THE SELF TAPE WORKSHOP

with Bettina Lohmeyer (DE) and Florentina Bratfanof (RO)

Self Tape Workshop is meant for professional actors who want to polish their craft and technique to create valuable self tapes. During this 3 days workshop the participants will be able to explore a hands-on approach into the truth of creating character, achieving not only the technical aspects of making a self tape, but opening up to the characters possibilities and life, with few important practical choices. The actors/actresses will achieve important steps into becoming autonomous in creating a character, even if they will have little context and a short monologue.  

“I met Bettina several years ago in Berlin, during a masterclass Creating Characters lead by  Susan Batson. In one of the night sessions Susan Batson invited Bettina to show her work for the character Bette Davis (after that turned out to be a one-woman-show). I remembered it was breathtaking everything that Bettina created on stage, as if Bette Davis suddenly appeared among us. We kept contact and during the lockdown Bettina invited me to be part of an informal group of actors that wished to continue working for their characters, even if they could not perform live in front of an audience. Our weekly meetings online soon became a ray of hope and professionalism during some uncertain times. We had this idea to start a workshop for Romanian actors – even though the working language is English – for that Bettina will have the chance to know their talent and potential and for the actors to receive specific and practical support in the work of creating their own characters.” - declared Florentina Bratfanof

The working language is only English, so all the participants must be fluent in English.

After confirming their participation (we have a limited number of participants: 10) all actors will receive 3 monologues from which they can choose one to make a self tape to be send in due time before the start of workshop. During the workshop they will work together with the workshop leaders on getting more and more specific and making best choices, also for framing, light, eyes line etc.

 STW is created by Bettina Lohmeyer – worldwide experienced acting coach, based in Berlin and  Florentina Bratfanof, Romanian casting director. They met during the master classes Creating Characters led by Susan Batson in Berlin and their partnership grew organically during COVID19 crisis.

The Self Tape Workshop is an independent education iniative intended for professional actors. It already had two editions, in hybrid mode, online and offline, being invited by two important theatre festivals in Romania - Bucharest International Theatre Festival (2020) and Iasi International Theatre Festival for Young Audience (2021). 

If interested to invite this workshop during a festival or a cultural event, please drop a line at florentina.bratfanof@gmail.com.