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The Thursday Group is a Melbourne-based theatre ensemble investigating psychophysical theatre practice and co-devised performance-making. Co-facilitated by Matthew Crosby and Tessa Marie Luminati, we explore Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Grotowski, Michael Chekhov and our own variations in the Small Hall North Melbourne. We are interested in an open conversation with the Melbourne community, our peers, students, teachers, theatregoers and with our friends around the world. Join the conversation🎈

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Summer Psychophysical Theatre Intensive

Starts January 13th 2025

Synthesis of Suzuki Training, Grotowski and Thursday Group variations:
Matthew Crosby and Tessa Marie Luminati will facilitate 6 sessions in January 2025 in The Thursday Group studios in North Melbourne.

The intensive will explore the synthesis of actor training disciplines, Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Grotowski impulse and self-devising techniques and Thursday Group variations. In this workshop, participants learn the core Suzuki Training exercises and create bridges between these and Grotowski's embodied impulse work. During the workshop we will co-devise performance arising from practice investigations. Be ready for intense physical, vocal and imaginative training and exploration.

Sharpen your skills, discover energetic performance modes, come join the conversation! 🌞______________

Teachers: Matthew Crosby and Tessa Marie Luminati

Writer, director, actor, teacher and co-facilitator at the Thursday Group, Matthew Crosby

Photo: Oscar Socias

Matthew Crosby

I have been acting, writing, directing and teaching theatre for decades. Influences received from training at NIDA in the 80’s, collaboration between Playbox/Malthouse and the Suzuki Company of Toga, Grotowski and Eugenio Barba training with IRAA (International Research into the Art of the Actor), work in tent theatre in Japan and Korea with Shinjuku Ryozanpaku in the 90’s and a decade co-creating with Yumi Umiumare and Ben Rogan the DasShoku butoh/cabarets in the 00’s have led me into a deep investigation into what Stanislavski first called “psychophysical” theatre. This practice informs my theatre-making, which has been developed in the context of groups—first in Actor’s Furniture Group and for the last fifteen years in The Thursday Group. So, my approach to teaching is dialogic—I seek to empower the skills and desire for theatrical expression that already exist in performers and offer pathways for development and collaborative investigation.

Actor, teacher and co-facilitator at the Thursday Group, Tessa Marie Luminati

Photo: Oscar Socias

Tessa Marie Luminati
Tessa is a versatile actor and theatre-maker with a diverse range of experience. Formally trained at Patrick Studio's Australia and Federation University, she holds a Diploma of Music Theatre and a Bachelor of Acting for Stage and Screen. Her professional credits include working as an acting intern for The Australian Shakespeare Company's productions of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, and performing in Opera Australia's award-winning Il Viaggio a Reims and Don Giovanni. Tessa portrayed Patricia Hearst in Robert Reid's The Bacchae at La Mama and explored Suzuki and theatre-making techniques with The Thursday Group in Melbourne. She collaborated with 5 Angry Men and co-founded SpudPuppy Productions, a children's theatre company. Tessa performed her devised works "I'm a Raindrop Get Me Outta Here" and "Hit n Hope: a Character Cabaret" at various festivals. Recently, she appeared at the Sydney Opera House in Don Giovanni and as the Creature in Soot's Touring production of Frankenstein. Tessa is currently a co-facilitator of The Thursday Group, where she has performed in TUNA, Orpheo Machine, Falling Head, and Willow and co-facilitates biannual workshops. In 2024 she attended summer international workshops at Suzuki Company of Toga.

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Training and improvisation, workshop intensives, open rehearsals and performance-making.

Come join us.

More info on Monday Sessions

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Currently, the group is collaborating with Danish artists Andrea Albernaz and Iza Mortag Freund (Isla Collective) on a new performance, Falling Heads. It explores the notion of splitting—sibling from sibling, people from people, mind from body. It arises from Akutagawa Ryunosuke's 1917 The Story of a Head That Fell Off. Performing October/November 2025, Falling Heads uses Thursday Group psychophysical theatre practice techniques to produce an other-worldly, Brecht-inflected performance of acute relevance in today's existential world conflicts.

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