At This Stage: There are so many different and new forms of artistic expression emerging from theatre. In traditional theatre, actors would show up on the first day of rehearsals expecting two very important resources at their service, a script and a director. Scripts and directors equip the actor with their lines and stage directions, which pretty much tell the actor much of what they should be doing on stage. But a new form of theatre-making is emerging, many are calling this method “devising”.
5 comments:
I just personally read an article about a theatrical piece by Annie Dorsen, placing two computers center stage and letting artificial intelligence create a different dialogue each time “they” perform. I commented how confused I was about the definition of theatre, since I consider it as what happens between the actors and the audience. I also said that those AI might take over the job of play writers, but not actors, because human interaction that we experience through drama WORTH IT. Now, reading this article after that one, relieved me. The entire process of the devised theatre is only possible with human beings, which everyone having somewhat biased point of views and limitation in skills. In addition, as the article mentioned at the very end, this kind of theatre is perfectly suited for education. I believe to make young people get used to the techniques will result in it getting more useful as a tool for social movements in political theatre in the future.
This seems like improv, long-form improv, except the improv happens at first without an audience. The only thing that is touched upon in the article that I don't see as a criterion for improvisation is that devised theatre places focus on the development of lesser-discussed topics, underrepresented narratives, and political theatre. Since "devising" seems to be a fairly new emergence, I would like to see what path it as an art form takes, and what distinctions can be drawn between devising and improv. I was never part of an improv troupe in high school, but I have seen many performances—games, short-form, and long-form—that I thoroughly enjoyed—despite the bare-bones lighting, sound, costumes, and set—because of the wittiness and quick thinking of those involved. Imagine the potential devised theatre has as improvisation with time to be fleshed out and time to tech.
Last spring I was lucky enough to be involved with a production of The Laramie Project that was a devised piece by the Tectonic Theater company out of New York. They write their plays through a type of devising they call “Moment work.” Instead of being broken up into “scenes” the play is broken up into “moments.” They sent us a person to do a workshop with us on moment work, which was fascinating and new. We went about the creation of theater the opposite way we normally do. We had no script, just objects and our bodies. The goal was to make our presentation about what we were doing and how we were doing it. Laramie was based on real interviews, but there is something to be said for that type of theater. Because there are so many moments and each actor plays so many characters, suspension of disbelief is a must, and people were willing to let that happen.
Devised is one of those hot new words that people often like to attach to the introduction of their new works to make it seem a little bit more intellectually checked in. I feel like it is a rare thing to see a piece that truly fulfills that description. I am particularly interested to know what the creative processes and rehearsal room process looks like for a successful devised work. Devised works are one of those things where I think the process matters a lot more than the end goal, and, certainly, a better process will likely result in a better final product, but still the emphasis should be on those moments of formation and transformation, rather than meeting a deadline, hitting a budget, and making x profit. This makes devised theatre hard to do in a lot of professional settings, mostly because it is harder to put in a marketable, in-scope box. That being said, it definitely has the potential to be some of the most layered and fascinating work.
Post a Comment