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Devising Process
Out of Many took 2 years to create as the entire MFA Cohort of directors, designers, performers, and playwrights came together to create a show out of nothing.
Using Tectonic Theatre's moment work and a variety of other devising techniques we built a show around a kernel of an idea: America. For me artifacts like this video became an important route to explore this kernel. |
Production Images
Photos courtesy of Tim Trumble
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Dramaturg Program Note
It was important to me that the program not seek to explain the show or what it is about. Instead, I aimed for the program to awaken the audiences ability to recognize, appreciate, and contribute to the possibilities and multiplicity of meaning embedded in the show’s creation.
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Many Voices, Many Definitions
“This is America. You’re supposed to pretend that you don’t notice certain things.” ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah “They were so...larger than life, these Yanks, with their ready smiles and booming voices. And their gratitude....She’d lost track of the times an American had hugged her so tightly she’d come off her feet.” ― Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale “Americans may have no identity, but they do have wonderful teeth.” ― Jean Baudrillard, America “Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples - while judging ourselves by our best intentions. And this has strained our bonds of understanding and common purpose.” ― George W. Bush “We are covered by the American banner; let us cling to it, and if required, sacrifice our lives defending it.” ― Jose Antonio Navarro “The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.” ― Anna Julia Cooper “Americans... are forever searching for love in forms it never takes, in places it can never be. It must have something to do with the vanished frontier.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle “I don't care what you Yanks say, cheese should not whiz.” ― Janette Rallison, My Fair Godmother “One of the things that confirmed Hyacinth’s suspicion that America was an evil, lonely place was that people were islands unto themselves. And so when Avril drifted away, there was no friend or neighbor or pastor or coworker to reach out to and ask after her child.” ― Naomi Jackson, The Star Side of Bird Hill “American human beings are a slippery and protean bunch in real life, hard as hell to get any kind of universal handle on.” ― David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments |