Some of the plays that we produce/present at Theatre Passe Muraille have been developed by talking with people in the community to generate the material. This is an important and perhaps obvious way to engage the community in our art. But there is also another important but less direct way to engage with our community in the development of our art.
I am committed to the power of Audience Dramaturgy- a concept which refers to the use of an audience’s engagement as a dramaturgical tool. This technique tells us so much about what is working; what is clear and relevant, or just what is funny. The problem is that too often we produce our work once and don’t develop it at all past the opening night so we don’t get much value out of Audience Dramaturgy.
In Canada we have created a situation where everyone is driven to get that “premiere”. I want Theatre Passe Muraille to play a leading role in re-visioning our approach to development. Commitment to new play development should not be determined or achieved exclusively by holding a world premiere opening. I believe that our playwrights, audiences, and community can benefit from prolonging this audience dramaturgy process. We need to put the high value into remounting a production or doing a second production of a play.
Too often work is performed and then disappears. When we invest in the second or third production of a play we are investing in the artist and the future of our art form. So rather than focus all of TPM’s resources on just creating our own original work, we are also an active mid-wife to the many wonderful projects that are being developed outside our walls but require support within our walls in order to achieve the bold visions that might languish underdeveloped.
Some of the plays that we produce/present at Theatre Passe Muraille have been developed by talking with people in the community to generate the material. This is an important and perhaps obvious way to engage the community in our art. But there is also another important but less direct way to engage with our community in the development of our art.
I have a profound faith in the usefulness of our community’s response to our work. Without that response we are missing the last component in the development process. That is why I am committed to the power of Audience Dramaturgy. This is a concept that refers to the information we glean when we monitor a show in front of an audience. They tell us so much about what is working; what is clear and relevant, or just what is funny. This precious information figures into the development process of our work. The more opportunities to perform in front of an audience we get, the more information we get about how to develop a piece of theatre towards its level of excellence. We are doing theatre because we want the audience to be engaged in what we are doing. The only time we can tell how engaged they actually are is when we present the work to them. It is the only time we can use their engagement as a dramaturgical tool to better understand the work we are producing for them. So we affirm that audience engagement with our work is a dramaturgical process. The problem is that too often we produce our work once and don’t develop it at all past the opening night.
We have created a situation where everyone is driven to get that “premiere”. We need to put the same value on remounting a production or doing a second production of a play. Or just putting work in front of an audience once it is ready but while it is still able to develop. I want Theatre Passe Muraille to play a leading role in re-visioning our approach to development.
Historically, Theatre Passe Muraille has been the place where a single institutional vision has refracted a diversity of independent artistic visions. We have a history of mentoring burgeoning creation based groups and independent organizations.
New work today is created differently than it was 15 years ago. Today, many theatre creators and artists also have a talent for producing. Indie companies that do not have their own venue are dependent on the support of others. TPM is the home of a new generation of creators who are self-sufficient as artists but who need the support of a theatre infrastructure and a venue. Rather than focus all of TPM’s resources on just creating our own original work, we are also an active mid-wife to the many wonderful projects that are being developed outside our walls but require support within our walls in order to achieve the bold visions that might languish underdeveloped. We value this ability to present a diversity of independent artistic visions and we see it as an alternative to the “World Premier” mold.
My desire for specific audience engagement in new play development led me to create Buzz—a transformative experience for the audience, the staff and the artist. The Buzz Festival is a tri-annual work in development festival. Buzz intends to build plays and audiences together. Playwrights gain insight into what is working with their piece, where it needs clarity and build a following of invested audience members.
The Buzz Festival takes place for three separate weeks, one week in the fall, winter and spring. On each of those weeks we have four evenings of Buzz activity. Each night is composed of new works at various stages of development. Typically we have three or four groups represented each evening, each presenting 10 – 40 minutes worth of material. We present around 15 groups during each Buzz week. The ten to fifteen minute pieces are likely at the very early stages and they want to test an idea to see if it is worth their investment. The artists for the twenty to forty minute pieces would have made some commitment to developing the piece and may have been in a previous BUZZ. Pieces in the later stages of development are given fifty to sixty minutes.
This fall we are taking BUZZ to another level with our “Bring The BUZZ Festival”. This model is meant to serve the needs of a work that is progressed beyond the draft stage and now needs to have the opportunity to do a full performances of the whole piece in order to gauge it strengths in front of an audience over several weeks of presentation.
We have five plays that will be presented in Theatre Passe Muraille’s “Bring the BUZZ Festival”-
MISTER BAXTER by Kate Fenton, A Quickening Theatre Production, September 20-22, 26-29 at 7:30pm and 2 pm Sat. matinees
UNINVITED A piece in development, Created and performed by Julie Tepperman & Shira Letter, Oct 4-6, Oct 11-13
What You Want: Toronto Written and directed by Andrew Templeton, Oct 15 – Nov 4, 2012
Concord Floral Written and directed by Jordan Tannahill, Co-created with Erin Brubacher, Cara Spencer and the Company, A Suburban Beast Production, Oct 29 – Nov 11, 2012
A Theatre Hetaerae Theatrical Event Created by Claire Burns, Harmony Cohen, Caitlin Driscoll, Eleanor Hewlings, Leah Holder, Natalie Kuleszca, Lisa Li, Leora Morris, and Alysse Rich, November 5 – 25
First up is Mister Baxter starting tonight.
What follows is Kate Fenton, the writer of Mister Baxter, reflecting on how she plans to use audience dramaturgy and the BUZZ philosophy in the next two weeks.
“As the Co-Artistic Director of a small emerging indie theatre company we have produced primarily at the Fringe and Summerworks Festival level. Bring the Buzz is a step up in producing for us.
We really took to heart the dramaturgical nature of the Buzz Festival. And not just from a script development perspective but also as an opportunity to develop the production. I wanted very much to workshop the script to the point where it could be completed and considered a finished product. And for me that needs to be done on its feet. There is obviously a necessary part of the process spent in a room in front of a computer, writing. But in order to lift the story from the page and theatricalize it to determine if it works or not has to be done on its feet. It also needs the most important element, an audience. But it is not enough to just stand and deliver a play in front of people. The play is set in a world and that world is visual and needs to be expressed through lighting, sound, set and costume. And we, the Quickening Theatre, have been very limited with our resources and have not had a lot of opportunity work with all of these elements. New work especially, must undergo a certain degree of design dramaturgy. Meaning that the design and technical elements can help tell the story and illuminate the play in ways that actors and the script alone cannot. We took this as an opportunity to work with particular designers with whom we have wanted to collaborate and we also saw this as a chance to work with certain design components.
Music is something we wanted very much to play with and we knew that in this particular play there was logic to having a live musician. In fact, a play that takes place in the subway almost demands a busker. This is particularly interesting because the ‘busker character’ does not exist in the script but in our production she is like a chorus and I can’t see the play without her now.
Set and costume are particularly expensive but absolutely necessary. Since we were relying on lighting, projections, sound and the architecture to create the world of the play, we decided to simply suggest costume. We worked with the actors to create the image of their character, came up with a colour palate and cheaply fashioned the characters. We have invited several set and costume designers to the show and we intend to meet with them in person to get their feedback and listen to their ideas about how the production could evolve with their work.
The main focus of this particular process has always been the script. I want to get the script to a point where it is finished so that the next incarnation can be focused on interpreting the play and creating it visually. The script began as a ten-minute play with only two storylines. It was first performed the InspiraTO festival and then it expanded into to a fifty-five minute play with three story lines colliding. Something I struggle with most is, knowing when a line doesn’t work. Is it because the writing is not clear, or because the intention the actor is playing is wrong and is that because the writing is not clear? It is fascinating to hear and witness the process of each actor navigating their way toward these people.
In this process we are losing our main actor for the last two performances and as an experiment we’ve decided to have two guest artists. This is something I am really excited by because when a guest artist has to just jump in with out having the time to make well thought out and deliberate choices they must rely on their instinct and what it is in the script that hits them immediately. I am really excited to see how two new and raw interpretations will illuminate new things in the script for me. I am also fascinated to see what it will do for the other actors. And how it might change the tone of the play. Especially because the character of Mister Baxter is the axis on which the whole play pivots.
The two guest artists that we have coming in are veteran actors of both theatre and film, Julien Richings and Martin Julien. Their level of experience and expertise will bring some new information as well.
I am really looking forward to it!”
Andy McKim
(with a contribution from Kate Fenton, writer of MISTER BAXTER, A Quickening Theatre Production, September 20-22, 26-29 at 7:30pm and 2 pm Sat. matinees)
