THE OTOA TECHNIQUE
Re-Envisioning The Creative Process One Thought & One Action at a Time
OTOA Founded 2004 | OTOA Teaching Since 2006
What is OTOA (One-Thought-One-Action)?
OTOA is a technique developed by Founder & Master Teacher, Gia Forakis.
How is OTOA taught?
OTOA is taught as two separate curriculums:
Benefitting Actors, Performing Artists, Stage & Film Directors, Theater Makers, Collaborators, Storytellers & Public Speakers
Benefitting Creative Thinkers in Any Field & Every Discipline
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"This class is also very helpful in real life! ...Watching OTOA in others and observing it within myself as I'm going about my day can be such a feast! This workshop proved to me how important physical technique can be.”
- Jane Forsyth, Actress
OTOA is based upon the inherent relationship between thought & action
The OTOA technique is built upon identifying the incremental components of time, thought, action and space.
OTOA teaching offers tools for achieving highly detailed, content rich, vivid, and vitally engaging performances, project and a life practice.
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"[Gia's] guidelines for OTOA are just the right guidelines for teaching -- no right, no wrong; be generous; watch and listen [and] not asking us to reject our preferred styles of acting is a great gift (and a wise choice).
Instead, [Gia] is asking us to expand our understanding of the relationship between thought and physical action in acting. For anyone who has the sense to pay attention, this technique can only help the actor to grow and get better."
- John Byrne Cooke, Actor, Musician, Author
WHO CAN BENEFIT?
OTOA is intentionally inclusive. Those who can benefit from OTOA include, but are not limited to:
Actors, Performing Artists, Stage & Film Directors, Theater Makers, Creative Thinkers in Any Field, Public Speakers, Teachers, Managers, Administrators, Your Company, School, Institution, Project, Production, Community
OTOA PTT
For Actors, Performing Artists, Stage & Film Directors, Choreographers, Theater Makers, Collaborators, Singers, Storytellers, Teachers, Playwrights, Public Speakers...
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OTOA PTT is a Performance Technique & Training that identifies smaller increments of thought as smaller components of physical action.
OTOA PTT liberates the participant through a very practical technique that ultimately brings more detail, versatility, and physical vitality to the stage.
OTOA PTT can be used in its pure form or incorporated to work in tandem with other performance-based methods or public speaking systems.
OTOA PTT helps to address three major performance obstacles: generalization, lack of variety, and physical detachment (e.g.: "What should I do with my hands?”).
OTOA PTT is a technique and not a style of performance, making it applicable to any performance medium and/or any performance style in the western cultural cannon from Commedia del arté, to Farce, to Melodrama, to Epic Theatre, to Symbolism, to Naturalism, to Post Modernism ... and everything before, after and in-between.
OTOA PTT offers tools for creating a more specific, physically engaging, moment-to-moment life on stage, as well as guidelines for enhancing the craft of the artist for a more dynamic and visually detailed life on stage.
OTOA PTT is a discipline that reminds us that things of value are enriched by time. Objects of lasting value are rarely mass-produced. OTOA is built upon the principle that a disciplined investment of time and fine craftsmanship will produce high quality results.
For further information
OTOA Performance Technique & Training
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For a video introduction to OTOA PTT
OTOA CLP
For Creative Thinkers
in Any Discipline & Every Field:
For Everyone
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The Primary Principles of OTOA, incremental thought, content-driven action, watching and listening, and the inherent value of time are practical tools for personal, professional and collective growth and transformation.
Utilizing the primary OTOA principles OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP)™ classes focuses on the study and investigation of CLP's 6 Aspects for Creativity.
OTOA CLP offers the tools for change, actualization, transformation and manifestation-- in our personal or professional lives identifying smaller increments of thought as smaller moments of physical action.
OTOA CLP offers guiding principles for clarifying goals, or enriching any project to bring balance and focus into our multitasking life styles.
OTOA CLP is a technique-driven approach towards the creative process of our daily lives -- bringing a more holistic perspective to how we engage in the PRACTICE of CREATING our LIVES.
OTOA CLP illuminates how to bring the daily practice of CREATIVITY into our lives
For further information
OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP)™
"Gia Forakis is an excellent teacher...she is extremely patient with OTOA participants and very positive in her approach." ~ Sturgis Warner, actor/Director
Custom Designed Workshops
When Our Schedule Doesn't Match Yours
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Design an OTOA workshop to fit your schedule, budget, needs.
Submit Your Proposals 4- 8 Weeks in Advance of Desired Dates.
A minimum of 5 participants is suggested.
Workshops can be tailored for various disciplines and are excellent for a variety of groups such as:
Theater Companies, Performing Arts Classes, Stage & Film Directors, Active Projects in Development, Public Speakers, Corporate Environments, Community Centers, etc.
Pricing, Dates, Time Frame: Determined on an individual basis.
For further information
Custom Designed OTOA Workshops
For Public Speakers, Managers & Everyday Communicators
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OTOA PTT liberates your motivations for a more engaging, more fully present, honest and dynamic presence and delivery, ultimately connecting with your audience with vitality and in a more visceral way.
OTOA helps speakers to overcome nervous anxiety, increase self-confidence, speak with composure, and learn to think on your feet.
For further information
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"I have a feeling that what I'm experiencing [with OTOA] is the tip of the iceberg and I'm curious and excited to reach into deeper waters. Another aspect of this process that is very attractive to me is how, by being so specific and focused on one thought you are brought back to the present moment. You can't be dwelling on 5 different thoughts while you are so fully committed to just one."
- Juju Stulbach, Actor
Gia shares a brief history of OTOA
I began developing One-Thought-One-Action (OTOA)™ over 15 years ago while I was in graduate school at Yale School of Drama as a tool for realizing my own work in the theater as a stage director. OTOA quickly became the core principle in all my work as a theater artist and I've been introducing the technique to my collaborators in every project I've created ever since.
In 2006, I began formalizing the principles behind OTOA into a teaching technique for performing artists and directors and theater makers. Bringing the OTOA technique out of the rehearsal studio, and into the classroom. We now call this technique OTOA Performance Technique & Training (PTT)™.
While teaching and practicing OTOA, it became clear to me that the technique went beyond the stage, beyond the rehearsal studio, and beyond the classroom. I found that I had to bring OTOA into my personal & professional daily practice, and what emerged is the curriculum that we now refer to as OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP) ™. I have been teaching and coaching OTOA CLP since 2015.
Currently, I lead both OTOA PTT and CLP Workshops open to the public. Additionally, I also offer OTOA CLP Private Coaching sessions for both PTT and CLP applications, bringing the principles and benefits of incremental thought and action into professional, personal and creative applications in a more personal way.
OTOA Workshops & Coaching are Environments For Learning & Actualization.
~ Gia Forakis, Brooklyn, 2018
HOW CAN I FIND AN OTOA WORKSHOP?
Please check the SCHEDULES page for all upcoming OTOA Events.
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“OTOA forces the actor to 'think' from the body.” – Katrina Foy, Actor