I don’t think anyone knew how long this pandemic would last. I remember meeting a new cast in the beginning of March to read Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors for an unrehearsed production. We had one actor call in sick because he wasn’t feeling well. The rest of us read the play and then went home. By the following week everything shut down. It was strange but not earth-shattering. It just felt like a bump in the road.
But as the days turned into weeks and then months, productions were cancelled - nine total - and the hours stretched longer into a feeling of uncertainty. Some friends got together fairly quickly to do Zoom readings. They were fun, they filled the time, but they were not theater. Or at least not the kind of theater we practiced - up close and very intimate with an audience.
Around this time, the world was turning upside down. There were challenges, protests, people dying, and as a creative person, I felt limited. Making theater was my way to dialogue about issues. But here was the feeling of being stuck. You could read, protest, talk to friends, and try to be more aware and active, but it was not the same. At this time, ideas started to “cook” in my mind like a crockpot. It was a slow process. Sometimes you just have to be patient. So you wait. Then begin moving forward. But it’s slow, like walking knee-high through the snow. There doesn’t appear to be a path. So you make your own.
It was the middle of summer, and I started talking to friends about trying to build a model, or find a way to work with people in person, safely and at a distance. Traditional methods were out, but could we get together inside and outside wearing masks while practicing social distancing and try to make something work? I did not know where this would lead us, but I wanted to work with a very small group of people, and at least try to operate in this new reality.
Creating a shared social space
Julie Bayer (l), Heidi Swarthout, Sean Hargadon, Jennifer Reeves Wilson Hicks and Tiffany Jasinski review some video footage of previous work. Not pictured: Lori Holm, Galen Malick, Tara Morrison and Michael Wagman.
So, armed with some initial ideas and a desire to learn, actors were contacted and we began at Imago Studios in downtown Elgin. This is a large place with multiple open spaces. Of course, theater of this kind would not be traditional, but it would be a start. It would be a way to move forward and work the problem we were all facing.
By adapting Shakespeare exercises I learned in graduate school, the plan was to have a starting point and then build from there. At the same time, I was curious about devising as practiced by the Tectonic Theater Project led by Mosies Kaufman. The goal was to get together once a week for a few hours to practice these techniques. The hope was to produce some kind of Shakespeare show for an outdoor audience along with building an ambulatory production using these new techniques.
We worked over a series of weeks, trying and adjusting, experimenting and exploring. What we found was a way to work safely so everyone felt comfortable. We also explored the different ways that stories can be told. This doesn’t always include dialogue. And it doesn’t need to be actors talking directly to each other in close spaces. There are many tools available: movement, gesture, text, sounds along with shifting the style of performance to something a bit larger that plays directly to an audience instead of each other.
While we found other ways to perform; ways that have been around a long time; ways that other groups have used; ways that we just mashed together in that crock pot like a stew - what we found was a connection. And that was the most important thing. We opened our minds to new possibilities, to new ways of thinking, to what makes a play, to new worlds on a stage.
All this led to an important discovery: theater is about creating a shared experience. It’s about making a social space that exists between all the people in the room. This shared experience can happen even if you are at a distance from other people and wearing masks. The truth is, you adjust to the new reality, and a connection can still be made. That’s what separates theater’s tactical form from a digital presentation where everything is inanimate. This is not new information. But what is worth noting is this: a connection can still be made even within these limitations and it is worth exploring that connection with other actors. And when the time comes, a small audience of one or five or ten can be invited to watch. As Peter Brook once said: an actor and an empty space is all that is needed to make theater come alive. But first you have to make that shared space - somewhere, anywhere.
So, that’s what we’ve been doing this year, behind the scenes. And that’s what we’ll continue to do moving forward. In 2021, we hope to present these theatrical constructions to an audience. We hope you will join us when the time is right and the world begins to open back up a bit. We hope to once again make a shared space with you.