UPDATE OF THE CENTURY

Wow. A lot has happened, and I’ve posted about none of it. So it goes. This is my update/clarification post.

On April 10 I lead a workshop that I developed at Utah State University, with their beginning acting class. The workshop centered around Theatre of the Oppressed, opening with a brief history lesson on Augusto Boal and his theories, and then moving into exercises that got kids on their feet. My primary focus for the workshop was to see how untrained “actors” or audience members would respond to Forum Theatre techniques. I was initially worried that I’d run too long (I had two hours lol, but I’m a rambly anxious mess) so within the slides for the workshop I gave myself the leeway to run a shorter version, focused around Image Theatre techniques. This wasn’t what I initially wanted to do–I thought Forum Theatre was the move, you know?–but it proved fruitful, as it went WAY smoother than expected, with tons of engagement from the kids. Because of this, I was able to run both the Image Theatre and Forum Theatre sections, to great avail, and finish on time. The whole thing was filmed and photographed, thanks to my lovely former professor. All the pictures with me in them are too big to upload here, however.

The beginning acting class in question.

From April 18-25 I was in New York, primarily for cultural rehabilitation. Utah can be a lot for me sometimes. During this time, though, I met with my thesis mentor in person twice–thank you Andrew for indulging me and being content to just get coffee and walk through a park talking–and had several extremely fruitful conversations, both with him and my peers. Andrew seemed intrigued by me and my ideas, and challenged me a lot on aspects I wasn’t thinking about. He made it clear to me that what I was doing with the workshop was very cut and dry, opening with a lecture and then asking for engagement. His primary ask was how I could break this structure to gain engagement from the audience almost involuntarily, before they know that they’re hooked. Andrew and I both come from theatre backgrounds, so his insight into storytelling process/method was invaluable for me, as were the conversations and the connection as a whole. Just from talking to him I learned a lot about the affordances of technology–high or low–in the dramatic process. I went into the conversations with the plan to hybridize my workshop, but this led to a whole new level of intrigue. Initially I wanted to simply use zoom and the tools available there (breakout rooms, screen share, chat), and was trying to figure out how best to do this in an interesting way. Andrew proposed that I add more tools; a shockingly simple but needed prod. Since then I’ve been looking into Miro as a live facilitative tool to add in, in addition to zoom, and other tools. He showed me online gallery spaces, akin to VR but hosted on the web, that I thought might be an interesting further exploration as well. Many more insights came from these conversations; using ringers to perform the scenes, dancers instead of actors (people who know how to be present in the body), and further exploration into the power of Image Theatre, especially in an online setting.

Another poignant point brought up in conversation came from Nun, who–like Andrew–was interested in the unseen affordances that a hybrid format offers to this kind of work. She spoke about using tech/digital tools to increase immersion, subsequently increasing engagement. How can I get the audience to participate? Capture their attention in a “theatrical” way, using the digital tools at my disposal.

At this moment I’m working on my presentation for May 2, and compiling my bibliography/archive. I’ll update with how that goes, and post a final reflective blog post soon.

p.s.

Life update: I’m selling all of my material possessions on a whim and going to Shanghai on May 9 with the intention of finding a job and staying. Wish me luck!