VOICES OF COURAGE just closed. The show ended up being a promenade-style semi-immersive hard-hitting experience performed in six locations around the campus culminating in an inspiring and uplifting finale.
We began in August experimenting with various approaches to devising. Given most of the students had never attempted an original work, it was important to introduce them to the process of creating original theatre using various starting points. At the end of the first session, the students began to feel confident that they could do it.
For three weeks we played with style, approaches and techniques equipping the students with a vocabulary for devised theatre. We drew from practitioners such as Anne Bogart, Brecht, and Grotowski. We explored the physical theatre techniques of Jaques LeCoq and Frantic Assembly. We also explored and unpacked the theme of courage. Vast and unwieldy, one of the most challenging aspects of the process was narrowing the theme to digestible topics. The whole group brainstormed on the question of what courage looks like. Their responses ended up as a word collage in the finale of the show. Each student had to ask themselves where they have been courageous in their own lives and where we lack courage in society today. We then took all of these ideas and sorted them by different types of courage: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, Moral and Personal.
The structure of the piece began to emerge – certain topics continued to bubble to the surface. Students took an inventory of their passion, interests and skills and groups began to organically form. Ultimately the casting of each ensemble was left to the Story Weavers (Directors) based on the requirements for their performance. We all agreed that the whole piece had to have a variety of theatrical styles and topics. The issues the students selected for their individual ensembles were: Anxiety, Body Image, The Environment, and Disabilities. We agreed that the finale needed to bring it all together by focusing on voices of courage throughout history. We ultimately used projections, tableaus and music for the ending.
Some of the creative choices were dictated by logistics. Our black box can hold up to sixty people. Were we to have a capacity audience of 240 this would necessitate that we have four ensembles. Each Story Weaver was given the freedom to scout locations on campus to fit their particular piece. The site- specific locations were anchored by the black box and our main stage theatre which we had determined would be the site for the finale. The audience would be divided into four groups and would take different paths to the theatre while watching ten -minute performances in a different order.
We wanted to tackle the issue of immigration so we elected to start the show with a prologue at the front gates of the school which became an immigration processing center where the audience was processed in a harsh, dehumanizing way and divided into their groups by being separated into detention centers. We knew there would be some push back from some audience members who did not want to be separated. This of course, was an intentional choice emphasizing the dehumanizing effect of family separation at the border. Images of Ellis Island and contemporary immigrants at the southern border were used to establish the setting.
The marketing team went to work creating tags akin to the identification tags worn at Ellis Island. Biographies of famous immigrants who had made a contribution to the USA were affixed to the back of each tag. As the audience was processed they received a Voices of Courage lanyard with a stamped number corresponding to their assigned detention center. A guard stood watch, dressed in a costume that was vaguely suggestive of a Nazi concentration camp guard. Lighting was harsh and bright and the feeling was intended to be disorienting. The show opened with narrative and poetry showing three points of view about the issue of immigration: Those opposed, those supportive and the voices of the immigrants seeking safety and work.
The paths were revised numerous times by a student who created elaborate, color-coded maps. The sets, lights, and sound for each location were designed by students. The costume design team decided to use a similar lyrical dance-wear style with each ensemble being assigned a specific color. This provided a unifying effect throughout. Tour guides led each group along the path to each ensemble. The performances drew from original material, poetry, and song. The students incorporated voice over, video, and projections in their performances. They staged their pieces to fit the sites they had chosen.
The Environmental ensemble effectively used a grassy, tree-lined area of campus for their piece entitled “Our House is on Fire.” The ensemble that focused on anxiety in “Alex and You,” selected a courtyard surrounded by classrooms. The physical theatre piece that included “mind monsters” progressed along a path as the story unfolded forcing the audience to move along with the characters on the journey to healing.
In their piece “A World that Wasn’t Made for Us,” the black box ensemble transformed the space into a fractured and multi-leveled environment using projections and sound to capture the experience of disability. The piece incorporated poetry and movement in a highly impactful way which elicited empathy and enlightenment.
In “Adjusting to a Sick Society,” the ensemble interpreted lyrics through three choreographed pieces focused on domestic violence and body image. A dance floor was set up in a courtyard with imagery painted on flats.
There were four rotations. The audience was then immersed in a human rights protest march during which the cast of each ensemble converged outside the theatre chanting “Listen to our voices of courage. We rise up with voices of courage.”
The doors of the theatre were opened and a loud sound- scape of famous protests from the march on Washington D.C. to Parkland were played with images of the protests projected on stage. Ensemble members carried signs and banners were hung over the stage with messages that reflected the issues addressed in Voices of Courage.
The show ended with a performance of the song “Draw Your Own Conclusion,” by Andrew Lippa debuted at the International Thespian Festival for the 90th anniversary of the Thespian Society.
The process was not without its challenges. One of our greatest artistic difficulties was how to transition the audience from one performance to another. We experimented with numerous approaches and ended up simply tying each piece together by asking the audience a question that began with “Do you have the courage to….?”
We had hoped to encourage discussion among the audience members but this was only moderately successful. Ultimately, the subject matter of each performance was so profound that the audience needed time to process before transitioning to the next piece. We adjusted our talk back approach multiple times.
Another challenge we faced was that each performance started at a slightly different time. While they all were ten minutes in length, the staggered timing created an issue for the actual transitions. Thanks to walkie talkies and trials, we opted to allow each performance to begin as the audience settled and then to transition at the same time once the “talk backs” had concluded in each location.
Weather was on the whole favorable for us given that three of our locations were outside. It was a warm, October California week. Wind provided a few challenges leading to a lot of gaff tape and sand bags to prevent sets from blowing over. A rainy-day plan bringing all performances into the main theatre was put in to place. Light cues and transitions were recorded just in case of foul weather.
The cast of each ensemble was responsible for set up and strike of their individual performance areas each night of dress rehearsal and performance since the campus needed to be cleared for the next school day. It was a labor-intensive job but provided a lesson in teamwork for all.
The result of the entire experience was nothing short of a success. The students had total ownership of the piece. They grew by leaps and bounds both personally and artistically. Each night, I asked them to find their center and to feel the ground beneath them. They stood, solidly rooted to the floor. That center, I told them, is the strength from which they would find their voice of courage. I took the opportunity to remind them that while this process was based in devised theatre, the take away are many life lessons. They overcame challenges. They worked collaboratively as a team. They used their individual gifts to do purposeful work. They persevered. They questioned and doubted but kept going. In this age of angst and anxiety, they are stronger than they know. I urged them to draw on their experience to always remember that they are not victims. They are strong and resilient. They are voices of courage.
