The Play Society
a roving center and creative lab
for acting training and performance-making
rooted in the art of play and collaboration
“If people can discern between the authentic contact and exhilaration of play, instead of branded, mediated, alienated pleasure, then we just might stumble and frolic our way to the Play Society.”
Disruptive Play: The trickster in
politics and culture
upcoming Sessions
OPEN PLAY | OPEN CANVAS
training the voice, body & imagination of the actor-creator
for rigorous play and collaborative creation
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PARIS, FRANCE
June 29 - July 12, 2026
Led by Justine, Katie & Emmanuelle
Join us for a two-week intensive in acting and performance-making
that brings together training in -
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play, games, clown, ensemble
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vocal & musical exploration
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neutral mask, and Lecoq-based physical investigation
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We'll explore the actor's pleasure in playing, and what brings each actor uniquely to life on stage, and we'll investigate the principles of play that sit at the heart of the theatrical event and give life to the comic world.
Individual and ensemble training will engage the voice and body as instruments for playful investigation and vital expression as we ready and hone our tools as storytellers, and move from improvisation into creation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Introducing our PLAY FELLOW for the inaugural summer of The Play Society.
The Play Society will host playwright, pedagogue and creative producer, Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel in Paris, where she will observe training sessions, work on a new play, take in the cultural life of the city and lead a workshop on embodied writing.
Esparanza arrives with an interest in and questions around creating communal, ritualistic, hyper-theatrical pieces that interrogate gender roles and center queer, trans and black and brown bodies. We are overjoyed to welcome her into this summer’s creative cohort. As an artist and human who leads with generosity, appetite, curiosity, and boldness, we are eager to support her artistry, learn from her, and share in this unique training experience.
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Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel (she/her) is a Guatemalan playwright and educator, born in Guatemala City and raised in Connecticut. Her works are spiritual and physically adventurous narratives driven by dance, poetry, and passionate characters that give Queer BIPOC voices a space to interrogate core wounds and offer them a path towards healing. Esperanza’s plays have been supported and celebrated through residencies, readings, commissions, stagings and awards by notable theaters and arts organizations across the United States, including The Geffen Playhouse, New York Theater Workshop, the Public Theater, and the Relentless Award, amongst others. She received her BA in English Literature from Princeton University, and her MFA in Playwriting from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where she is now a Lecturer in Playwriting.
The Source of Play
Our Vision & Mission
The Play Society believes in the rigorous practice and transformative potential of play.
Through embodied training and guided exploration that engage the voice, body, spirit, & imagination of the actor-creator, we support artists in their journey:
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To rediscover their innate pleasure in play, and to bring their appetite for play fully onto the stage and into creation
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To listen and respond with openness, readiness and sensitivity
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To deepen their sense of emotional truth on stage, and to expand their capacity for playful investigation and risk
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To explore the dynamic relationship of the actor-creator to both inner life and the world around them
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To develop tools for meaningful encounter with fellow artists and the audience
We welcome actors, performers, writers, directors, creators, and all who are drawn to playful investigation and creative collaboration, and are looking for dynamic approaches to exploring and creating contemporary performance.
With a deeper connection to the source of their playfulness, and with articulated tools & skills for play, artists will emerge empowered to bring their creative impulses more fully to life, to embody & inhabit theatrical worlds, and to imagine and create new ones.
