Actor to Audience and back again: The New Performance Dialogue
Mentor 1
Anne Basting
Location
Union 183
Start Date
24-4-2015 2:00 PM
Description
The week of the Symposium, the UWM theatre department will perform Slightly Bigger Women, and new play that has been developed with contributions from the greater Milwaukee community. Each performance will include a performance dialogue, a new form of devised theatre, where performers guide a discussion with the audience and incorporate the ideas from that discussion into the performance itself. Theatre is a collaborative process. The mission of this project was to broaden the scope of who is allowed into that process, from those who fill traditional roles in the the theatre, to the larger community, to the audience themselves. / Slightly Bigger Women is inspired by the well known novel Little Women. The beloved characters from the novel are hilariously stuck in their roles and expectations. Only once they learn about how the world has changed over the last century can they begin to realize their dreams, and themselves. / Much of the text of the play was gathered through a letter writing project involving the Women’s Studies department and women from local elder care facilities. In addition to the performance dialogue, the audience is encouraged to add to the conversation via interactive displays in the lobby and social media prompts. The familiarity of the characters of Little Women and the humor of the script further inspires collaboration with the audience. / I wish to present the new creative form of performance dialogue and how we developed it through working with multiple departments, the community, featured audiences, and the actors. / My role as assistant director has allowed me access to each of these steps, particularly the rehearsal process with the actors, who have to be trained in improvisation in order to facilitate the performance dialogue. / Performance dialogue is a new way to engage an audience and the public at large. In addition to incorporating guided forum for the purpose of education, the play is also a new form of entertainment, incorporating live theatre and human interaction with user-centric ideals from new and social media. / Slightly Bigger Women runs from April 22 through April 26. Anyone curious to see Performance Dialogue in action, and to participate in it, is welcome to see the play. /
Actor to Audience and back again: The New Performance Dialogue
Union 183
The week of the Symposium, the UWM theatre department will perform Slightly Bigger Women, and new play that has been developed with contributions from the greater Milwaukee community. Each performance will include a performance dialogue, a new form of devised theatre, where performers guide a discussion with the audience and incorporate the ideas from that discussion into the performance itself. Theatre is a collaborative process. The mission of this project was to broaden the scope of who is allowed into that process, from those who fill traditional roles in the the theatre, to the larger community, to the audience themselves. / Slightly Bigger Women is inspired by the well known novel Little Women. The beloved characters from the novel are hilariously stuck in their roles and expectations. Only once they learn about how the world has changed over the last century can they begin to realize their dreams, and themselves. / Much of the text of the play was gathered through a letter writing project involving the Women’s Studies department and women from local elder care facilities. In addition to the performance dialogue, the audience is encouraged to add to the conversation via interactive displays in the lobby and social media prompts. The familiarity of the characters of Little Women and the humor of the script further inspires collaboration with the audience. / I wish to present the new creative form of performance dialogue and how we developed it through working with multiple departments, the community, featured audiences, and the actors. / My role as assistant director has allowed me access to each of these steps, particularly the rehearsal process with the actors, who have to be trained in improvisation in order to facilitate the performance dialogue. / Performance dialogue is a new way to engage an audience and the public at large. In addition to incorporating guided forum for the purpose of education, the play is also a new form of entertainment, incorporating live theatre and human interaction with user-centric ideals from new and social media. / Slightly Bigger Women runs from April 22 through April 26. Anyone curious to see Performance Dialogue in action, and to participate in it, is welcome to see the play. /
