HowlRound: Theatre rehearsals generally happen in a closed studio environment. This was not the case for Finding Penelope. The show was site-specific—it was created in and for a specific location. The play itself was a journey during which an audience moved through a long-term care facility. This meant that to rehearse the show, we had to work in that facility. The performance space was an active, living environment so every rehearsal became not only a testing ground for artistic ideas but also, an opportunity for building community around the project and good will for the event.
4 comments:
This article was incredibly powerful. While it is primarily an article about open rehearsals and the logistical challenges they bring, it became a piece about how some forms of art can include everyone in an seamless way. First of all, the idea for the piece itself sounds both engaging and interesting, and it's a show I wish I could see. Additionally, trying to integrate performance into a building that houses 700 people, let alone people with a highly structured living schedule, and be able to build that foundation of trust with the staff and residents is no small feat. It sounds like the spontaneity of performing in a space where people live and coexist greatly lent to the show itself. I'm curious how this creative process would be similar and different to a show that was performed in one space but had a setting of a completely different space-- for example, the show itself was performed in an assisted living facility but the world of the play was set in a preschool.
It feels like all we’ve talked about this year is the importance of being spatially aware, using the architecture of a space in an unexpected way, making our storytelling site-specific, etc etc etc. This article shows a professional application of these skills in a very interesting way. I think there is something very uniquely beautiful about putting on a performance in a long-term care facility, something so incredibly unlike a dusty, vast proscenium theater. My only questions are purely technical ones; where did the idea come about to stage this piece in a long-term care facility? Was the audience the residents present at the facility, or do others follow the actors throughout the residency? I wonder how a large audience would navigate the long, skinny hallways in a way conducive to still viewing the action taking place. In addition, while I definitely see the beauty in incorporating the residents at this home into the performance, I can’t help but think that the performance could be more hindering to certain residents than enriching. I feel like, as theater-makers, we need to remain vigilant in terms of knowing when we are helping and when we are hindering.
I really like the idea of not just preforming a show in an elder care home, but doing all of the rehearsals there too. Those rehearsals mean that something different and interesting is happening every day, not just for a few performances. I appreciated that they noted leaving space for residents and staff to pass through, it would be extremely frustrating not being able to move around your home/workplace without squeezing by people or feeling like you have to wait so you don’t interrupt them. Really, the actors are everything here, they all have to be genuinely kind and considerate people. I think it would be challenging to develop a character while remaining very aware of what is going on around you. I wonder whether they chose to interact with residents as themselves or in character. I think the other challenge would be to make the performance feel different from the rehearsals. Based on the photos, there wasn’t much in terms of tech, so it wasn’t a visual change. I would be interested in knowing if the residents liked the script choice.
Having made art for most of my life I know that for myself and many other artists the final product that other people seen is maybe 10% of what the actual piece was. I’ve always been more interested in the process of art, the other 90%. I love watching movies, but I almost enjoy watching the movie with commentary or the behind the scenes special features more. This production seems to have blurred the lines between process and performance, having fully integrated into their performance space and having a living audience around them from the start. I would love to work on a piece like this that uses a unique space and becomes inseparable from that space right from the start. As another comment mentioned, using architecture has been a big talking point in a lot of our classes this semester and it has caused me to start looking at the spaces I move through everyday in a new light. I understand that a proscenium stage works for the widest variety of stories, but there are much more interesting ways to utilise a space for a performance and I am glad to be involved in theater at a time that companies are branching out from traditional spaces and exploring new ways of staging.
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