Performing the World

Catalog description

This course will focus on the interdisciplinary practice of marrying found text to non-literal as well as naturalistic movement. Through two weekends of intensive, on our feet, rehearsal the class will create an original work that will be performed for an invited audience. The primary objective of this course is to impart to students a tangible way to access a treasure trove of possibilities for creating and performing original work. A key to this process is the use of a technique pioneered by The Wooster Group in which performers’ lines are conveyed through an in ear device, rather than through memorization. This approach makes it possible to quickly put verbatim found text on its feet, and to combine it with complex choreography as well as various other staging directives. Two examples of found texts that will be introduced in class are conversations between James Baldwin and Margaret Mead and recordings of one-minute stories by John Cage. The students will also be encouraged to explore sources that speak to their own social, cultural and political passions.