I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged... The notion that the stage is a place where the invisible can appear has a deep hold on our thoughts We are all aware that most of life escapes our senses...The theatre is the last forum where idealism is still an open question: Many audiences all over the world will answer positively from their own experinece that they have seen the face of the invisible through an experience on stage that transcended their experience in life.
( Peter Brook: `The Empty Space` )

I have allways been fascinated by the magical space that can possibly emerge on stage or in front of a camera The moments when the audience becomes included in this space are the decicive moments I remeber. To create those magic spaces as an actress, director and workshopleader is my central motivation of my work.
Generally, why theatre? asks Peter Brook at the end of the first chapter of ´The Empty Space`. Does the stage have a real place in our life? What is it for and what is it supposed to do for us? What can the stage help us to explore and what are its specific qualities? Doing my work those are the questions I ask myself over and over again and allow myself to be guided by the answers.

I was born 1956 near Frankfurt / Main. Before I became envolved with the profession of my dreams:Theatre and film, I studied anthropology and stage and costume design in Frankfurt and Munich. After my acting training in Bremen and Berlin I started to work as an actress in Berlin. During the next twenty years I had the chance to explore the whole range of variety the profession has to offer. At subsidezed and free lanced theatres, in a circus tent and in the streets I played classical, modern and experimental theatre and musicals. I worked with masks and Improv-theatre. Together with various collegues I founded a theatre company and started to write, direct and play my own plays.

In 1987 I decided to live in Hamburg. In the beginnig of the 90ies I started to work as an acting teacher. Giving private lessons, working in dramaschools and continuing education for teachers and with amateurs. Specially through teaching teenagers and amateurs I learned a lot about the stimulating, cheering up and selfensuring effects of playing theatre.

In 1996 I met the Gestalttherapist and director Paul Rebillot, From the first moment on I was inspired by his unic way of mixing elements of roleplaying, bodywork, meditation, Gestalttherapy and rituals of transformation. Thus I became a trainée at Paul Rebillot´s ´School for Gestalt and Experiental Teaching` and finished my training in 2001. During the last years I traveled with Paul Rebillot through Europe as his assistant and Co-leader of his seminars as well as creating new workshops together. Within the protected space these workshops offers the participants get the chance to playfully explore their own inner drama, develop new behavior and experiment with it. Paul Rebillot died in the beginning of 2010. I am grateful and happy to continue and further develop his work.

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Karen-Ann Roschild