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Adapting Rehearsal Room Practices to Accommodate a New Means of Theatre-Making: Exploring Devised Work with Playground Antics

Semester: Fall 2023


Presentation description

As a theatre maker, I am interested in what evokes the imagination of the audience. What physical track or game can the actors engage in juxtaposition with a certain soundscape? What theatrical mirrors can I activate? There is something quite thrilling about choosing to create one container and see how it functions concurrently to another track of sounds or another visual stimulus. I am interested in dismantling correlations between spectacle and scale. I want the audience to have a kinesthetic experience. The gift of theatre is the opportunity for us to gather together to challenge our perceptions and biases. I believe that when we shift focus from “me” to “we” the work in the rehearsal room is more generous, playful, and meaningful. I agree with Adrienne Maree Brown when they say, “Every member of the community holds pieces of the solution, even if we are all engaged in different layers of the work” (Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, 2017). My theatre company, KID SISTER Theatre Collaborative, which I co-founded with alumnus Niko Krieger, engages in this work. By setting up conditions for makers to play, we are practicing how we want to participate in the larger community: through curiosity and courage.

Presenter Name: Camden Barrett
Presentation Type: Performance
Presentation Format: Virtual
Presentation #3
College: Fine Arts
School / Department: Theatre
Research Mentor: Alexandra Harbold

Video