Theatre content from Live Design Magazine: When Keith Paul Medelis founded The New Theatre Project (TNTP),he was apprenticing at the Performance Network Theatre (PNT), an Equity house in Ann Arbor with a rehearsal room about 20'x35' that PNT let him use for his first production. He wanted to do Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening because the themes resonated but incidents in the script seemed dated. Adolescent sexuality is always complicated, but masturbation, for instance, no longer shocks many of us. Were there other issues that would be more contemporary? What if actors his age shared memories of problems associated with their own emerging sexuality?
4 comments:
In my experience, smaller theatres and smaller audiences do in fact give shows a more intimate feel and a deeper meaning. It's almost impossible to not pay attention to something thats in your face, especially if it is captivating as well! It is amazing how much can happen in small spaces and The New Theatre Project seems to be doing an excellent job at not only transforming unconventional spaces but producing deep shows as well.
I wish I could've seen their rendition of The Pillowman as well as some of their journal projects!
I was lucky enough over the summer to do the show "The Aliens" with a theatre company in Houston that solely focuses on site-specific work. They have performed in bars, basements, parking lots, etc. Every space brings its own problems and finding a space that fits the show's visual needs and logistical/business challenges can be very daunting but extremely rewarding when it comes together. When reading the article I related to Medelis's statement: “It’s harder for me to design in an actual theatre,” he says. “The things you can do there are too expected.” Site-specific work allows you to create an intimate experience in a way that the "fourth-wall" of a proscenium or studio space does not allow. Additionally, I found the statement "limitations aren’t always problems" to ring very true. Sometimes the constraints site-specific work entails such as limited electricity or up-close seating opens up new doors for creativity.
All I could think of during this article was the performance of Request Concert last year. I constantly flip flop on whether or not I like small intimate spaces. I hate small spaces when the intention is to make the audience uncomfortable. However, I feel the exact opposite when the intimacy is meant to draw the audience into the interaction with characters' emotions on stage. In the instance of Request Concert, I loved that the intimacy forced the audience to really watch and love the character. If this had been performed in any of the other venue (even the Wells, the most intimate performance space in Purnell), it would not have been able to sell it as much to the audience.
I think this article illustrated one of my favorite things about theatre. The hard work, with very little money, very little space. If you look at all the pictures and read everything they did the designers really used their space sure they changed one or two things so the audience could have a bathroom but other than that they left the space as it is. They focused on the space they have much more than Sleep No More and they didn’t take it for granted as is often the case in actual theatre. Theatre for them in a sense rose out of the ashes and if you look at the pictures are very beautiful. The space also allowed the shows to be intimate. When they first started out you only shared your experience with 20 other people. For us it seems so ridiculous and unheard of, however, that makes it personal. There is no sense of anonymity with twenty people, it is a lot harder to deny something when you are one in 400, but one in 20 is not really something you can deny. Whatever you experience in that theatre is going to have a lot more power than what you see in a broadway theatre and I think that is why I love theatre when it is done like that.
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