Advanced Directing Class Spring 2020, Wesleyan University
Isabel Algrant, Anna Buchmueller, Avery Rose Pedell, Elijah Comas, Izzy Koff, Nathan Baron Silvern, Elizabeth Woolford, Betsy Zaubler
Professor Katie Pearl
May 20, 2020– Statement from the Class:
In the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic and Wesleyan's closure, in continuing to create and sustain our artistic community, and with the acknowledgement that passion is not limited by circumstance, we have come up with this: a documentation of our best practices throughout this process of a split online/in person directing lab.
We have been given a unique opportunity to create with the pandemic as opposed to in the wake of it.
This web page documents a half semester from our first Zoom rehearsals to final Zoom performances. We are eight directors, theater-makers and students working on a variety of plays, with a variety of experiences, points of view and wifi connections.
Why do we direct if not to learn how to address and adapt to moments of crisis? In an increasingly chaotic, unpredictable and disconnected world, our experiments over Zoom became an opportunity to push ourselves to new theatrical limits and embrace failure, experimentation and process. We hope our questions, strategies and musings will be useful to theater-makers making the difficult adjustment to remote theater.
We recognize that comfort does not facilitate growth. In this intense discomfort felt globally, we owe it to ourselves and theater to strive to continue sharing our stories and adapt as directors and people to what comes at us. This is a test of innovation, flexibility, and kindness to ourselves, our audiences, and our communities.
-Anna, Avery, Betsy, Elijah, Isabel, Izzy, Liz, and Nathan