This $$^@# does not write itself

Last night I finished what I am calling a rehearsal draft of the play.  Most of it is complete, but a few scenes remain to be worked out in rehearsal.  I like to leave some things open so the kids continue to feel as if the play is theirs.  In truth it is part them part me.  Throughout the writing process, which entailed me locking myself in my house for 5 days during the Thanksgiving break, doing nothing but writing, reading and thinking about the project, I was  deeply influenced by the work the ensemble had done over the 2 months of our devising work  (recalling movement sequences they had created)  but would also forget it and let the play develop naturally as I wrote it.  Some scenes were based on their devising, but some of it grew entirely from the writing process.
Today I will get to school early, make about 15 copies of the 40 page script, and we will read it aloud.  It should take 2 days of reading.  After that I will spend a few days revising based on what I hear and the students input and we will begin casting and rehearsals next week.
Two things about the title of this blog entry. One:  I have a colleague, a drama teacher at another school, who told me that writing plays was easy:  once you have  character's and their wants decided on you place an obstacle in their path, and the play just develops.  Two: I saw a t-shirt in a local shop:  a picture of Shakespeare, with the words:  This shit writes itself.   Well, after many weeks of sweating through the ideas of the play and a solid 5 days of nothing but writing I have to say:  it ain't true.  This was hard.  Maybe my friend and Shakespeare know something I don't, but from my experience trying to take ideas created and developed by young people, and meld it into a coherent, enjoyable, funny and meaningful theatrical piece known as a play, took a hell of a lot of time and focus.  It was far from easy, and it sure didn't write itself.  I'm just sayin'.
Let's hope the kids like it today.

Sleep No More and Islamic Art: Occupy the Hagia Sophia

I have been working on the script for a week now.  Mostly writing ideas.  Some might call it procrastinating.  Maybe, maybe not.  A student emailed me some basic thoughts that were intriguing--he wanted some new character introduced one that represented an outsider religion into what was essentially a Christian/Islamic conflict.  It got me thinking how odd it was to be developing a play about religion, religious conflict, and religious art.  He proposed a Jewish artist.  I thought, great, if it isn't complicated enough I have to now placate all religious views....

So this is in my thoughts when I went to NYC this past week.  3 events there, mixed in with this students thoughts, influenced the way the play is taking shape.  One:  I went to visit the Occupy Wall Street site, and then on my way back to the subway, I walked by the site of the world trade center.  Then took the subway uptown to the recently reopened Islamic art exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, and then, in the evening saw the most spectacular theatre I have seen in years:  Punchdrunk's adaptation/meditation on Macbeth:  "Sleep No More".  

These 3 seemingly unrelated events really did a number on my subconscious.  What I discovered at the Islamic art exhibit was how Ottoman art in particular, and Islamic art in general, were greatly influenced by art movements and artists that lived throughout their empire.  For the Ottomans, and this has direct bearing on the work that is in the Hagia Sophia, it is quite possible that Sephardic Jewish influences were present.  The Ottomans, for all their other faults, were very tolerant and in fact encouraging, of different religions and cultural influences.  Indeed the Jews and the Muslims had a lot in common in this region of the world, both being kicked out of Spain during the Inquisition, just before the fall of Constantinople.  In fact the Ottoman's invited the jews to repopulate the cities of Salonika and Istanbul after the fall of the Byzantine empire decimated these cities populations.  So, for our play, it is quite possible to include characters from all over the Ottoman empire who were brought to the court because of their artistic talent.  

Then there was "Sleep No More".  In simplest terms it was as if I was invited to participate in someone else's nightmare, both as a witness and a participant.  And what a nightmare it was: the Macbeths.  It was presented non linearly and mostly in dance/movement.  I could, as a masked observer/participant do anything in a five story "haunted house" environment--explore a room, follow non masked actors, whatever.  It reminded me of this basic idea while writing this script:  if you can say it with movement and sound and lighting there is no need for words.

This concept is reliving me of the burden of taking the deep work by our students, which was created through movement, and trying to put it into words.  I think that it this point I am writing a sketch: something that outlines movements and physical pictures and will let words come if necessary through the 6 week rehearsal process.  This is true for many episodes in the play.  There are some of course where words are coming as I work on it, but for most it is getting the picture in my head and writing it down.  What follows is an example, a draft of the opening, which places a high value on movement and sound but does include some necessary dialogue to move our story along.

Oh, before I include that I have to talk of the Occupy movement (Helicopters hover over Berkeley as I sit in a cafe near the UC campus, monitoring the student strike here).  It reminded me of the impetus behind this play in the first place.  The Hagia Sophia's history is relevant to today's world, as all history is.  It reminds us that human's have had the conflicts before that dominate the headlines today.  Being near the world trade center site reminded me of the news from a few months ago of the outrage by some at the proposal of building a mosque/islamic community center near this "sacred site".  So the outrage at the changing of the Hagia Sophia from a Christian church first built by a pagan emperor, then transformed into a different brand of Christian worship by invading armies from the West, then it's conversion into an Islamic mosque, and finally a secular museum plays itself out in today's world as well.

Ok so here's the opening as of now.

Opening/Prologue

1453 

There is music, of course.

One young artist runs out onto the stage from backstage—ending up downstage center.  It is a girl or a boy, carrying a blank canvas.  There is a sense that s/he has been running a long time, and is making certain no one is following.   Another comes, from a different place, perhaps from the audience area.  They embrace, but are clearly wary, looking about. One begins to speak, but the other stops them, so they won’t be heard.They set up the canvas and begin to work on it together.  A series of words appear on the backdrop: ‘ The Year: 1453.   The place: The Hagia Sophia, the great church of the Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople.  It is the last moments of the Byzantine Empire.’

They are working on the painting, and we hear the sounds of war in the background—canons, explosions, yelling.  The two artists are clearly fearful and painting with great urgency.  We can tell, through their clothing that the two artists are different.  One is an Ottoman Turk, one a Byzantine.  In the background we hear the progression of the battle that rages outside.  The artists move their work, closer and closer to the audience, in a zig/zag pattern across and down the stage, finally ending crouching below the stage, on the stage left side of the theatre, hiding, but still working.   It has to be clear, through movement if not in words,  that it is essential that they get the painting done, now!.  Armies clash behind them, in front of them, some in giant shadow behind, some in shadow on scrim (using as many walls as possible to create this battle, both in shadow and on stage)  Shouts:  The Turks have broken through the walls and other shouts we will develop.  Actors in black costume will be holding hand held lights and will cast  shadows of the battle.  There will be a rhythmic exchange of movement/tableux between the painters and the soldiers.  Only when the soldiers are in tableux should the artists speak.  At last  the Sultan Mehmet II Enters downstage center, a soldier is seen taking something of value.  Mehmet  II holds him by the neck:

Mehmet  II

Why are you destroying this floor, soldier?

Soldier

For the faith, my commander.

Mehmet  II

Did you not hear?  Leave the building alone.  The Hagia Sophia is mine.  Content yourselves with treasures from elsewhere.

This comes to a tableux (dead soldiers, Mehmet)

Our artists come to life here and are focus

Ottoman Artist

We have to hide this.  If the Sultan or any of his soldiers find it, he will surely destroy it, and kill us.

Byzantine Artists

But it’s not finished.

Ottoman Artist

We don’t have time to finish it.  It’s better like this, half done, then destroyed.  Destroyed it does no good.

Byzantine Artist

A few more strokes, with your pen, then, your Calligraphy is what makes it whole.

Ottoman Artist

And your portraits, I wish I could paint like you—you bring to life the very prophets themselves.

Byzantine Artist

I could teach you, and you could teach me.

Ottoman Artist

But it is forbidden

Byzantine Artist

So it is. For now.  I wish we could show this.  Even incomplete it is something the world has never seen.

Ottoman Artist

It is beautiful, yes, but they are not ready yet.  Maybe, someday.  But not now.

Let’s hide it now, or we will die and it will be destroyed and nothing will change. 

Byzantine Artist

Even unfinished, it is a thing of beauty—a blend of our worlds.

There comes a point where the tableux’s begin to move in slow motion, while our artists continue to talk, at last they notice the movement and urgency again takes over.

They will find us…where can we hide it.

Ottoman Artist

The building itself will hold it.  Behind one of your mosaics.  Maybe the one of the prophet, Jesus, or the one of Mary.

Byzantine Artist

No.  Those are the first places  they’ll look. Let’s think. 

Ottoman Artist

No time.

Byzantine Artist

No, I have it…upstairs, on a railing, there’s some strange writing that no one knows anything about…It just looks like scratches, nothing of value or of danger to your faith.  They’ll leave that alone…Let’s roll it up and put it under there.  Quickly….

They roll up the unfinished painting, and make their way and we show them hiding it, as the shadows of the soldiers move around

End scene

November 1st: Last meeting before writing

Today was the last day of the ensemble before we take a break for almost 3 weeks (there will be one meeting for us to check in on Monday, November 21.)  It was an excellent final meeting and I used a process that I wish I had done at least a week before.  Rather than have the students continue their small group pieces, which were getting us no new ideas, and were getting us, in my opinion, further from things that could actually be used in a play, we worked together.  I first re-told the frame story, which I've recounted in past blogs but basically involves several tour groups of children in the modern Hagia Sophia, and an earthquake causes about 5 kids from all the groups getting stranded in the museum.  Over the course of their stay they encounter 2 main characters that live in the Hagia Sophia as shadows:  two artists, one responsible for the Christian art work, one responsible for the Islamic artwork.  Through the night, different shadows appear recreating different moments in the history of this great building, and recreating other things that reflect the themes inherent in the building.  Then, a secret is revealed:  a piece of artwork is hidden in the Hagia Sophia that has never been found.  It is something that these two shadow artists created together:  a piece that reflects an integration of Christian and Islamic art forms--it hasn't been revealed because these artists felt the world wasn't ready for it.  And the question is:  is the world ready for it now?
This is the basic frame story.  I then asked the ensemble to think of anything we have done over the past 2 months that they felt absolutely had to go into the play.  And to list other things they wanted in the piece as I began my writing.  Our list was large, but specific.

• Pulling people out of a hat in shadow (something our shadow artist, christine marie, showed us).
• A skit called:  "In the name of the conquistador" that a group presented based on themes.
• Cheese jokes (background:  every play I have written has a cheese joke in it--they wanted to make certain this one does as well)
• Transparent cars (again from our shadow introduction)
• A scene with people on shoulders (again from our work on themes)
• A prologue showing the Christian and Islamic artist painting together in secrecy, with great urgency, as we hear the sounds of the armies fighting in 1453.  The painting has to get done now, and hidden, before it is destroyed.
• Make it a musical
• Include a character of a drunk old man
•  Have the Hagia  Sophia as a character/narrator.
•  A commercial break in the middle of the play, at height of action.
•  How to choose the 5 that get left behind ideas:  tour guides ask questions that check them; have them be artists; they ate cheese last night...
• An arugement as to which cheese is better:  Italian or Turkish.
• Graffiti:  connect modern graffiti with viking graffiti that is in the Hagia Sophia
•  The shadow artists cannot rest until their work is revealed and accepted.
• Create background stories for the 5 chosen tourists that leads to conflicts.
• In shadow work include characters from a previous play which dealt with the dream world
• An earlier piece (from our first session where students imbuded an object with sacredness) that involved the clock representing time itself.
• The conflict the fossati bros and the sultan at the time Abdul Medjid must have had by uncovering and then covering some mosaics.
• Use tableuxs

Each item involved spirited discussion and thought.  Then, and this is the part I should have done earlier, and now in retrospect, should be an every other week activity through the devising process: after making our list students volunteered to take responsibility for one or more of the items, and writing anything from simple summaries, thoughts, all the way to full blown scenes, that they would email to me, so I could use them in my writing.  A few hours after the session ended I received an email from a student who wrote a biography of one of the 5 young tourists trapped in the museum.

The next two weeks is about writing for me.  I think this last session will be helpful, and I am anxious to see if any follow through and write up their ideas.  So, a note to those following along, and to myself for next years devising project:  Every few weeks have a session where we note what we have done that we feel must find its way into our piece, and get the students to take more responsibility for at least attempting to write it as a scene right then!

Story, story, story.

This has been a week entirely focused on story.  And in three different ways:  the main ensemble; a smaller group of students that were interested in helping flesh out the "frame story"; and conversations with theatre director Amy Sass, and a colleague that I had traveled with this summer to Turkey with our Fulbright program.
  The main ensemble presented their pieces to us on Wednesday.  They were very fine pieces, reminding me of the intelligence and commitment that is within this group of 40 middle school students.  If nothing else the  different approaches groups took were fascinating.  Some were purely physical, almost dance pieces, some rooted in some sort of quasi mystic/religious realm, and some rooted in modern experience--similar to sketch comedy.  But, as always, the question is what do you do with these fragments?  The approach I took was one I adapted  from Will Weigler's excellent book:  Strategies for Playbuilding.  Something he called the unpacking process.  It's a handy way at focusing on the details that stand out in a story or moment.   Basically it is a way of viewing a piece (and it can be done with fictional texts, personal stories, non fictional magazine/newspaper articles, etc) and finding what resonates and interpreting what the piece reveals. 
Here is the unpacking process I used:  After each group presented, I divided a large piece of chart paper into 3 categories:  Phrases, Gestures and Sounds.  I asked the audience to tell me phrases that struck them from the piece they just witnessed.  I wrote them down.  Then I asked for gestures that resonated, and wrote those down.  Here we used Weigler's definition of gestures:  simply what people did; physical phrases/movements with hands/arms/body/eyes.  A gesture could be the way someone covered his/her mouth, or the way someone looks at you, or looks away from you...basically anything on the physical plane.  Then we wrote down sounds from the piece that resonated for us as audience:  maybe the sound of whispering, or clapping, or shuffling of feet, basically anything that you would have noticed if your eyes were closed and sound was the only stimulus you could respond to.
We wrote all this down, one chart paper for each group.  This will be used on Monday, our next session (although it is Halloween so I'm not certain it will really be a focused session, so maybe it will have to wait until Wednesday: yipes), groups will have the choice of working with one of these things highlighted (say when someone yelled: "stop", or the way someone walked, or the sudden stopping of the drumming) and create a new scene based on that gesture, or phrase or sound, or creating a new scene based on one of the 30 or more themes we have generated, or continuing to refine on one of the scenes already created.  Next week will be our last week of developing material.  After that, a 2 week break until the week before Thanksgiving,  time for me to compile all the notes I have been taking and attempt a draft of a play. Goal to read through some rough draft right before Thanksgiving break, so I can revise over the holiday.   Reminder to self:  Rehearsal draft (meaning enough that we can cast and begin blocking and rehearsing it as a play) due first week of December!
The other part of "story" development I will share in the next posting:  conversations with colleagues, friends, and the contributions of the smaller group of students that have been discussing the frame story.  I will leave with this teaser:  our frame story is beginning to take significant shape and is constantly shifting to reflect our ensemble's and my own deeper understanding of what the significance of the Hagia Sophia is to our own lives 5,000 miles away. I am beginning to get very excited about our story.

Introducing the frame and episode creation

I introduced the frame story to the ensemble today.  For the full idea, see the last posting, but here is a summary:  a group of students from different cultures are touring the Hagia Sofia and eventually get trapped in it (one idea is through an earthquake-- historically accurate as earthquakes have wracked the building over its 1500 years, and it resonates now given the devastating earthquake in Turkey a few days ago) and encounter shadows from the Hagia Sophia's past (both historic and of our own invention).  

 This frame leaves room for scenes/episdoes/pieces that are specific to the Hagia Sophia, as well as those more related to the lives of the students.

I asked the ensemble to re look at our themes that we posted all around the room and to break into groups of their choice to create movement sequences, tableuxs, stories, songs, chants, scenes, whatever, inspired by one of the themes.  I also gave them the following as a worksheet to get them thinking about it in a way that I find a bit more useful than just: "go create something"...

Devising our play influenced by the Hagia Sophia

In your group choose one of the themes we have worked on or find a new theme. Fill out this form together and then use it to create either a tableux, a movement piece, a monologue, a story, a rhyme, a song, or a complete scene that you can share with the whole ensemble.  Don’t forget the pieces don’t necessarily have to be rooted in the Hagia Sophia but they should share some of the themes that are brought to life by this ancient building.  Your stories can be modern and based on your own experiences. 

How does___________________________ start?

              Theme

What makes it _____________________ continue?

What leads people to let _______________ continue?

What gets people to do something about_____________ ?

What changes people’s minds about _________________?

What makes people see  ____________________ in a different way?

What stops _______________________ cold?

What divides people over ___________________?

What unites people over ____________________?

What else do we need to know about _____________?

 They broke into groups of about 3-5 students and they each, by luck chose different themes:

Swagger

Secrecy

Hate

Survival

Silence

People enjoy status and values….

Mystery

Sacred death

I circulated and watched--we will present them on Wednesday.  They still are working abstractly, so I am hoping that once they are presented we can work more on how to ground them into something that can take place on the stage.   I can see how each of these themes will work within our larger frame story (for example with swagger:  I think of the emperor Justinian's remarks when first walking through the completed Hagia Sophia "Solomon, I have surpassed you", as a form of swagger.  Perhaps in the play when a tour guide brings this up, or if Justinian himself appears from the shadows and utters these lines, it will prompt whatever scene or piece is created by these students on swagger.) 

Some students came up with some ideas on the frame idea, to add a sense of urgency to it.

1.  If the trapped kids don't find a way out by morning they will become "shadows" as well.

2.  One of the trapped kids must become a shadow to keep all of them from becoming one

3.  Through the night sometimes the trapped kids get separated from each other, leading to a heightened sense of urgency.

All in all a good session:  I look forward to seeing their work on Wednesday and building from there, as well as furthering my own thinking about the frame idea.  In general the students seemed interested in the frame idea.  Hopefully interested will soon turn into excitement.  We will see.

Inspiration is where you find it when you need it

I was not feeling so great about this project during the week.  It seemed that the ensemble was stuck in our explorations.  I felt the inspiration that we had a month ago was vanishing.  Perhaps it was the hiatus to learn about shadows, or something else, but whatever the cause it didn't feel as if we were getting any closer to a story that we could begin working with. And I was worrying, for in two weeks, I am taking a week away from school for family reasons and I hoped to use some of that time to write. This is a tough part of Devising work for me, for I am a storyteller and I believe that theatre should only exist because there is no other way to tell a particular story.  I was beginning to feel that the Hagia Sophia was holding us back, and ready to simply explore themes of sacredness.  But, something happened today that I am seemed to unlock a narrative well.  I took one of my regular drama classes to a special student showing of films that will be part of the upcoming Arab Film Festival in Berkeley and San Francisco later this month.  There was a program of 5 short films representing different Arab countries--films that hopefully would blow our American students stereotypes of the Arab world out of the water. And they did. They were fantastic films in their own right, but one, opened up a whole idea for our own project.  

It was a film called Habibti.The blurb attached to the film describes it as such: "Iman, a woman steeped in tradition, journeys to London to visit her estranged daughter Amira only to find her living with her artist boyfriend. Iman tries her best to bite her tongue but she has no idea how to handle Marlon and soon they end up clashing. As the dust settles an unlikely friendship develops between them, and we discover Iman’s reasons for visiting are more than they seem".  What struck me was the image at the end, an image of reconciliation and possibilities:  Iman, who had previously upset the artist by ruining a piece of art he had created, and by cleaning his art studio without his permission, and by taking over his cooking, comes to him with a blank canvas, and then she sits.  It is clear she wants him to paint her portrait.  And that was it.  And it conveyed so much.

I wrote many notes as the film was showing but here are a few:  how different cultures, and people in them miscommunicate, even when they are trying to help each other; and that there are possibilities of communication even if we don't speak the same language.  

Just these ideas, with the particular image of Iman handing a blank canvas to Marlon, and sitting down prompted a story idea:  

The simplest way to understand it is as a “Night in the Museum” concept, where a group of young people who are touring the Hagia Sophia, get locked inside.  During that night, shadows and historical episodes unfold.  

Some other details emerged as I was thinking-- The kids that get locked into the museum are of different cultures and languages (I am blessed by having native Russian, French, Spanish, a dialect from India, and an African language speakers in the ensemble) and don’t trust each other.  They have, in fact hostile views of each other based on prejudices of race/national origin/language and religion.  In the museum they are met by two shadows from the past:  a young Christian artist, responsible for some of the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia, and a young Islamic artist, responsible for some of the beautiful calligraphy in the museum.  These two artists, who have inhabited the Hagia Sophia for hundreds of years, in the shadows, have a great mistrust for each other as well—a relationship that mirrors the modern kids that are trapped in the museum. In fact this strained relationship is what finally bonds our modern kids, as they try to help these two realize they will never get peace until they reconcile and understand each other.(perhaps without those two reconciling our modern kids can't ever get out)   Through a variety of interactions (and this is where the ensemble will come in over the next few weeks developing these ideas)—with episodes that are both historic (i.e. a re-inaction of the covering of the mosaics by order of Leo III)  and more abstract ideas influenced by the museum’s past (i.e. stories of ours like the death of silence), our modern kids realize how much they actually have in common (they can save each other now and again from disaster if needed….) and grow to appreciate and respect each other.  In the process they also help the two “shadows” come to terms.  As a final showing of this, the Christian artist will paint the Islamic artists portrait (the Islamic child will give him a canvas like the scene from the movie) and the Islamic artist will create a beautiful Caligraphic design based on the name of the Other artists.

I discussed this idea with a few students today who were hanging around after school and they seemed to like it enough for us to move forward.  I will present it to the ensemble Monday and the kids will break up into  groups to create these episodes and others that might interest them.

I think the key here is that if you are always thinking of the project, something you'll see or hear or read, like the film I saw today, can open up what has been buried in your subconscious.

Summation and next steps

For my own sake I want to give a summary of where we are and what we will do next.
We have done a lot of training, and this is essential. The students are trained and share a
common vocabulary of both movement and devising technique. I can now say to a
group: create a movement piece that focuses on the idea of covering up a sacred place,
and within 15 minutes the group will create something that I feel can go on stage. This
helps enormously in the final stages of story creation and rehearsal. We are now learning
about the possibilities that shadow will bring to our show. Christine Marie will be coming tomorrow for another instructional session with the ensemble.  Then, we have to do the hard
work of actually creating a story line. I will be adding two days of work time each week for those
students who are interested in helping build what I call a frame story. The simplest way
to understand a frame story is that it is the narrative by which the entire play hangs. A
frame story employs a narrative technique whereby an introductory main story is
composed, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage for a fictitious narrative or
organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. The frame story
leads readers from the first story into the smaller one within it. The Arabian Nights
employs this quite well. In order to present all the disconnected folktales that comprises
this work, we have the frame story that connects it: Scheherazade's need to keep herself
alive. It is also present in the Odyssey, Ovid’s Metamorphoses and countless other
works.
I will work with students on ideas: One that we I am  thinking about is having the Hagia
Sophia itself as a narrator, telling his/her story through journal entries. Another possibility employs the
use of a group of children that get locked into the Hagia Sophia and encounter it’s past
through a night in the museum. Either will allow us to use much of the material we
developed in the first stages, outlined above, and hang it together.
After the frame story is agreed on and developed we will create scenes in small groups.
The process will look something like this: I will outline all the things we have done and
ask if anyone sees anything that they worked on earlier in our process that they would
now like to more fully develop into a scene with characters and words. The ensemble
will thus break into smaller independent groups that will further develop scenes or, seek
to create new ones. It is essential here, for your own sanity as the director/playwrite to
have students perform these undertakings for each other at least once a week if not devote
the last half hour of each session to it. Also, telling students that they are responsible for
writing down dialogue and movement sequences—in a sense they write out their scenes
fully and submit them to you. One technique I began using last year that is effective is
after students present works that seemingly have no relation to each other I ask two
members from one group to meet with two members of the other group to find ways of
linking the two. Let’s say there are five groups presenting, groups 1-5. Then I’d say:
two members from group 1 meet with two members of group 2 link their work:
specifically they are to find a way that the end of group 1’s piece leads to the beginning
of group 2’s work. At the same time group 2 will send two members to group 3 to link
the end of group two with the beginning of group 3…and so on and so on until the end of
one group links to the beginning of another and all the groups are linked. Then we
present our finished product.
I also will ask students that wish to do so to create monologues for characters they think
might exist in our play (for example at this stage I could see a monologue of one of the
first architects, or of Justinian, or of Mehmet II, the moment he walks into the Hagia
Sophia after conquering Constantinople, or of an Islamic Artist who is adding script to
the building, or of a Crusader who is stripping the Hagia Sophia of it’s gold artifiact, or
of Leo III who pronounced the Icons blasphemous….I will ask the students what
historical characters might be in our piece and have them write monologues for them. I
will also ask them what fictional characters might inhabit our play and to create
monologues for them. One character I am interested in would be an Islamic artists
apprentice (in this way the character gets to be someone the age of our students) who is
ordered by Sultan to cover up some of the murals depicting the prophet Jesus. And
perhaps a Christian apprentice under the court of Leo III who is ordered to do the same
thing. Both because the art is considered against the principles of the religious teachings
of. Yet, to this young artist, even though the work is against the religious teachings and
he is obligated to follow the rules both of his/her religion and his/her leader, the work is
beautiful, as a work of art. What conflict can this create for our character? As I think on
this it might be a good thing for both characters to exist.
Not all the monologues will make their way into the final script, but what is essential in
this next phase is for lots of material to be created—all types: scenes, monologues,
tableuxs, movement pieces, and of course our new ideas: shadows.
The next step is to take all the material and write. I give the ensemble
2-3 weeks off and I write. Sometimes, depending on the quality of the material the
students give me, I use some of their work in its entirety. Other times I find I have to
write a play, beginning to end, without any of their work within. But always it is inspired
and influenced by the work we did as an ensemble. Other devising artists do not take on
this role and leave the responsibility up to the students. This is your call. I find,
however, with middle school students it is best for me to take their work as inspiration
and do the best I can as an experience playwrite and theatre director to create a piece of
theatre that reflects both their ideas and my knowledge of theatre.
And then, the final stage. You have a play written and now it needs to be treated as a
play. We cast it, rehearse it and finally perform it. Books are written about casting and
rehearsing a play, but I will add this: as a devised piece the rehearsal process goes much
more quickly the closer the students are to the material. I try and give parts to the
students that created them (i.e. if a student wrote a compelling monologue for Justinian, it
is best if that student gets to perform it). However, I ask for input from the students on
how they want to proceed with the casting process. The more invested they are in it the
smoother it goes. Not all students are as invested in performing as they are in the
creation. Each group is different.
I am excited by where we are and anxious to know what we will create.