Yesterday I received production photos of my devising project at Hendrix College,  *Hope for the Honeybees*.  For four weeks in September, Hendrix theatre students and I devised this family-friendly play exploring the issue of disappearing honeybees for Hendrix’s Family Day.  The play centered on four child protagonists who discover a renegade flower in a post-honeybee world.  Without any prior knowledge of “flowers,” the kids launch an investigation through which they discover a cover-up that disrupts their entire understanding of their place in society and the concepts of “reality” and “truth.”  Even with only four weeks to devise and produce an entire production, this project was by far my easiest devising experience because the cast exemplified three keys to devising success—strong work ethic, positivity, and collaboration.

I have facilitated a lot of devising processes. Through these facilitating experiences, I have learned to be very transparent about the process.  I tell participants how challenging the process can be as well as how rewarding it can be.  This Hendrix cast was the most patient, diligent, and positive group of students with which I have ever devised.  They worked hard and never complained.  It was an honor to work with such a dedicated and mature group of students.  And, of course, the Hendrix staff isn’t too bad, either. It was actually humbling to collaborate with former my former professor (Danny Grace) whose work I so much admire.  He and the entire staff truly made my time at Hendrix enjoyable.  Thanks to everyone at Hendrix!

For four weeks, I have taught drama at Arkansas Governor's School on Hendrix campus in Conway with my co-teacher, Christina Riggins.  This was my fourth time to teach drama at AGS but my first time since in the economically-svelte four week format.  Feeling like I just worked my way through a minor tornado, I must agree with my friend Richard Gobble.  I believe that of all the classes, drama suffers the most from the loss of two extra weeks.  There simply isn't enough time. 

We began the summer with auditioning and acting basics.  After sitting on the THEA Foundation's performance scholarship panel, I know the majority of high school students aren't taught auditioning skills.  I also know the majority of high school students (at least in Arkansas) learn to act through scene work rather than learning acting technique.  In fact, only students from two of the schools represented (Bentonville and Little Rock's Parkview) raised hands to indicate familiarity with the acting technique covered when polled.  (This may be due to Arkansas' requirement that drama teachers certify in speech rather than theatre--two very different disciplines.)  Therefore, I felt it imperative to cover the concepts of goal, obstacle, tactics, and expectations in order to insure a common vocabulary.  

During the second week, we explored avant garde theatre movements such as Dadaism and The Happenings in preparation for AGS's Happening--an annual inter-disciplinary arts event.  Under the theme of "Weathering the Storm," we collaborated with visual arts students using slow motion pantomime scenes, multimedia images and sound, an interactive rain storm, and the deconstruction of our "set" to indicate the various emotions experienced during extreme natural events such as tornadoes.

This left us with two weeks.  I LOVE devising.  Anyone who knows anything about devising knows there's NEVER enough time, but two weeks is NOT enough time.  We charged the small groups of students with devising a ten minute play inspired by the Arcade Fire song of their choice.   Though I definitely don't think a lot of the students initially bought into the concept, they created really cool work in spite of our EXTREME devising time period.

As an educator, I leave this experience feeling very conflicted.  I am ultimately very happy with the students' final work; however, it was incredibly stressful to get it there.  Due to our shortened time period, Christina and I couldn't guide students through questions to discover the holes in their scripts.  We had to be very direct with feedback which inspired quite a bit of resistance.  In spite of our best efforts to explain our transition from facilitators to directors (which is a major part of the devising process) and to talk them  through their scripts' issues, many students felt we squashed their ideas.  Ultimately, I believe the success of the show led them to forgive us, but this one really hurt in the process.

bell hooks discusses how learning is often painful, and I would argue that pain is felt on both sides of the learning--teacher and student.  As I prepare for my next devising experience at Hendrix College in the fall, I feel newly charged to insure the students bond as an ensemble, lead through questions rather than directives, and maintain positivity in the face of the inevitable frustration that is part of the devising process.  As I told my AGS students, though, I believe it is the pain of that frustration that makes the joy so much more powerful.  Devising is incredibly hard work that stretches acting, writing, movement, improvisation, designing, and directing skills.  And THAT is why I still believe it is one of the most holistic, rewarding experiences in theatre.

Kassie Misiewicz, artistic director of Trike Theatre, asked me to lead a "Create-A-Play" residency over spring break.  I was thrilled at the prospect of spending a week in beautiful Northwest Arkansas and working with Trike.  Trike Theatre is a professional children's theatre in Bentonville (Wal-Mart headquarters for all you out-of-staters).      Kassie and Trike asked me to do a three day (4 hrs. each day) residency in which I would facilitate 3rd-5th graders in devising a play based on tabloid headlines and a 3 hour professional development workshop on devising for Trike teaching artists.  The limited time and my limited experience in devising with this age group gave me a sense of freedom to experiment and trust the process.  

I began the process by researching those crazy supermarket headlines (not celebrity gossip-zines like *The Enquirer* mind you--think of true tabloid journalism like *The World*).  I quickly discovered that many stories involved aliens from Planet Zeeba.  I really felt like I should make the somewhat abstract process of devising more concrete for this age group.  Creating a planet seemed like a hook they could hang their hats on.  Here are pictures from Planet Zeeba:

I truly struggle with the process vs. product conundrum.  Our limited time, however, required concentrating on the process which began immediately upon entering on the first day with their vision of an "alien" planet:

Then we took a walk in Bentonville's truly quaint town square with an eye on color, unifying elements, specific locales, etc.  Back in the classroom, we used visual dramaturgy to create envision Planet Zeeba's town square:

We focused on creating the environment of Planet Zeeba that entire first day.  Again, I felt the campers could use that concrete idea of place to then imagine inhabitants the second day.  Toward the end of the second day, we used frozen images and improvisation to create scenes based on the tabloid headlines about Planet Zeeba.  We ended camp by taking parents and guests on a trip to Planet Zeeba where they experienced the perils of a broken spaceship, a rock star abduction, and an appearance by Michael Jackson who nows claims Zeeba as home.  I truly had a blast playing and creating with the campers.

As always, I learned valuable lessons.  I start every devising process scared out of my mind even though I count devising as one of my specialties.  This project really forced me to trust the process in ways I haven't before.  I facilitated more visual art work than I ever have, and that facilitation reinforced my belief in using limits to inspire creativity.  I gave the campers no limits on their houses or the town itself.  The town really didn't need limitations.  The housed did.  The campers outlined crazy-shaped windows and doors that proved extremely difficult to cut out of cardboard.  I think I will limit campers to three windows and two colors of paint.  Finally, I felt the campers felt slightly intimidated at the sharing.  Their investment was so high in the creation phase that I felt a little sad when I saw walls arise under the gaze of siblings and peers.  Part of me thinks I should have only talked about our process and what we created instead of taking guests on a trip to Planet Zeeba with us.  The other part of me thinks its really important for people to regain their sense of play...especially play WITH their kids.  I definitely want to consider the intimidation factor more in future process-oriented work.

Oh....and the devising workshop...what a pleasure!!!!  I got to talk devising techniques with folks who speak theatre--fun stuff!


A big thanks to all the great folks at Trike Theatre and especially Kassie for inviting me up.  Let's do it again!