Columbia Tribune

Ivan Chagas Profile

Text by Aarik Danielsen

Photo by Gerik Parmele

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/oct/24/ivan-chagas/#

Stage Director

Ivan Chagas – Before moving to the USA, Ivan Chagas had been acting and directing in different theatrical ensembles in Brazil.

He is the founder of Grupo de Teatro Roupa de Ensaio, a troupe that still based in Brasilia and follows a line of work inspired in the acting methods developed by Eugenio Barba’s Odin Theatre (Norway). The group also works with Antunes Filho’s method, as well as Grotowski’s ideas. With the Brazilian troupe he trained the actors and directed for The Blind Man, by Michael de Ghelderode, Prometheus, by Eschylus and his adaptation for Les Precieuses Ridicules, by Molière.

During his MFA program at UMKC he designed sets for different theatres in the Kansas City area such as Burn This(The Grant Hall Theatre), The Dinosaur Musical (The Coterie Theatre), The Barnabies Five, for the KC Urban Project and Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Pirates of Penzance, Romeo and Juliet(Little Theatre, Fayette).

Here in USA, he also directed and designed the set for The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Little Prince in Columbia, MO, and Waltz # 6 for the Kansas City Fringe Festival.

A one-woman play by Brazilian playwright Maria Adelaide Amaral

Gabrielle was born to be a mistress. Maybe one more poor orphan girl working in a famous hat factory in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. But she had other plans for her life and became Mademoiselle Chanel.

Disdain for mediocrity

Intelligent and sophisticated Mademoiselle Chanel spent her life surrounded by many of the creative minds of last century's Europe. Among the artists frequenting Chanel's house was Russian art critic Sergei Diaghilev, Isadora Duncan, Jean Cocteau, Luchino Visconti, Dali, Picasso and Stravinsky.

Fashion passes, style remains.

Revolutionary and modern in her lifestyle, Coco Chanel redefined the concept of comfort, sensuality and sophistication, recreating the image of the modern/chic woman.

Chanel as a subject

Several artistic projects inspired in Chanel's life have come up in the last couple of years showing that she was one of the most important women of the 20th century.
Shirley MacLaine played Coco in her later years for a made-for-television film at Lifetime.
She said, "What's wonderful about her is she's not a straightforward, easy woman to understand. She was born into poverty and would do anything to keep from going broke again."

The Little Prince cast

Rehearsal break. Luisa Dahlstedt and Ivan Chagas playing with the props.

The Little Prince

Cast: Cristina Ubinha, Luisa Dahlstedt and Brian Stubler
Directed by Ivan Chagas

THE SCENIC PRESENCE

Training scenic presence requires working on exercises that engage the whole actor's body and that will to determine the quality of energy during the performances.

During the preparation for The Little Prince a sequence of "laboratories" was used to establish the distinction between the function of exercises in training and in the work of the rehearsals.

In the pictures Brian Stubler is doing improvisations to help to build his character, the Aviator.

The Little Prince rehearsal