making theatre in Open Space
Allison & Jim Baensch
mbody at iinet.net.au
Thu Jul 15 05:40:32 PDT 2010
Hi Stella,
Good to hear you have used Open Space for writing.
I also used it while writing a thesis recently.
I tried to map part of the process that was going on inside my head
in words and sketches.
The thesis ended up being far too long and I had to cut it in half
(several times over the many months of writing) and that section was
left on the cutting room floor.
But the process lifted me out of one of my 'sloughs of writing
despond' and got me going again.
How did you use OS for editing?
Allison
On 15/07/2010, at 7:37 PM, Stella Duffy wrote:
> hi all,
> I'm new to this list, having been at all of Improbable's 'Devoted &
> Disgruntled' Open Spaces led by Phelim McDermott in London in the past
> years. Some years ago, when I came to a major impasse in the
> editing of my
> eleventh novel, I tried editing in OS and was astonished at how
> useful it
> was for me, alone, with my manuscript. This year I have shared OS,
> along
> with other practitioners, with my buddhist practice here in the UK,
> and most
> recently I've been working on a new theatre project and (with Phelim's
> encouragement!)I now - shyly - share with you the report I returned
> to the
> National Theatre Studio who generously gave 30+ of us the space to
> work on
> this new project in OS.
> I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone else who has used OS for
> writing or where it's been used for making/devising theatre work.
> best wishes,
> Stella Duffy
> stelladuffy.wordpress.com
>
>
> My report to the NTS :
> I'm emailing to thank you all so much for your support for the
> Chaosbaby
> Project Open Spaces this weekend and last.
>
> To give you some idea of what happened, and how valuable it was :
> 36 people attended over both days (many of them came to both).
> The age range was from 21 to mid-60's.
> They were 11 actors, 2 actor-musicians, 4 actor-writers, 1
> choreographer-dancer, 6 directors, 1 designer, 1 film-maker, 2
> musicians, 2
> playwrights, 5 writer-directors, 1 photographer.
>
> In the two days, using the Open Space form, various groups &
> individuals :
> - wrote a 14-page traditional/'straight' narrative for the piece
> - developed character breakdowns
> - worked on the physicality/movement for a number of characters/spaces
> - held many discussions about the nature of the piece
> - discussed the nature of chaos (as a theatrical concept, as a
> dance/movement concept, and in terms of chaos theory and mathematics)
> - created/drew up initial design ideas
> - wrote 3 new monologues
> - worked on the (two, brief) pre-existing texts
> - wrote and recorded a lullaby
> - documented the work on camera and video
> - made a puppet show, with live music accompaniment
>
> Above all, I think, we showed ourselves it is not only possible,
> but perhaps
> preferable to work in Open Space, with a wide range of theatre-makers,
> across many disciplines, which generated an enormous amount of
> work/material, led not by a single director or writer, but by the
> whole -
> and that in doing so it is still possible to have a cohesive idea
> of what
> we are making and where best our skills might be used.
>
> I'm really excited about taking this on further, I especially loved
> that,
> having met Slav (on the door, doing security) the first Saturday,
> he took
> (wonderful) photos for us on the 2nd Saturday.
>
> We're looking at a full weekend/three day Open Space to further the
> work
> later in the year.
>
> I've worked in made/devised/improvised theatre for the past twenty-
> five
> years, this was one of the few times I've felt that it was TRULY a
> shared
> group endeavour and not, at least in some ways, a director or
> writer-led
> experience. And happy though I am to work as both a director and a
> writer, a
> working form that uses ALL the skills in the room, to the utmost
> that can be
> offered, feels like a much better use of time, space, money and, most
> importantly, the full range of all the artists' abilities.
>
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