About the Atelier
Founded by Eugene Ma, The Performance Atelier opened its doors to the world in March 2023; with the sole vision of cultivating an inspired space for the most progressive practitioners and teachers in performance.
An international, agile, aware, brave and sacred space where foremost leaders in pedagogy and practice would come to Toronto to share, investigate and research their living work as they share their expertise with our students: both new to the craft & seasoned actors in need of inspiration.
Through offerings of condensed, rigorous programs that bridges process-driven visceral actor training, we work on the actor’s instruments (physical, imaginary, emotional and spiritual) as much as the final manifestations of the work into scenes in various mediums and ranges.
Our focus is the core craft of the performer. We crave nuanced explorations and deep exchanges - our humanity. And how we radiate the same range of richness across mediums.
Meet the Founding Director : Eugene Ma
Eugene Ma is a Drama Desk-nominated, Toronto, New York and Hong Kong-based, Canadian acting teacher and interdisciplinary theater maker, actively creating across continents. He serves as Artistic Director of Deliberate Collision Performance, a new third culture theater company, and is Founding Director of Performance Atelier Toronto.
Eugene has been teaching Clown, Global Scene Study and Reading Plays at Toronto Metropolitan University; and is currently an MFA Candidate at Goddard College in their low-residency, praxis-forward Interdisciplinary Arts program, researching liberatory acting training as he reexamines current practices and imagines a new curricular structure fit for today.
Select teaching experiences:
Assistant Professor Adjunct, Columbia University’s Graduate Acting Program
Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School)
Inaugural Artist-in-Residence, Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University
Lecturer, Harvard University (TDM), SUNY Purchase & The Dome Studio.
Teaching apprenticeship with Christopher Bayes, at the Juilliard School and Yale School of Drama.
Select directing: WILD: a Family Musical Spectacle (Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong and Rose Theater U.K.), Request Programme (Hong Kong Premiere), Yat-Sen, a New Musical (workshop production, Hong Kong Arts Festival), The Making of King Kong (Target Margin), Animus Anima//Anima Animus (Public /Brooklyn College), In The Blood (Columbia Grad Acting), The Baltimore Waltz (Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Daedalus).
As an AEA actor, Eugene’s select performance credits include: Christopher Bayes’ productions of A Servant of Two Masters (TFANA & Seattle Rep) and Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Rep & Berkeley Rep); and as a company member at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, in MacArthur “Genius” Mary Zimmerman’s production of Guys and Dolls (also at The Wallis in LA) and Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, directed by Chinese auteur Stan Lai.