UpLift Physical Theatre: Artist in Residence at Vassar College

UpLift Physical Theatre – Vassar College, New York
Artist-in-Residence | February 2024

In February 2024, UpLift Physical Theatre was welcomed as artist-in-residence at Vassar College, offering a dynamic week of workshops, open rehearsals, guest teaching, and performance centered on physical storytelling and ensemble collaboration.

We led a multi-day workshop with Vassar students focused on our unique approach to physical theatre—blending dramatic acrobatics, movement improvisation, and devised storytelling. Throughout the residency, UpLift artists also guest taught in Theatre and Dance classes, sharing tools for embodiment, connection, and creative expression through movement. The week included open rehearsals of our newest work-in-progress, The Friendship, which explores care, trust, and vulnerability through rhythm and physical partnership. These rehearsals offered the campus community a behind-the-scenes look at our ensemble devising process.

The residency culminated in a public performance of our internationally acclaimed piece, Through the Waves—a poetic and acrobatic exploration of grief, memory, and transformation, told through movement and metaphor. With support from the Carolyn Grant ’36 Endowment, Engaged Pluralism Initiative, The Lecture Fund and the Drama Department, the residency was made accessible through ESL interpretation and intentionally welcomed a broad range of participants.