OU theater school head to direct in Iceland
June 26, 2008
William Fisher is no stranger to theaters of the world. He’s worked in France, Croatia, Germany and London. And in January, he’ll add Iceland to his list.
Fisher, who was named interim director of the Ohio University School of Theater last fall, has earned a Fulbright grant to work at the Iceland Academy of the Arts’ Department of Theatre in Reykjavík. An associate professor of theater and head of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Performance Program, he joined OU in 1991.
“The majority of fellowships of this kind are for lecturers,” Fisher said in a prepared release. “But I’m a director. This Fulbright is practical, working in the studio with the actors.”
He will teach first- and third-year students via a theory and practice course, which includes dance, movement and collaboratively devised theater. “My training and work relates to physical performance as the basis of performance, as opposed to using a scripted play as the basis of performance,” he said.
In the release, Fisher said he hopes his unique credentials allow him to contribute to the academy as well as learn from it. He was one of fewer than 15 apprentices of Étienne Decroux, who has been called the “father of modern mime” and is renowned for using the body as the primary means of expression.
“I wasn’t looking to go to Iceland specifically, but it just sort of happened that way,” Fisher said. “I had seen a young theater company from Iceland in London a few years ago. They were bold, fearless, very athletic and very moving.”
He’s spending winter quarter 2008-09 and fall quarter 2009-10 in Iceland, and intends to return to Ohio with new knowledge.
“I hope to edit a compendium of some kind about how we train our performers,” he said in the release. “It will be nice having a group of people (in Iceland) used to working together but open to something new. I’m privileged to be a guest and am also looking for direction for my own creative work.”
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