This three-day intensive is a laboratory for artists of all disciplines who want to deepen their craft beyond technique and into authorship.

Many artists—whether dancers, actors, writers, filmmakers, painters, circus artists, or playwrights—become highly skilled in form but disconnected from personal sovereignty. They are shaped by how they are cast, categorized, trained, or perceived. This intensive explores how to build character, narrative, and presence from lived experience rather than imposed expectation.

Rather than focusing on repertory or style, we investigate emotional architecture, embodied identity, and structured storytelling. The work centers on three core pillars:

Self-Observation – Identifying imposed roles, habitual patterns, and where they live in the body and creative voice.

Emotional Architecture – Understanding how emotion organizes tension, presence, collapse, and intensity, with grounding and regulation woven throughout the process.

Narrative Craft – Translating personal truth into clear, structured artistic expression across mediums.

Each day begins with guided discussion and thematic investigation, followed by an embodied warm-up designed to activate awareness and presence. Participants then engage the core tools of the Emotions Physical Theatre methodology—integrating movement, writing, staging, voice, and narrative construction in ways adaptable to any artistic practice.

Over the course of the intensive, participants will:

Build a 2–3 minute embodied narrative study

Present a structured character investigation

Leave with a repeatable framework for building emotionally grounded work

This intensive is ultimately about becoming a more attuned, expressive human being who happens to make art. It is open to artists ages 18–90 across disciplines.

 

EPT is led by award-winning Artistic Director and Choreographer Shawn Rawls, the company is dedicated to creating active engagement with the audience through narrative-driven works that explore the intersections of psychology, identity, and healing. Rawls, the founder of the Black Boy Healing Project, uses movement to bring discussions to the stage and redefines the narratives around masculinity , vulnerability, and mental health. 

 

About Shawn Rawls

Shawn Rawls is a choreographer, performer, and educator whose work blends hip hop, modern dance, and physical theatre to explore identity, psychology, and healing. He is the founder and artistic director of Emotions Physical Theatre, a company that has toured nationally and internationally, including performances in Rome and Japan.

Rawls holds an MFA in Choreography from Wilson College and a BFA in Dance from Belhaven University, where he studied on full scholarship. His choreographic work has been commissioned by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Roxey Ballet, and Warwick Dance Collective, and presented at venues including Dixon Place, the Actors Fund Arts Center, and the Houston Fringe Festival, where he received the Most Creative Production Award. Additional honors include the Emerging Artist Award from the Rockland Center for the Arts and multiple NYSCA and Arts Alive grants.

Apply today: https://www.emotionsphysicaltheatre.org/workshops