The Spirit Of Acting
An Inspiring journey to awaken the nature of your acting.
By being our natural selves we can act naturally onstage or in front of a camera. But what is it to be yourself? What is your authentic nature?
This program is a deep-dive into personal reflection and ancient history simultaneously.
Boudhanath Stupa is one of the most important stupas in the world.
A gravitational, circular space where movement, ritual, and devotion are sewn into everyday life.
The Kathmandu Valley dangles below the roof of the world. A high basin (around 1,400m), ringed by hills, with the Himalayas looming beyond.
LOCATION: NEPAL
DURATION: 15 days
Inner Diving Instructors
'You can’t teach someone to be YOUR friend. You both feel it, and that’s it. It’s not about with whom you’ll be friends. It’s about you. How open are you? it's SaME WITH meditating, singing, acting or anything else.'
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Paul McLay
Stephen Ochsner
Paul McLay is a Kathmandu-based film director, producer and music composer. He was born in Moscow but his ancestors came from Scotland and Armenia.
After studying Filmmaking in Moscow (Wordshop)and London (London Film School), Paul filmed and produced commercials for many brands and also directed music videos, documentaries and feature films, including:
2014 Paradiso perduto (short film)
2018 Saffron heart (feature film)
2019 tinavie: cosmo (feature documentary)
2026 Everythingness (feature film)
Through the years he was giving masterclasses in Filmmaking and leading several Cinema circles.During the Covid he started to teach acting and formed GOAN International Underground Theatre in India.
www.paulmclay.com
Stephen Ochsner is a New York-based actor, director and teacher. As a human being he was born and raised in Colorado. As an actor, he grew up in Moscow.After studying at the Moscow Art Theatre, he became a resident artist at the Meyerhold Theatre Centre and School of Dramatic Art. Stephen performed a solo performance of Ivan Vyrypaev’s The Maxims of Panteley Karmanov in three languages and six countries. Stephen is widely known as Kostya in the series Chicks. In 2024, Stephen was awarded a Luciel Lortel Award for his work in the ensemble of Our Class at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Teaching has taken him to Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. With a passion for movement and ensemble training, Stephen has led coaching sessions and workshops at institutions across Eastern Europe and Germany. As founding artistic director of Safe Theatre, an avant-garde oral tradition theatre company, Stephen has directed over 15 productions, including Bull n’ Birds at Ilkhom Theatre in Tashkent.
We are not outside facilitators or experts, teaching you how to be a real artist. NO!
We are organizing the circumstances for art to come about as artists ourselves.
Program
Acting Beyond Limits
We test the power of stanislavski's system in everyday life, acting on impulse and getting inspired from people and events around us.
places of power
We visit landmarks of devotion and cultural significance, including Boudnath Stupa, Swayambhu, Namo buddha, Lalitpur, Pharping, Bhaktapur and many more.
individual approach
each artist has Individual sessions with Paul and Stephen, to work on their own personal project.
THE FILM
The Lab will culminate in the creation of a film documenting the shared journey and featuring work developed by each artist.
Inspiration
