Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment
Michael Phillips

Michael Phillips: Performing a kiss or a caress can be taught. A Chicago intimacy coordinator discusses the fine art of making an actor’s job less weird

CHICAGO — “OK. We’re going to go through kissing right now.”

That isn’t quite what it sounds like. With nine of his Columbia College Chicago undergraduate students, in Room 226 of the 916 Wabash Building, Greg Geffrard crisscrosses the classroom studio. His mission: Teach the next generation of theater and film workers what it takes to guide actors in moments of intimacy you actually believe. And do it so that future performers can deliver these tricky, often nakedly revealing moments of storytelling, or violence, or emotional devastation, without suffering undue post-performance fallout.

The class: Intimacy Choreography/Directing. Columbia College is building on the newly popular stage and screen intimacy field with a 16-credit, graduate-level certificate program new this fall called, simply, Intimacy for Stage and Screen. It’s the first of its kind, according to school officials, in any accredited American college or university.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.