“I’m going to turn you into the greatest athlete in the world— a Shakespearean actor.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
That challenge between Kurt Brungardt and his graduate-school mentor at Columbia University, Daniel Sklar, launched the Arts Wellness Lab. Sklar had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and was looking for new ways to slow its progression. He reached out to Brungardt—who has an eclectic background in fitness, sports, and theater—for help.
The next step was designing a program. Having studied theater at NYU, Brungardt had firsthand experience with the extensive, holistic curriculum implemented at leading acting conservatories. He consulted master teachers from NYU, Juilliard, RADA, Yale, and private acting schools for their advice on distilling the techniques, exercises, and creative tools that would deliver the most powerful results—and activate all the areas Parkinson’s was trying to diminish.
The quest then received a series of grants from the Parkinson’s Foundation, which led to the creation of Shakespeare for Parkinson’s, now in its fifth year. The program offers two tracks: Shakespeare Workout and The Shakespeare for Parkinson’s Theater Troupe.
We strove to work under the aesthetic concept of Total Art—an immersive, unified creative experience that synthesizes multiple artistic disciplines into a cohesive whole.
Shakespeare demands a comprehensive method that trains the whole human—mind, body, and spirit. In a safe, caring, and collaborative environment, the program explores acting, singing, dance, music, the visual arts, and writing. This multidisciplinary approach allowed members of the program to thrive. It also revealed how members might be drawn to—or receive more benefit from—a particular art form.
These observations revealed the need to create the Arts Wellness Lab, where all these art forms could be offered, alongside multidisciplinary programs like Shakespeare that also include caregivers. Our mission is to offer an arts wellness platform of classes and programs where everyone can engage with amazing teaching artists, benefit the latest from research, create novel, groundbreaking research, and build community—in person and online—to thrive throughout their lifespan.