Triptych

Our rehearsals are birthing material faster than I anticipated. We come together with more research each session, and the greatest challenge will eventually become distilling it all into cohesive context. Earlier last week, I began to fear that a speedy commencement would lead to a burn-out, but my wariness of this has since been squelched as the pile of inspirational material grows ever higher.

Drew shared some great research with the group this week, leading us to begin focusing on a triptych-based structure of interweaving narrative devices. This is exciting for me because it will encourage us to explore ways in which the sequenced narratives can “touch” one another in theatrical ways. What will begin to happen when simultaneously unrelated and interrelated lines permeate, bisect, and influence one another? I think we are on the path to creating a very exciting way of navigating this piece, without falling into the always dangerously-lurking threat of a naturalistic play – “sofa theatre”, a term I love, which Jenn coined.

We continue to return to a potentially beautiful design scheme focusing on saturation v. desolation. I am looking forward to delving into this further as I spend the next week immersing myself in visual art that speaks to the feeling we are looking for this piece to emanate. One of my favorite characteristicsof collective creation – of writing in space instead of on paper – is the way in which design becomes immediately interwoven into the process from the beginning. Instead of imposing design – set, lighting, costume, sound, etc. – on an already completed textual piece, the elements inform one another, creating a tightly woven entity. Following suit, we’ve also been playing with miniatures, and ideas of macro vs. micro – placing worlds inside of one another and watching what happens when the micro and macro coexist in one space.

A couple of photos to enjoy from the rehearsal room this week, featuring Jenn Dees and Gabe Levey:

More to come.