific area of focus and expertise in an all-hands-on-deck manner.
Students can expect to fulfill specific positions in the production process -- performing, building, painting, community outreach, creating music, public relations, working with children, assisting with dramaturgy, stage managing or technical elements, etc. Since the whole endeavor is collaborative, everyone shares many responsibilities.
Institute days are long, filled with morning warm-ups, classes, production calls, running and attending rehearsals, coordinating and assisting community cast and crew, meetings, meetings, discussions, meals, community outreach, special events and performances.
How do we choose where each Institute Summer Residency happens?
Cornerstone seeks to create theater with interesting and interested communities. A community can be defined by geography, occupation, circumstance or culture. We ask the community to support the production with time, energy and sharing of their stories and experiences. We hope to find individuals who are committed to celebrating and /or strengthening their community, and who will introduce us to others in their community.
We don't ask for money from a community but, for the Institute Summer Residency, we do seek assistance with housing for the 30-40 incoming artists (faculty and students) who will reside in the community for 5 summer weeks (including a week of preparation and strike). Housing solutions have included residing in school buildings, vacant houses and apartments, and empty restaurants. Cornerstone doesn't need a traditional theater space and we often create plays in interesting community-specific locations, but a viable collaborating community also needs to help us identify and gain access to an inexpensive (preferable donated) performance venue.
Read more about previous Institute Summer Residencies:
I-6: 2009 Jason in Eureka in Eureka, CA
I-5: 2008 attraction in Los Angeles, CA
I-4: 2007 A Holtville Night's Dream in Holtville, CA
I-3: 2006 LETHE with Seniors & Their Caregivers in San Francisco, CA
I-2: 2005 Boda de Luna Nueva: New Moon Wedding in Grayson, Westley & Vernalis, CA
I-1: 2004 Waking Up In Lost Hills in Lost Hills, CA
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