Shantigar, a not-for-profit educational foundation is located in the Northern Berkshires on an old farm whose spectacular natural beauty nourishes creativity, healing, and the spirit. Shantigar’s mission is the practice of theater, healing, and meditation.

• Workshops, kept small, happen in a big carpeted tent with windows on the woods.
• Workshop leaders are artists offering inspiration within a disciplined structure.
• Meals are organic and delicious. If special dietary needs, tell us.
• 10% off workshop fee if paid a month before workshop.  If can’t afford full fee, let us know and we’ll negotiate. 

                                                               Peter Columbus, administrator
                                                                Deb Katz, executive director
                                                 Jean-Claude van Itallie, founder/artistic director
 
Through its mission -- the practice and exciting cross-fertilization of theater, meditation, and healing, -- and through conservation of its pristine natural environment, Shantigar nurtures and inspires individuals to engage more profoundly with the world.

Shantigar’s workshop leaders are artists who delight in teaching, original thinkers offering wisdom and inspiration within a disciplined structure. Workshops are kept small.  Enrollment is limited.

Until we’ve rebuilt our theater barn, workshops take place in a big carpeted white tent with windows on the woods. 
Meals are organic and delicious.  They're served in the Shantigar shed.  If you have special dietary needs, please tell us.

When you register, we’ll tell you if rooms are available to rent in the farmhouse or cabin.  Click to view local inns and bed-n-breakfasts. There's free camping at Shantigar (we have many gorgeous tent sites, solar showers and portapotties, but no running water or cooking facilities).

To register, call (413) 339-4332, email us at email@shantigar.org, or register online via the register new buttons below.   Our address is 63 Davenport Road, Rowe, Massachusetts, 01367

Deposits/Refunds for Workshops: You are welcome to remit a minimum $100 deposit and pay the remainder at least two weeks before the scheduled event. Fees will be refunded if you have to cancel more than two weeks before a workshop, less a $30 processing fee. You will receive a credit voucher for another workshop if cancellations are made within two weeks of a scheduled event.

Shantigar hopes to once again welcome Tulku Thondup, Rinpoche for a guided meditation workshop. The date will depend on Tulku Thondup’s schedule. Please check with us for more information.

As part of its summer program, at the end of July and in early September, Shantigar will present weekend performances in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts of productions to be announced.

In Continuum movement we thrive by expanding the scope of our sensory experience, leading us to access alternative streams of life. We enter the world of cells and mitochondria micro-moving beneath the surface of our conventional world. Our movements become fractals of universal motifs, orchestrating themselves within our versatile tissue.

No longer bound in limited time/space, we adventure freely within the universe of our organism. The human body becomes a continuum of creative possibilities.

Experience the scope of our humanity by entering into frequency realms not bound by time, space or condition.
Learn to move with profound restorative energies enriching consciousness and nourishing the soul.
Just as outer space has increased our knowledge of the world, the same holds true for our inner space. We become pioneers of new ways of moving, knowing, and engaging in the glorious mystery of existence. Welcome to Our Future!!

Emilie Conrad, founder of Continuum and author of Life on Land is a visionary whose innovations are incorporated in the Somatic, movement education, and physical fitness fields. Jean-Claude says of Emilie, “A master who’s created a yoga for our times.”www.continuummovement.com

Fri June 25 registration: 1:00 PM. Workshop starts promptly at 2:00 PM in the tent, ends at 6:00 followed by dinner in the shed. Sat 11:00 AM– noon: silent meditation walk in the woods; noon – 1:00: buffet lunch and break; 1:00 – 6:00: workshop in tent, followed by dinner. 7:30 special performance in tent. Sun workshop 10:00AM – 1:00. Fee: $378 includes three meals. Limited to 33. Register Here for this workshop.

Some Student Feedback 2009

"Particularly enjoyed Zen walk with statues in the woods. What a magical place, well-created."

"Particularly liked nature, peace, laid-back, calm, soft contact, comfortable conscious context and construct."

"Particularly liked natural atmosphere, woods, and Emilie."

"Particularly enjoyed place and wkshop. Loved my time. Many thanks."

"Particularly enjoyed forest, peaceful atmosphere, mindfulness in the moment, Emilie's presence."

Acting and Being is a five-day, four-night retreat program for those interested in exploring connections between meditation practice and performance, between body and mind. Taking place in the secluded beauty of the natural world, we’ll build community as we open to what is—rather than what “should be”— present to ourselves, the environment and to others.

In the belief that acting training is also training in being human, we’ll examine how meditation helps us cultivate the mental focus, physical freedom, emotional range, and spontaneity that make for vibrant acting and vibrant living. Acting exercises, improvisations, scene work, and daily meditation nurture the possibility of seeing the world as it is, and of artfully expressing yourself in it.

Shantigar, named by the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa who wrote his Shambhala teachings here, and where many theater pieces have been created since the sixties, is the ideal place for this retreat.

Open to all, from professional performer and avid meditator to someone beginning to explore new horizons.

Wed. July 14, registration 1:00 PM. Workshop starts promptly at 2 in tent. Dinner in shed: 6:30. 7:30-9 group activity. Approx schedule Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun: 8 - 9 meditation in woods. 9 - breakfast. 10-1 workshop. 1- lunch. 3 - 6: workshop. Dinner: 6:30. 7- 9 group activity. Sun workshop ends @ 1:00. Fee: $ 630.00

Really good writing is from the gut. Gently guided, encouraged by other participants, you’ll write by speaking. Taking your time and staying in movement, breath is liberated from anxiety. You enter remembered and imagined places, giving voice to your senses. A muscular, personal language spontaneously emerges; you become a conduit for the universe. A writing partner records your words. Language created this way is visceral, rhythmical, and alive on the page. This is how the poet Rumi wrote.

Come if you’re an experienced or inexperienced writer or performer, if you have writer’s block or can’t organize your material, if you want to write a play, performance piece, memoir, story, novel, poem – or simply deepen your ability to write from the heart. “Jean-Claude is the only play writing teacher I ever had.” – Tony Kushner “I take Jean-Claude’s workshops because they’re fun.” – Kathy Benners

Jean-Claude van Itallie, Shantigar’s founder/artistic director was central to the explosive American theater of the sixties. Author of Playwright’s Workbook, his over 30 works include acclaimed anti-Viet Nam war play America Hurrah; The Serpent (ensemble piece with Open Theater); Tibetan Book of the Dead (van Itallie is a student of the late great Buddhist teacher Trungpa, Rinpoche); translations of Chekhov’s major plays; Light; Voltaire, the Mathematician, and the King of Prussia (opening in Paris in 2010); and his one-man show, War, Sex and Dreams. He’s taught play writing and performing in colleges and retreat centers for over 30 years. He’s currently writing the book for MILA, a musical about Tibet’s singing yogi, Milarepa.www.vanitallie.com

Registration Fri Aug 6 at 2:00 PM, workshop starts promptly at 3:00 in the tent, ends at 6:00, then dinner. Sat: 10:00 AM to 1:00 then lunch, 3:00 to 6:00 then dinner. Sun 10:00 AM to 1:00. Fee, $342, includes three meals. Limited to twelve.

“Jean-Claude is the only play writing teacher I ever had.” Tony Kushner

"I take Jean-Claude's workshops because they're fun." Kathy Benners

Some Student Feedback 2009

"Particularly enjoyed instructor, people, lack of pretense. Would have liked more hours, more evening work, more ritual."

"Especially enjoyed J-C, beauty of space, energetic body-centered approach. Would have liked more time between sessions on Saturday -- maybe work 9-12 and 3-6."

"Enjoyed opportunity to play, balance between rest and workshop, exquisite retreat center, depth of heart and work. Would have liked a week-long wkshop (though I know difficulty of organizing that)"

"Heard about it from taking previous J-C wkshop in Boston. Particularly enjoyed walking in woods, wisdom of teaching."

"Particularly enjoyed beauty, community formed by J-C, and the wonderfully intuitive teaching. I would have liked one more full day."

"Heard about it originally from friend, Eliz Mailer, have taken many workshops with J-C, this time reminded by J-C I met on street in NYC. Particularly liked generosity of spirit, interplay of external/internal. J-C is giant spirit guide and seer who enables us to go where we need to go."

"I just wanted to follow-up and tell you how much I gained from the Writing on Your Feet workshop this summer. A week or so afterwards, I realized that I had experienced in you an authentic meditative approach to life and process. I felt that I had absorbed a slowing down that is crucial for my daily practice as a woman, mother, partner, theatre maker and teacher. And I have since incorporated the slow earth walks into my week and have passed it along to others as well. My four-year old daughter loves it ! I was amazed by her concentration!
Although, I still have not arrived at a daily practice of dropping in and working on my piece, I feel the workshop supports my intention in a powerful way. I am teaming up with a couple of fellow artists who are also writing performance pieces and hope that we can inspire one another to continue creating. Anyone would greatly benefit from your work. For writers in particular, to learn a body approach, is invaluable." Krista Smith, artistic director, Visible Theatre

If singing frightens or delights, you belong in this workshop. Lover of songs, or undiscovered Broadway star — all are welcome, all will benefit.  Choose a song, learn it by heart, bring it to the workshop, and let yourself be guided by Carol‘s gentle teachings. Let’s sing! 

Carol Fox Prescott, actress, singer, director has trained professional actors for over 30 years in her NYC studio. Her unique approach to acting is based on breathing, awareness and the pursuit of joy. www.CarolFoxPrescott.com

Registration Fri Aug 27 at 2:00 PM, workshop starts at promptly at 3:00 in the tent, ends at 6:00, then dinner. Sat 10:00 AM to 1:00, then lunch; workshop 3:00 to 6:00, then dinner. Sun 10:00 AM, to 1:00. Fee, $315 includes three meals.

Some Student Feedback 2009

"Everything excellent. Particularly enjoyed every aspect of the teaching, my own little room, the unbelievable grounds and the house, and Alix the cat -- the generosity and ease of the experience."

"Workshop was wonderful and this is a beautiful magical place."

"I enjoyed everything, really. Would have enjoyed a hike on the grounds led by Jean-Claude, though I saw a lot by myself."

"I particularly enjoyed the small group, hearing comments specific to me and to everybody, establishing space of love and safety, and a lively and fun accompanist."

"I particularly enjoyed having time on my own in my tent and walking around Shantigar outside the wkshop experience."