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Performance Workshop: Creating Theatrical Scenarios Using Viewpoints

October 22, 2024 - October 23, 2024
7pm - 9pm
Location
Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Memorial Hall, 112, 163
601 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Access & Features
  • Registration/RSVP

How do performers come up with bits, characters, and dramatic scenarios? How do they create imaginative worlds that defy boundaries?

This two-day workshop will introduce students to the process of devising original theatrical work. It emphasizes Viewpoints, a movement-based improvisation technique used to create inventive scenarios and surreal dramatic ideas.

Material developed in the workshop will be used as part of the devising process for A New and Well-Ordered City, which will premiere in April, 2024 in the Glenn Close Theatre, for the W&M Department of Theatre & Performance.

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 7-9pm – Viewpoint movement exercises and discussion on the show topic to generate material and discover creative ideas.

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7-9pm – Using material from the previous day, students develop dramatic scenarios and experiment with different performance styles.

A New and Well-Ordered City

How are cities made? Block by block, brick by brick.

This devised performance project stages the imagination of a city planner, exploring the aspirations we invest in urban spaces, the labor of designing them, and the cycles of action that bring them to life. Inspired by Williamsburg’s history as one of the first planned cities in colonial America, we explore the tension between cities as imagined utopias filled with jubilation and collective spirit, and the drudgery and tedium required to bring them into being.

Using a collaborative mode of making, we explore the tension between the well ordered rules, regulations, and routines that make city life go, and the unpredictable chaos of urban development. As the performance unfolds, a snowball effect emerges—what starts as a series of simple actions and routines rapidly evolves into a complex, living organism that integrates students' talents as storytellers, writers, dancers, artists, and musicians. This crescendo mirrors the progression of urban environments, leaving the audience with a visceral understanding of the dynamic and overwhelming nature of cities.

Sponsored by: Department of Theatre & Performance

Contact

[[bwschmidt, Bryan Schmidt]]