Celebration Barn Theater

Encompass Collective is a community of Global Majority actors committed to training the next generation of professional actors of color. Learn more about Encompass Collective here or on Instagram @encompassnyc

For a third consecutive year, we’re collaborating with Celebration Barn (David Bruin, executive artistic director) in South Paris, Maine for two, week-long summer workshops, the Encompass Collective Summer Retreat and the Visit , an intensive for advanced actors. The beautiful woods at the Barn provide a secluded retreat for actors interested in developing their skills for embodying character and story for stage and screen in an environment that is both rigorous and healing.

Our mission is to make this unique, world-class training experience as accessible as possible for our emerging artists of color. Your donations will go towards scholarships and transportation for those coming to the Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine.

Last year, thanks to our community of generous donors, we were able to give four students full scholarships; twenty students partial scholarships; provide free transportation from New York City to Celebration Barn for thirteen students; and host our mentor, renowned acting teacher Budi Miller from Australia. Last summer, 87% of the actors participating in the Encompass Collective Summer Retreat received scholarship funding and 93% of the actors participating in the Visit received scholarship funding.

Emerging artists early in their careers to postgraduate professional actors honed their crafts over five days of scene study, movement, and Balinese mask work. Participating actors returned home from the Encompass Summer Training Retreat with new acting tools, a deeper sense of their unique artistry, and a new community of performers.

This year, Encompass Collective will welcome thirty new and returning actors to Celebration Barn with Budi Miller again co-leading our Summer Training Retreat, mentoring Encompass Collective emerging acting teachers, and bringing his acting pedagogy to a new cohort of young actors.

Sponsor a Student!

A gift of $700 makes it possible for a student in need of financial assistance to attend the Encompass Collective Summer Retreat! By sponsoring a student you cover their registration fees above and beyond the $100 deposit, as well as offset the cost of their transportation to and from Maine. These gifts make an extraordinary impact, and they are an opportunity to support an actor of color at a pivotal point in their development as an artist. At the conclusion of the workshop, you'll hear directly from a student about their experience and the impact of your gift.

About the Workshops

During the Encompass Collective Summer Retreat (June 16–22), Encompass Collective instructors and Budi Miller will welcome early professional actors to the Barn for intensive graduate school-style training. Encompass will facilitate actors in classes for movement, voice, on-camera skills, and scene study. Miller will support Encompass’ teaching artists throughout the week working through training challenges in real time and leading exercises in Balinese mask work.

During the Visit (June 23–29), Budi Miller will lead an actor’s lab for graduate and postgraduate working actors. This week will focus on reclaiming ancient acting techniques and using spiritual practice as a foundation for scene study, voice work, and physical storytelling. Budi will also be passing on knowledge from years of teaching to help the Encompass Collective deepen their tools as artist-educators.

Watch the video below to hear directly from past participants in the workshops.

About Encompass Collective

Encompass Collective is a community engaged in principled struggle for a liberated actor practice. We cultivate a better future for global majority storytellers in the theater, film, and TV industry. We offer affinity space actor training that is brave and revolutionary at accessible sliding scale prices for Global Majority artists.

About Budi Miller

Dr. Budi Miller, the groundbreaking head of acting at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Australia for seven years, holds the distinction of being the first Black person to occupy this esteemed position among Australia's top three drama schools. As the co-artistic director of the Theatre of Others, director of advanced training at the Fitzmaurice Voice Institute, and a lead teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, he is a certified integrative studies practitioner and an UNESCO designated master teacher of mask work. His innovative approach to acting encompasses Balinese performing art training (BPAT), mask work, Fitzmaurice Voicework, Michael Chekhov, clown, viewpoints, and Grotowski. As an actor-director-writer-teacher-producer, spanning diverse international stages from the United States, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Denmark, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Dubai, and Indonesia since 1992, he notably introduced Fitzmaurice Voicework to Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Malaysia, China, and Indonesia.

About Celebration Barn

Celebration Barn creates opportunities for physical theater artists to hone their craft and share their work. Located in South Paris, Maine, each summer the Barn offers workshops and residencies for artists whose work celebrates the physical eloquence of mime, the unruly energy of clowning, and the transformative power of acting. In addition, the Barn presents a season of live theatrical productions and produces a number of community-based initiatives to serve the residents of Oxford Hills and beyond.

Celebration Barn is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and all donations are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by law.