Monday, September 19, 2011
Devised Theatre: Transitioning to Production
2AMt: The beginning of production is when devised theatre starts to get weird. For me, at least. It’s like changing gears. In different cars. While juggling. A group of theatre artists who had, until now, simply been friends chatting in somebody’s living room congeal into more traditional roles. Actors are learning lines for roles they helped create. One deviser who has been with us from the start of the conversation takes on the role as director. Another becomes assistant director/stage manager. And the playwright starts letting the text go and takes on the role of producer. There is a brief amount of awkward negotiation that ensues as we all settle into the mechanics of rehearsal.
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9 comments:
I never thought about how awkward it must be to transition to the production phase, as this author points out. As the playwright of sorts, he had to put his show into the hands of others and trust that they were going to go the same direction as he was headed. I guess that goes for every new show, but I see how a devised show in which others had a hand in the creation could present a unique challenge. How do you decide when the show stops changing? If there's a disagreement on a design choice or on content, who makes the ultimate decision? I'm excitednto be taking part in the Devised Eco-Performance class during the second half of the semester, and I'm very anxious to see how the group dynamic works out. I think the guiding factor for everyone involved needs to be the story that is being told and the statement that is being made. Maybe this is over-simplifying things, but it seems like if the story and its moral are served then everything else will work itself out.
This is an interesting article which shows how we never really think about devising a piece and taking it into production with people who might not have had the same concepts as we did. We do it all the time in class and school, but on a larger scale, how do we let a piece go and have others come in and work with us. As Shannon said, this is the process of almost every new piece, but letting go of a piece that had so many individuals create it with you is difficult. I am also in the Devised Eco-Performance class and it will be interesting to see how we can work together when the piece is devised and pass it off to others. What we decides that makes the story will hopefully allow us to be ok with everything.
I feel like even more than an already written piece, a devised piece would be amazing to watch from start to end. Because every aspect is collaborative, the ideas and process must change so often and evolve. Like AJ said, we create pieces like this is class all the time, but it's not a full length production. To see a class project become an hour long piece would be such an interesting project. I could see it getting crazy though with so many people giving ideas.
I'd like some more information about the group of people. It sounds like its a group of actors, a playwright, and a composer. While a devised piece can be put together by anyone and anything, I do wonder if people like designers, directors, and managers help the process of devising a piece or if they get in the way of the show's progress. I'd like to think they would help, but not every show would follow that path, and I guess that's okay.
In response to AJ, after looking at the bios of the ensemble members on their website it quickly becomes apparent that this ensemble likely worked on similar projects together in school at CUA and after graduation decided to formalize their efforts. Much like Pigpen did here at CMU, it is not unusual to see performance and production groups arise out of classes of students who have just graduated. This company seems to be taking the logistics and sometimes upright stupidity of practical production in stride, and it's encouraging that they aren't dismayed by the process. By embracing the tasks that need to be done and finding members within the ensemble who can tackle them it makes the team stronger and prevents the need for an "outsider" to come in and do the books. In an ensemble where every member of the company contributes both artistically and functionally to the organization, that level of dedication shows through in the work on stage.
It would be fascinating to work on a production like this for several reasons. First of all, seeing the evolution of a show that explores the question, “why do we as a species feel the need to tell stories about our own destruction?” would be incredibly interesting because of all of the different possible answers. Once an answer was chosen, transferring it into a performable idea would be equally as interesting. Second of all, having the designers and everyone involved in the show in on the creation of it as well would be a very rich experience. To be able to shape your role in the show from the very conception of the idea, instead of the point at which the script was chosen would be a great collaborative and learning experience.
All theatre is devised and there is always the awkward transition from nothing to something. It seems that the process always stalls when we take it from what we could do to what we are going to do. I think it is interesting to consider theatre with an “audience”. For attack theatre they would not consider the on-lookers an audience. The people that stop and watch can leave whenever they feel like it. Does the audience make theatre feel like theatre?
A transition like this would certainly be awkward, but look at where it got them. It's strange to me to think about how a group of people would get a theater production like this off the ground since I'm so used to working in a pre-determined season. I can imagine how helpful it would be to have the playwright there working through the rehearsal process, that way the core material of the show could still stay in tact despite all the changes that are bound to happen the further along they get in the rehearsal process.
Their concept is indeed a unique one, and certainly does explore a darker perspective of the human mind. I'd be intrigued by that kind of topic and would love to see their take on it and how they execute it in all aspects of a production.
This article was depressing. This is exactly the type of process I get excited about - a group of people coming together to put their ideas on stage. So many brilliant pieces of work have started out in this format. Many brilliant pieces of work started out in this format and faltered due to funding, timing, other responsibilities etc. This article only highlights how difficult it is to make theatre and how improbable it is to succeed. This just may be the pessimist in me but at times like this I think. "Why try? I am going to go work for Disney!"
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