{"id":302272,"date":"2018-03-02T14:25:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T19:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=302272"},"modified":"2018-03-07T15:03:05","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T20:03:05","slug":"university-of-rochester-theater-program-presents-its-first-devised-work-302272","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/university-of-rochester-theater-program-presents-its-first-devised-work-302272\/","title":{"rendered":"International Theatre Program presents its first \u2018devised\u2019 work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The spring production We Don\u2019t Live on Mars Yet<\/em> never started out as your typical theater production. It\u2019s what\u2019s called a devised work \u2014 a new approach for the University of Rochester\u2019s International Theatre Program.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA devised work means different things to different people,\u201d says Talya Chalef, a South African-Australian interdisciplinary artist who was commissioned by the theater program to develop this premiere work in collaboration with Rochester students. \u201cYou\u2019re essentially a playwright and a theater maker,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you\u2019re also a performer.\u201d<\/p>\n

During \u201crehearsals,\u201d Chalef presents the students with materials researched beforehand and takes the students through a series of workshops where they might write, or create movements, games, and songs, or even use puppets, as a way to express what\u2019s in the materials. \u201cYou sit down collectively as a group and look at what you have. Then you start to script, and then you sequence it, and then it becomes a conversation,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably one of the coolest things I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d says Matalin Collins \u201919. In the beginning, the environmental studies major, who\u2019s been part of past productions at Todd Theater, admits she was nervous about not having a solid script as the ensemble began to meet. But as time went by, she saw the value in bringing people together to generate ideas and create something new. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot about myself and about creating art and theater,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

When Chalef first came to Rochester, she had no idea what the final piece would be. But the director and artist, now based in Brooklyn, New York, knew she wanted the work to be connected to social justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much going on right now, it\u2019s quite easy to get overwhelmed,\u201d says Chalef, who spent time last fall at the local Rochester archives and online to learn about the city.<\/p>\n

\"actors
Students researched and workshopped scenes together before scripting and building the final theatrical performance in this devised work, We Don’t Live on Mars Yet.<\/em> (University of Rochester photo \/ Tomas Waz ’20)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

If you go:<\/h3>\n

Todd Theater at the University of Rochester\u2019s River Campus<\/p>\n

Thursday, March 1 \u2013 Saturday, March 3\u00a0@ 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, March 7 \u2013 Saturday, March 10 @ 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Matin\u00e9e on Sunday, March 4 @ 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Directed by Talya Chalef
\nSet Design by Jung Griffin
\nCostume Design by Asa Benally
\nLighting Design by Solomon Weisbard
\nSound Design & Original Music by Christopher Ross-Ewart<\/p>\n

Tickets are $15 for the general public. $12 for seniors (65+); also for University of Rochester staff, faculty, and alumni; $8 for students.<\/p>\n

Tickets online at the Todd Theatre box office<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As she learned of Rochester\u2019s status as a sanctuary city\u2014as well as its large population of refugees\u2014it got her wondering about the idea of home and what home means in the context of today\u2019s political climate. \u201cI wanted to explore what it means for the past and what it means for Rochester and its past \u2013 who\u2019s been here and who\u2019s immigrated here. What\u2019s the make-up of the city?<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave the students the task of going through the materials and going through the motions of the play we\u2019ve put together. We asked: \u2018What does this mean? What is the function of this part in the play? What is it asking the audience to think about? Why put these things together?\u2019 We talked about the best way to tell a story, and how to be a maker instead of just being a performer,\u201d Chalef explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opened up this world of creativity,\u201d says theater major Sammi Richardson \u201919.\u00a0 \u201cI wasn\u2019t aware that this city had so much rich history,\u201d she says, reflecting on the newspaper articles she read from the early 1880s and 1900s. \u201cIt\u2019s creates a whole story in your brain of the place that you live and the space that you occupy. I\u2019ve learned so much about where we live and the people who are from here.”<\/p>\n

What should the audience expect to see? \u201cThe script is images, words, and movements,\u201d says Chalef. \u201cThere are songs. This is a very musical team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigel Maister, the Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the International Theatre Program, says Chalef\u2019s approach is especially suited to getting students invested in the issues the performance raises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s important to engage the students with topics of social justice and refugees at this critical time, it\u2019s equally important that the students themselves are invested in these topics,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no better way to do that than by giving them ownership of the work they\u2019re doing. A devised work is a very exciting and challenging way of doing that. It offers a different kind of theatrical experience to them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The spring production We Don\u2019t Live on Mars Yet<\/em> never started out as your typical theater production. It\u2019s what\u2019s called a devised work \u2014 where actors, production artists, and even the director don’t know what the final play will be. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":303182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13092],"tags":[4626,4926,16072],"class_list":["post-302272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-arts","tag-featured-post","tag-international-theatre-program","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInternational Theatre Program presents its first \u2018devised\u2019 work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We Don\u2019t Live on Mars Yet never started out as a typical theater production. 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