Working with the actors collaboratively in first an improvisational than compositional setting allowed us to develop material for the production in an organic and research driven way. We were writing performance as we investigated and rehearsed different forms.
The vision for the piece was to empower incoming first-year freshman's percpetual abilities rather than control their perspectives. We addressed topics such as; Gender and Race Misperceptions, Room-Mates, Sexual Assault, Classroom Ethics, and Substance Abuse. We discussed each topic and tried to get to the core of each issue and then chose the best way to enter a performance score that would most articulate our findings.
Impressively, we were all able to completely develop, document, and perform the project in approximately 3 weeks (excluding pre-production meetings).
We were able to lay a foundation for demonstrating a program that had never been done before on the campus, and show how powerful theatre can be in shaping people's understanding. The politics within art making is made up of a complex web that can weave both controversy and enlightenment.
The following photographs were taken with a my father's old Canon 35 mm camera. They illustrate the body casts made for the project that were used during our performance about substance abuse. They are made out of: cling wrap, clear packing tape, acrylic sheeting, and metal dowels.
The figure on the right represented a human vessel of substance abuse the figure on the left represented a human vessel of healthy alternatives. Throughout performance, actors would present scenarios in either case and then "deposit" objects from those scenarios into the appropriate vessel; Such as beer cans, cigarettes, excessive Facebook logos, pills, junk food and adversely water bottles, fresh fruit, planners or organizers, hiking trail maps and so on.
Healthy Alternative Vessel
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Substance Abuse Vessel
