Workshops and Residencies
Why Synetic? Movement, Expression, and Ensemble
Traditional theater training often begins with words: a script, a character, and the question of how to bring them to life. At Synetic, we begin with the whole performer.
Physical theater teaches students to communicate through movement, gesture, expression, rhythm, space, and language—developing a broad vocabulary for creative expression. Synetic’s technique draws on ancient and modern disciplines of acting, mime, dance, clowning, acrobatics, gymnastics, and stage combat to take a skills based foundation for theatrical expression. Rather than simply learning how to interpret a role, students learn how to create characters, stories, and theatrical worlds of their own.
Traditional Western theater training has not (until more recently) emphasized body skills in its foundations — the Georgian theatrical tradition from which Synetic originates, as well as many other non-Western theatrical traditions, place a greater emphasis on physical training and expression. Synetic training closes that gap in American theater by providing a whole-person physical approach to performance.
Through movement, improvisation, and ensemble work, students build confidence and physical awareness, imagination and creative problem-solving, collaboration, focus, and nonverbal communication. They learn to observe and respond to others, make bold creative choices, and discover multiple ways to express an idea rather than searching for a single “right” answer. They learn to dig into the bones of a story and recreate archetypal stories in new and inventive ways — requiring literacy of both the mind and body to achieve what the New York Times has called “Art with a Capital A.”
Bring Synetic to Your School and Community
Through partnerships with schools, libraries, community centers, and theaters across the region, Synetic brings touring shows, residencies, and workshops to approximately 6,000 youth annually.
We are proud to partner with leading regional and national organizations, including:
- Public School Districts: Alexandria City, Arlington County, DC Public Schools, and Fairfax County
- Arts & Cultural Institutions: The Smithsonian, The National Theatre, Arts for Learning Maryland, Castleton Festival, and Baltimore Choral Arts Society
- Community Partners: Arlington Public Libraries and the Rosslyn BID
Ready to Experience the Power of Physical Theater?
Discover how we bring this unique, whole-person approach directly to you. Whether you are looking for workshops, school residencies, or production consultations, Synetic Theater programs are designed to inspire.
Explore our offerings below to find the perfect fit for your school, community, or professional goals.
Production Consultations, Residencies, & Workshops
Bring the power of physical storytelling into your school. Synetic Theater—the multiple Helen Hayes Award-winning center for American Physical Theater—offers customized programs designed to elevate student performances and support educators with creative staging tools.
While our programming is highly adaptable for elementary grades, we specialize in bringing Synetic’s unique method to middle and high school theater departments, language arts classes, ESOL programs, and university settings.
SynetiConsultation: Production Staging
Let Synetic enhance your next middle or high school production or showcase. Our company members work directly with your students and cast to refine, professionalize, and put the final magic touch on your performance.
We offer specialized consultation services tailored to your specific script:
- Physical Theater: Enhance stage presence, build deep body awareness, and teach performance relaxation techniques.
- Fight Choreography: Stage safe, dynamic, and realistic stage combat tailored to your cast’s age and skill level.
- Choreography: Design expressive, stylized movement to elevate your production’s theme and visual storytelling.
- Pantomime: Create dynamic, wordless storytelling interludes and seamless transition pieces.
- Sound Design: Build immersive audio environments that amplify your show’s emotional and dramatic impact.
Proven Success: Previous projects include fight choreography, dance, and sound design for productions of Blood Wedding, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. This workshop has delivered outstanding results for many area high schools, including Woodson, Falls Church, West Springfield, Mountain View, and Lake Braddock High Schools.
How We Work: Workshops vs. Residencies
We design our programs to fit your school’s schedule, budget, and curriculum goals. Choose the format that best fits your needs:
| Feature | Option A: One-to-Two Day Workshops | Option B: Multi-Week Residencies |
|---|---|---|
| Timeframe | 45 minutes to 2 hours per session. | Multi-day or multi-week intensive programs. |
| Capacity | Built for classes of 6 to 60 students. | Intensive, hands-on sessions for up to 30 students. |
| Best For | A quick, high-energy introduction to physical theater, single-classroom enrichment, or an intensive cast masterclass. | Deepening student knowledge, cross-curricular integration, or creating a full performance. |
| Included Framework | Single session focus. | May include a professional Kick-off Assembly of a Synetic touring show (The Miraculous Magical Balloon, Little Comedies, or Snow Maiden), a Director Consultation to align with your curriculum, a Student Culminating/Sharing Event, and a final Evaluation Meeting. |
Synetic Program Tracks
Any of the core focuses below can be booked as a standalone short-form Workshop or expanded into a multi-week Residency.
- Synetic 101 (Fables in Movement / Leap Into Imagination)
Physical theater unlocks the body’s full potential as a creative tool. Students learn foundational techniques to build walls from thin air, climb invisible mountains, and instantly change physical attributes. This program builds elite discipline, body control, and collaboration while breaking through language barriers. - The Rest is Silence (Silent Shakespeare)
Bring Synetic’s internationally acclaimed signature series to your students. Educators and students learn our innovative methods to strip away complex text, applying physical technique to explore the Bard’s famous scenes. Casts find profound ways to perform complex actions, characters, and themes entirely without words. - Emotion in Motion (Choreography & Expression)
Explore how natural and spontaneous movements exhibit joy, rage, madness, and love. Students are led through a physical rolodex of warm-ups, coordination, plasticity, and acceleration to unlock deeper characters. These systems are also applied to create environment, mood, and atmosphere in a play. - Stories Alive! (Bringing Studies to Life)
Use Synetic methods to enliven academics. Combining traditional physical theater with Eastern European practices, students explore movement, acting, and pantomime. Ensembles work together to transform texts, history, and other content areas into vivid, stylized theatrical spectacles.
Professional Development for Educators
Synetic doesn’t just train students—we equip teachers. We provide two targeted, hands-on Teacher Professional Development (PD) Sessions designed to give theater, language arts, and ESOL educators immediate, non-verbal tools to reach and engage students from all backgrounds:
- Synetic 101 for Teachers: Learn the foundational physical theater techniques needed to build student body awareness, foster classroom collaboration, and engage diverse learners.
- Silent Shakespeare for Teachers: Discover how to use stylized movement, expression, and pantomime to help students comprehend, interpret, and perform classical literature.
Ready to Elevate Your School’s Arts Programming?
Contact us today to discuss how we can build a custom workshop, residency, or consultation package for your school, or to book a teacher masterclass.
Email us at: education@synetictheater.org
Watch Our Programs in Action! Synetic in Schools
Residencies
Residencies are multi day/week classes in which students grow and build on their knowledge. Often times residencies will end in a final performance.
Residencies are tailored to your needs but usually include:
- Kick-off assembly of one of our touring shows: The Miraculous Magical Balloon, Little Comedies, or Snow Maiden
- Orientation meeting and planning session
- Set of workshops for classes of up to 30 students
- Student culminating or sharing event
- Evaluation meeting
Fables in Movement
In this theater residency, students explore the three elements of Synetic Theater’s style of physical theatre: movement, acting, and pantomime. Following a workshop in each discipline, students will work in groups to choreograph selected fables.
Bringing Your Studies to Life
In this theater residency, multicultural studies come to life as Synetic actors help students tackle and explore a subject by creating a theatre scene about it. Students use the fundamentals of theatre: movement, simple classroom props, and their own imaginations to bring their studies to life!
Leap Into Imagination!
Students explore the signature movement style of Synetic Theater in a versatile custom designed theater residency that suits your students’ learning. Synetic offers a unique and cross-cultural type of theater that incorporates dance, body awareness, storytelling, music and mime. At the end of the residency students come away with a presentation that exemplifies the discipline, dedication, body control and creativity they have gained through the project that stays with them throughout their lives.