2010 National Workshop Coverage: A report from the AACSP Workshop

Before going, there were only two things I had heard about the National Stage Combat Workshop: "it's such a good time," and "you should go."  So I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I applied to participate in the Advanced Actor Combatant Skills Proficiency Workshop at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  

Quite frankly, I was exceptionally nervous to apply, and that nervousness only intensified upon learning that I had actually been accepted.  I had only walked into my first stage combat class a little over a year before, little could I guess how enraptured and enamored I would find myself with this craft and the Society of American Fight Directors, and likewise, I could have never guessed of all the amazing and awe-inspiring things that would await me and the fifteen other participants of the AACSPW, both in and out of the classroom.

For the advanced students, those three weeks in North Carolina are really structured like an intensive.  Renewals take place in a matter of hours - 2-3 hours total for technique review/choreography/rehearsal and then performance.  There was really very little time or room for much else; not only were thirty hours being allotted a piece for Quarterstaff, Singlesword, and Broadsword & Shield Skills Proficiency Testing, but there was also twelve hours of Theatrical Firearms with SAFD President Geoffrey Kent and SAFD Treasurer Lee Soroko to consider, nine hours of Film Fighting with FMs Richard Ryan and J. Allen Suddeth,

Grappling and Takedowns with FM Dale Girard, Shaolin Staff and Knife with FM Mike Chin, even a Clowning Class with CT Matt Ellis, and that's not even beginning to mention all the other master classes we had in between, not to mention SPT rehearsals, somehow all crammed into thirteen 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. days Monday through Friday (the first Monday and last Friday being taken out for Orientation and Test Day), plus Saturdays as well with a slightly smaller schedule.

Despite the incredibly versatile lineup of classes, the advanced workshop's agenda had far more to do with just the learning of new techniques and the execution of performance.  Led by Fight Master J. Allen Suddeth, a man as quick in his wit and wisdom as he is on his feet, the focus revolved around demanding a higher standard of excellence amongst the participants, both in the articulation of technique regardless of its familiarity, as well as the specificity of intention within the acting of it.  

It was most certainly challenging, and at times incredibly taxing, but the energy and passion in the room made each day simply about the extraordinary joys that this craft brings, whether it was dancing with balloons and singleswords, rolling over tables, spinning plates on a stick in the drama gym before class simply because there was a box of them there, the countless massages and ball games and nicknames and joking around, or even a little parkour from time to time.  Each of the sixteen AACs had a little something different to contribute, hailing from all different parts of the country and of so many different backgrounds, and my recollection of this workshop could not and would not have been the same without each and every one of them. 

But past the classroom the fond memories continue, whether it was experiencing Cook Out for the first time, or a long string of events in the cafeteria involving the dance department and an ice cream machine, or a late night trip to Walmart only to find seventy-five percent of the SAFD faculty and student body there with you, or how you could spot a fellow fighter from across campus by their superhero swag, or a simple celebration of camaraderie one morning that left the entire workshop singing "I Love the Mountains" till we found ourselves saying goodbye to another year, a new family, a lifetime of memories, and beyond.



It was such a good time.  You should go.