“I conceive of character as my responsibility within the piece,” says Philadelphia theater artist Mary Tuomanen. Her background in devised theater methods—in which composition relies on improvisation and collaboration—leads her to define character both in terms of its relationship to the piece as a whole, and as an “act of subtraction”—a foil to the actor herself.
Mary Tuomanen is a theater artist who has worked with many local theater collectives, including Applied Mechanics, The Riot Group, New Paradise Laboratories, and The Bearded Ladies. She recently collaborated on the Center-funded The Body Lautrec with puppet and theater artist Aaron Cromie, which premiered in the 2014 Fringe Festival. A graduate of the Lecoq School of Theater Mechanics, she is interested in using the movement of bodies in space to tell a story.
