COURTESY: CREATIVELYINDEPENDENT.NET
An average night at the theater includes a ticket, a well-prepared performance and a visually pleasing treat. That is only one aspect of what theater can be, however. Since Monday, March 16, a group of Ole Miss students in the theater department have been discovering another side of their craft alongside a company known as Creatively Independent.
For one week, Monday through Thursday, students were invited to participate in a workshop from 7 – 10 p.m. every night and learn about something called “devised theatre.”
“The name (of the company) is born out of the idea ‘how do we find independence in what we do as actors,’” said Chris Beaulieu, the education director and co-founder of Creatively Independent. “Our work is done in an educational setting because of the fact that educations programs that we see or read about don’t necessarily give ownership of creativity to the students.”
Beaulieu said, traditionally, the finished product is what dictates the creativity of the production, but Creatively Independent is more focused on the process.
“We’re not interested in coming in and putting theater on people – we want to pull it out,” Beaulieu said.
He said the goal of the company is to allow students to feel comfortable creating on their own. He mentioned that although this work is new to Ole Miss students, they are all very excited and willing to try it.
Jess Pillmore, the artistic director and co-founder of Creatively Independent, described the importance of devised theater.
“Devising forces you to have a point of view,” Pillmore said. “Devising is intentional. It’s really important to understand because the theater world is changing very fast. Devising teaches you how to step into your own voice and make decisions.”
Pillmore said she hopes this process can create performances that change the world around her and around the students.
Students will be showcasing what they have learned and the process they went through tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Meek Auditorium. The “open classroom” is free and open to the public. Come in comfortable clothing, and be ready to move. The entire program will last about an hour, but there will not a set performance. The “open classroom,” as both Beaulieu and Pillmore called the program, will be broken into two sections.
“We’ll show the audience some of the tools we used and invite them to come and play if they want to,” Pillmore said. “Then we’ll show what we’ve come up with during the week.”
Pillmore said she hopes students can “speak their own truth” on stage alongside the audience.
“We think (including the audience) is necessary for the audience to understand the work we’ve done here,” Beaulieu said. “This way the process can happen live in front of the audience.”
Games such as tag and other childhood classics will be included in the evening’s program. Comfortable shoes are recommended.
“It’s very engaging and fun to watch,” Beaulieu said about the work he has seen so far. “It’ll be new and fresh.”
