In this course, students will investigate the body as a vehicle for deep transformation, a container of emotional experience, and an elegant tool in articulation. The first semester, we will employ physical training practices based on the work of Jerzy Grotowski to engage, awaken and enliven the body of the actor and bring intelligence and refinement to its expression. Through the coursework, students will gain a deeper understanding of the mind/body/heart connection in their acting work, will discover new realms of physical expression, and will be able to more fully utilize the body in performance. Objectives include expanding the emotional life through full-body training, clarifying the content of the emotional life through specific and isolated body-work, learning how to follow impulse in the body and learning how to use the body as a roadmap that can lead the actor to specific choices, working with image as a source and tool in the work, and employing the body as a container for a characters expression - and character as a container for the actors expression.