Maria Olon has written Supraconscious—The Genius within You, a very important book. Cultivation of witnessing awareness in method acting can awaken us to the fundamental reality of existence beyond the roles we play. This is meditation in action. Bravo.
Deepak Chopra MD
Pioneer of integrative medicine and author of 90 books
Supraconscious—The Genius within You is the first acting metatheater text. Maria Olon not only goes beyond art to find the source of art but she ultimately shines light on the essence of the human soul.
Menas Kafatos
Astrophysicist, Dhapman University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
PAD is the foundation on which every acting method needs to rest in order to flourish.
Coni Ciongoli-Koepfinger
Playwright, librettist, director
Humanity’s greatest story ever told is the “Story of Immortality.” This story explains that every human being is an actor in the collective drama of life. Each one’s script is unique to the part he or she plays. Maria Olon captures this concept beautifully in her work. The foundation of life is about flourishing at all levels—spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, and physical. This book is a life’s manual on how to achieve this through our unique script, unique parts, and unique roles. The world needs a new story, and humanity needs a new script.
Gayatri Naraine
Brahma Kumaris Representative to the United Nations
Researchers, such as Maria Olon through PAD learning process, aim to bring a significant change in the education of the artist and ultimately the viewer, all of us indeed, shaping the man of the new twenty-first century’s culture that humanity is so much in need nowadays.
Rania Lampou
STEM instructor
Maria Olon’s work upholds a Socratic attitude in life: fall as little as you can in the black holes of your high certainties, accepting the selfishness and vulgarity of human existence, not demanding, begging, accepting, or condescending; and ultimately be sympathetic, with healthy kindness and intelligence, with brilliant honesty, integrity, respect, and gratitude. Maria Olon is not a common human being.
Angel Bini
Actor
One of the best collaborations I can recollect is the one with Maria Tsaroucha, who directed and starred in my play “The Missing – an Interesting Life” in 2014-15 at Argo Theatre in Athens and on tour all over Greece. It is a play which, on the occasion of the “thorny” matter of the missing after the Turkish Invasion in Cyprus in 1974, drifts into nowadays issues, such as deliberate Ignorance and Fear. The play had already been performed several times (first one in 2008), but Tsaroucha`s staging surpassed all expectations. She presented it from the viewpoint of a Greek Tragedy, and the performance was animated by the ancient thrill of Communion – methexis and Catharsis. Through Perceptual Acting and Directing Method, she was able to relate Modern Theatre with the rites and sacred feeling of Ancient Tragedy, thus presenting the audience with a precious aesthetic experience; a unique experience also for the actors who participated and had the chance to explore their capacities and limits beyond conventional acting technique.
Furthermore, Maria Tsaroucha, playing herself one of the leading parts, gave a vivid and absolutely representative example of Perceptual Acting, achieving an overwhelming acting simplicity and naturalness.
Furthermore, Maria Tsaroucha, playing herself one of the leading parts, gave a vivid and absolutely representative example of Perceptual Acting, achieving an overwhelming acting simplicity and naturalness.
Vassilis Katsikonouris
Playwright – Stage director
Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Metho is the method that has affected the data used for classically evaluating arlistic studies over the last l'ew years and that transforms actors into people with a new perception and ethos, is our purpose and aim. Mrs. Tsaroucha's contribution to the world of arl is noteworthy. Vault Theatre Plus' success can to a great extent be put down to Maria since she is the artistic advisor and person who organizes courses to train actors with her own successful Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method and who also directs. Perceptual Acting and Directing is a theory and method of social strengthening. promoting positive changes for the common good as well as a tool for a collective conscious leap that humanity is in need of today.
We wholeheartedly wish that such an innovative conception can only be established internationally as one of the mgin acting methods in the western world.
We wholeheartedly wish that such an innovative conception can only be established internationally as one of the mgin acting methods in the western world.
Dimitris Karatsias
President of Vault Theatre Plus
…as a director, she gives priority to the actor as a human being above all. Therefore, with her special sensitive eye, she manages to make every member of the audience think a lot deeper regardless of age or convictions. Her directing makes the audience feel a sense of responsibility for their personal journey as humans for the common good of all. We highly recommend the prosperity of humanity as something that is invaluable and I know that is already a goal that Mrs. Tsaroucha has achieved. What is important for Mrs. Tsaroucha is the performers' self-development as well as that of the audience's.
Her visual approach in the performance gave a new meaning to the play as she set in motion various subconscious messages. The fact that she was also involved in the acting reinforced all the concepts that she herself had. And I consider her choice the most suitable as well as creative giving new dimensions to what it means to be an actor since she herself is an explorer of human nature. For Mrs. Tsaroucha, the theater is a means for us actors to connect with our divine presence.
Through her Perceptual Acting and Directing Method she manages to create and she reminds us through her contemporary fresh eye of everything that our ancient ancestors considered a basic quality of the theater and of the god Dionysus. And since Mrs. Tsaroucha knows the contemporary theater like hardly anyone else as she was trained in the U.S., her Greek roots make her stand out giving meaning and substance to forgotten principles and qualities of our theatrical awareness.
Her visual approach in the performance gave a new meaning to the play as she set in motion various subconscious messages. The fact that she was also involved in the acting reinforced all the concepts that she herself had. And I consider her choice the most suitable as well as creative giving new dimensions to what it means to be an actor since she herself is an explorer of human nature. For Mrs. Tsaroucha, the theater is a means for us actors to connect with our divine presence.
Through her Perceptual Acting and Directing Method she manages to create and she reminds us through her contemporary fresh eye of everything that our ancient ancestors considered a basic quality of the theater and of the god Dionysus. And since Mrs. Tsaroucha knows the contemporary theater like hardly anyone else as she was trained in the U.S., her Greek roots make her stand out giving meaning and substance to forgotten principles and qualities of our theatrical awareness.
Aimilia Ypsilanti
Actor-Producer
I feel very lucky to have met the director Maria Tsaroucha in my path since it was the first time in these years that I have experienced such a big pleasure and truthfulness in my process of working and building a role. Mrs. Tsaroucha is one of the most significant directors and at the same time she is an amazing acting coach that managed to liberate me completely on stage, while at the same time offering me extremely important tools for my acting career. What touches me the most is that this process, I have been introduced to, is not a mere technique, but a road which uses imagination as a tool but at the same time it relates and raises self-awareness and existential questions which actors are invited to answer in order to be truthful to themselves and thus project this to their acting. Mrs. Tsaroucha combines Method Acting, Quantum mechanics theory and Visualization, and the effect is magical for the actors' souls and minds and exhilarating and touching for the people watching. Actors are invited to BE, not to ACT and spectators are invited to feel, not to think, thus they raise their consciousness in an organic way through an energy exchange that comes because of the authentic and organic execution of the play. I’m grateful for working with Mrs. Tsaroucha and for this experience since after this there is no way back into previous methods of preparing as an actress. At the same time I want to thank her for adding to my journey for spiritual growth by reminding me that a shift of consciousness is possible and authentic, and mesmerizing acting can be achieved through this.
Varvara Larmou
Actor
I had this amazing opportunity to be introduced to her method of Perceptual Acting and Directing combined with the Quantum physics theory. I studied Mathematics and Physics and the Quantum Theory always made an impression on me. How great to be able to apply this theory on acting and understand the concept of multiple dimensions. Working with Mrs. Tsaroucha made clear one thing: she respects the actor. Her process aims to succeed the self-knowledge of the actor, the self-awareness, the awareness of the environment, the ongoing research and observation, the continuous process of studying human nature. For Mrs. Tsaroucha there is a very important triptych: body, mind, soul. This triptych, along with a very good technique, allows the actor to conquer great performances and succeed the transubstantiation of a role. Mrs. Tsaroucha protects the actor and helps him/her feel secure, hence more creative and truthful in the moment. And she continues further, because her view extends far beyond the one true time and integrates the concept of universal and eternal in the Theatre Arts. Mrs. Tsaroucha leads the actor to "forget" his/her material existence and its limitations and through meditation brings him/her close to the soul, the energy that is formed to a body, and helps the actor to concentrate in an immaterial state. That was after all what Plato was seeking: that we already know, can lead us, through the dialectic, in eternal and universal truths.
Despina Nikitidou
Actor
…the most important of all, however, is her creation of the Theory and Method of Perceptual Acting and Directing which results from her numerous years of research and experience. The theory and moral codes surrounding her method create a new way of thinking for people, for artists as well as for scientists. She answers unanswered questions making her method a new approach to thought that promotes the truth as well as love showing the actor and every person how truth and love play a vital role in our daily lives and that is the reason why all of our meetings are extraordinary. With her theory and method of Perceptual Acting and Directing, the actor answers the question: Who am l? lrespective of his identity and the role that he has in his daily life. The actor is made aware that parallel fields create the energy that puts him in flow with his daily life and that the science of Quantum Mechanics is part and parcel of all aspects of his life, He learns how he can discover what is ideal in the life that he lives and gains insight into the investigation of the left and right hemisphere as well as how to communicate with the environment by becoming a part of it. He also comprehends how he is simultaneously an observer and a participant and how he constantly discovers the value of the present time and how to exploit it in the best possible way and how the roles that each of us have in life and on stage revolve around a quantum context that work in tandem. Ms. Tsaroucha is a genuine researcher of the soul and human potential. She has promoted her art as a science raising issues and questions in the field of science that advance humanity a step further arousing the imagination of scientists. Ms. Tsaroucha proposes in a remarkable unique way to the western world a new theory of "l exist and I become" which is the future of acting and for every one of us who uses the theatre as a way of understanding themselves.
We wholeheartedly wish that such an innovative conception can only be established internationally as one of the mgin acting methods in the western world.
Efstratios Theodosiou
President of the Hellenic Physical Society
I had my first contact with Perceptual Acting and Directing (PAD) a few years ago when I attended a Method acting workshop with Maria Tsaroucha. It was inspirational. It changed my base as an actor. I wanted to know more and utilize it as an actor on a professional level.
After two years, we met again for the needs of a play. A very challenging play based on the Greek economic and social crisis and the need of businesses to survive. Set on a utopian world inhabited by beings very much like us humans, but with different qualities and essences.
Evolving the technique, PAD connected the actor and the experience of being on stage with quantum physics and the most fundamental question of “Who am I” on stage. Basic principles of Albert Einstein and Nicola Tesla are the platforms on which this new technique is formed.
One particular exercise that I was trained to and changed my life was that of “The Observer”. Of course I knew the exercise before but not to this evolved form. In this particular exercise you observe everything around you; your environment and yourself as a being. Now how do you do that? It’s quite simple actually, you “get out of your head” and just observe without judgment. A lot is happening when we are not paying attention. While you are walking to work, for example, you can simultaneously watch everything moving, acting and reacting in the forefront and in the background. Cars go by and at the same time a cat runs across the street, a bird is singing, a leaf falls in front of you, people pass you by etc. Therefore, simultaneously you become the observer and the observed. You are fully in the moment. You stop thinking. And then something astonishing happens. The veil of the matrix in front of you fades away and for some reason you feel connected to everything. You begin to understand that you are part of a greater whole. A transcending experience of your perception heightened to an alternate state of… well bliss. You feel calm but at the same time fully engaged in what is really happening. You are just being. Breathing and becoming aware of your existence in the now. On a quantum level we are all connected, we are all made of atoms and photons. On stage you are trained to transform it into an experience. PAD aims to bring this understanding into our perception and deliver an amazing performance.
So PAD aims to unlock your subtle perception ability by connecting your subconscious, your ego and your higher self; firstly as a human being and then as an actor.
Of course there are many other exercises that support the training; but one of the most important tools to cultivate your craft is visualization. Which we did a lot of during our rehearsals. Silencing my ego through visualization helped me tremendously to open up to a new field of understanding. Deconstructing my physical plane of the five senses and focusing on my sixth sense of perceptual reality. Visualization is a strong tool to use for you but when there are more people involved it’s even stronger. Imagine what you can achieve with four actors visualizing their character together. The energy build up is so strong and therefore the impact is bigger on the individual. As a group we learned that “I am one with you and you are one with me”; statement that changed the dynamic of the group and transformed us. We approached each other with love and compassion and empathy. Just like quantum physics suggests the theory of parallel universes, Perceptual Acting and Directing brings this theory to the stage and the actor and suggests that we are all one, existing in this particular time frame, in this particular universe. On a character basis the suggestion is that I am already my character in a different time frame therefore I do not need to find my character or search for it but instead just tap into that infinite reality and synchronize with it. So you utilize your free will and choose to tap into that frame of mind and just be.
On a personal level my training with Perceptual Acting and Directing has been a mind blowing experience. Tapping into a new way of thinking and being has transformed me. My vibration as a human being has risen to a new level, my perception of existence has changed and I have become a better actor. The transition hasn’t been easy but the rewards are invaluable.
I am another you…
After two years, we met again for the needs of a play. A very challenging play based on the Greek economic and social crisis and the need of businesses to survive. Set on a utopian world inhabited by beings very much like us humans, but with different qualities and essences.
Evolving the technique, PAD connected the actor and the experience of being on stage with quantum physics and the most fundamental question of “Who am I” on stage. Basic principles of Albert Einstein and Nicola Tesla are the platforms on which this new technique is formed.
One particular exercise that I was trained to and changed my life was that of “The Observer”. Of course I knew the exercise before but not to this evolved form. In this particular exercise you observe everything around you; your environment and yourself as a being. Now how do you do that? It’s quite simple actually, you “get out of your head” and just observe without judgment. A lot is happening when we are not paying attention. While you are walking to work, for example, you can simultaneously watch everything moving, acting and reacting in the forefront and in the background. Cars go by and at the same time a cat runs across the street, a bird is singing, a leaf falls in front of you, people pass you by etc. Therefore, simultaneously you become the observer and the observed. You are fully in the moment. You stop thinking. And then something astonishing happens. The veil of the matrix in front of you fades away and for some reason you feel connected to everything. You begin to understand that you are part of a greater whole. A transcending experience of your perception heightened to an alternate state of… well bliss. You feel calm but at the same time fully engaged in what is really happening. You are just being. Breathing and becoming aware of your existence in the now. On a quantum level we are all connected, we are all made of atoms and photons. On stage you are trained to transform it into an experience. PAD aims to bring this understanding into our perception and deliver an amazing performance.
So PAD aims to unlock your subtle perception ability by connecting your subconscious, your ego and your higher self; firstly as a human being and then as an actor.
Of course there are many other exercises that support the training; but one of the most important tools to cultivate your craft is visualization. Which we did a lot of during our rehearsals. Silencing my ego through visualization helped me tremendously to open up to a new field of understanding. Deconstructing my physical plane of the five senses and focusing on my sixth sense of perceptual reality. Visualization is a strong tool to use for you but when there are more people involved it’s even stronger. Imagine what you can achieve with four actors visualizing their character together. The energy build up is so strong and therefore the impact is bigger on the individual. As a group we learned that “I am one with you and you are one with me”; statement that changed the dynamic of the group and transformed us. We approached each other with love and compassion and empathy. Just like quantum physics suggests the theory of parallel universes, Perceptual Acting and Directing brings this theory to the stage and the actor and suggests that we are all one, existing in this particular time frame, in this particular universe. On a character basis the suggestion is that I am already my character in a different time frame therefore I do not need to find my character or search for it but instead just tap into that infinite reality and synchronize with it. So you utilize your free will and choose to tap into that frame of mind and just be.
On a personal level my training with Perceptual Acting and Directing has been a mind blowing experience. Tapping into a new way of thinking and being has transformed me. My vibration as a human being has risen to a new level, my perception of existence has changed and I have become a better actor. The transition hasn’t been easy but the rewards are invaluable.
I am another you…
James Konstantinidis
Actor
…actors love Maria as she has an unusual way of taking care of and respecting them; she transforms their fears into strengths. She introduces a new kind of ethos and quality to the relationship between the director and actor making the latter feel safe and important. Maria Tsaroucha is a gifted person and a pioneer of the Arts with a strong personality and extremely significant presence in Greece.
Efi Meravoglou – Giorgos Kaltsas
Creators, heads of 92 Art a School of Art
…at IEK AKMH, we have introduced to our curriculum the theory and method of Perceptual Acting and Directing, the most modern approach to teaching students about their inner selves. The main goal of Perceptual Acting and Directing is to find harmony with the “Ego” (the self), the subconscious and the higher self of each student. This method cultivates an organic true understanding of the “now” in combination with the newest advances of quantum physics in relation to time and space and the eleven dimensions in which infinity exists. Students are taught to cultivate their perception of empathy, they develop and exercise their inner maturity, their emotional perception so that they can make leaps and bounds in their conscience. Ms Tsaroucha’s goal and method involves a new quality of person who perceives the connection and result of every relationship that is created through harmony, flow and success.
We wholeheartedly wish that such an innovative conception can only be established internationally as one of the mgin acting methods in the western world.
Popi Rodopoulou
Founder and President of IEK AKMH
Maria uses her own method and her amazing way of communicating with these dancers in order to help cultivate professionals to be organically in the moment in relation to time and space and the eleven dimensions, suggesting a new understanding of what the body is.
Ms. Tsaroucha is a person of extraordinary potential and in favor of progress. Whatever project she takes on always helps advance the artist since her work is the result of careful study and research that redefines the philosophical approach of ancient Greeks regarding the “Thymele” that is the contact maintained with our soul.
With the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method our professional collaborators also cultivate empathy which in today’s demanding times is the basic requirement for every working relationship. Our collaborators slowly mature on a personal, mental and physical level having realized that dance conceals an entire philosophy beyond the body.
Ms. Tsaroucha’s method is the artist’s key ingredient to success. Her contribution to coaching our collaborators was essential even for performances which she didn’t direct herself. The potential of the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method is enormous and opens up the road to study human evolution.
Ms. Tsaroucha is a person of extraordinary potential and in favor of progress. Whatever project she takes on always helps advance the artist since her work is the result of careful study and research that redefines the philosophical approach of ancient Greeks regarding the “Thymele” that is the contact maintained with our soul.
With the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method our professional collaborators also cultivate empathy which in today’s demanding times is the basic requirement for every working relationship. Our collaborators slowly mature on a personal, mental and physical level having realized that dance conceals an entire philosophy beyond the body.
Ms. Tsaroucha’s method is the artist’s key ingredient to success. Her contribution to coaching our collaborators was essential even for performances which she didn’t direct herself. The potential of the Perceptual Acting and Directing Theory and Method is enormous and opens up the road to study human evolution.
Tango Acropolis festival
Dear Maria,
It was such pleasure having you in my CLCV 120: Storytelling and Transformation class this semester. Students enjoyed reading your book and engaging you in conversation during class. We are happy to keep learning from your expertise in the areas of performance art and emotional intelligence. Thank you!
Best wishes,
It was such pleasure having you in my CLCV 120: Storytelling and Transformation class this semester. Students enjoyed reading your book and engaging you in conversation during class. We are happy to keep learning from your expertise in the areas of performance art and emotional intelligence. Thank you!
Best wishes,
Maria Hadjypolykarpou
Regarding theater and acting as a vehicle for igniting awareness, Supraconscious is a self-help text concerned with personal, artistic, and social transformation. Maria Olon Tsaroucha’s New Age self-improvement text Supraconscious uses theater as a metaphor and concerns becoming, all at once, the actor, director, and audience of your life.
With the belief that few “vocations provide a person with the potential for personal growth that acting does,” the book first traces Western theater from its beginnings in Athens, Greece, about 2,500 years ago to its present, here called the beginning of the era of the “supraconscious human.” Combining concepts garnered from disciplines including psychology, linguistics, and method acting, the book suggests new dimensions to being fully alive, both as an actor and as a human being. From this perspective: theater is a powerful means of connecting to others, to the universe, and to humanity’s divine nature.
Tsaroucha’s exploration of the interrelation of science, art, and the psyche is inviting. The book insists on understanding the universe as a hologram—a first step for people to begin to shape their lives and the direction of humanity as a whole. Its multilevel system, referred to as “perceptual acting and directing,” is rooted in an analysis of Homer’s Odyssey, and is both challenging and hopeful. The project is rooted in the belief that art helps when it comes to raising energy levels, is a source of enlightenment, and can lead to sustainable peace and harmony. Its self-help perspective argues that people play multiple roles at any given moment, and that sensitivity to the shifting needs of a moment, empathy for self and others, and flexibility are necessary. It encourages its readers to set their egos aside and assume the characteristics of a good actor. It also introduces a vision for a future in which art lifts humanity to “know the truth of enlightenment.”
Within the text, terms are defined in a clear manner, making the book’s layered concepts easier to understand. Experiential exercises, visualizations, and meditations are suggested, all designed to lead to self-diagnosis, healing, and growth. The text moves beyond mere logic to encourage contemplation of its theories.
Regarding theater and acting as a vehicle for igniting awareness, Supraconscious is a self-help text concerned with personal, artistic, and social transformation.
KRISTINE MORRIS
Clarion Review
The book explains the foundations of the technique, which is similar to method acting but also includes ideas of quantum physics in its approach to understanding one’s place in the universe. In the book’s formulation, reality is a matter of perception (“Your physical body is the synchronization with the infinite field of information that exists out there”), and people (and characters) exist through their interactions with others. The book provides less metaphysical acting advice (“Don’t wait to deliver the perfect performance....Every performance is a rehearsal in your development as a human being and an actor”) and includes a chapter offering exercises and guided meditations to help one understand PAD concepts—a distinct departure from the theoretical discussion that makes up much of the text.
Readers interested in mindfulness and related topics will find the book both useful and engaging.
Kirkus Indie
I have done a lot in recent years in the field of personal development, therapeutic writing and Maria Οlon Tsaroucha is absolutely unique. I feel that this is what I was asking for. A person to take me by the hand and show me step by step what to do. Every time all the information comes together and leads to a brighter and clearer path. She is a simple human, she speaks to my heart directly, she is understandable and accessible. I am grateful that she came in my way.For the therapeutic writing course all I have to say is to attend it as fast as you can.
Deep and fast realizations Fast uproot - Faster root
The most valuable and profitable money I ever spend.
Deep and fast realizations Fast uproot - Faster root
The most valuable and profitable money I ever spend.
Anastasia Vassilopoulou
At 85 years old with a complicated past of husband of 60 years, four children daughter and three sons, and eleven grandchildren, Maria has succeeded in changing my thinking for the better like a psychoanalyst. She has my Love and Gratitude.
Maria Pedalino
Senior Citizen
When the soul is where it is supposed to be it does not stir. All of a sudden there is no constant nagging sensation pulling you to be somewhere, nowhere, and everywhere all at once. It is a kind of flow state where you stop being conscious of your existence and you are purely existing. It’s the electricity flowing through your neck, checks, and spine that shows you you are really alive. Working with Maria I have learned where my soul wants to be and I have unlocked doors I did not even know existed. My creative energy flows freely throughout my body and can be seen in my art.
Alex Swetlitschnyj
Artist
