Monday, January 10, 2011

The Project Begins: Devising 101

Tonight we had our first Heyokah rehearsal.  Actually, it was less of a rehearsal and more of a series of games designed to introduce us to each other and to the process of devising performance.

So what is devising? 

Devising is variously….

A model of cooperative and non-hierarchical collaboration
An ensemble
A collective
A means of taking control of work and operating autonomously
A commitment to total community
A commitment to total art
Negating the gap between art and life
A means to reflect contemporary social reality
A distrust of words
A means to incite social change
An escape from theatrical conventions
A challenge for theatre makers
A challenge for spectators
An expressive, creative language
Innovative
Risky
Inventive
Experimental 
Non-literary

I'm sure that answers all of your questions... right?  

But seriously, a devised performance is a performance that is created without a preexisting script by the same people who ultimately perform the show; Bill, Jim, Birgitta, James, Vanessa, Hannah, Kaleena, Hossein, Stephen, Ben, and I will both create and then share our Heyokah piece.  

Check back tomorrow for more about our specific project!

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