According to the Kennedy Center, devising is “the process of collaboratively creating a new work without a pre-existing script wherein the collaborators are also the performers." It's a charged and intimate way to create a piece of theater, because it is fed by the real-life experiences, feelings, ideas, and questions of the artists involved. It’s personal and immediate.
In the standard theatre model, a single playwright writes the text and then a director casts actors and selects designers to interpret that text, resulting in a theatre production. With devised theatre, however, the collective artists begin without a script. A devised piece of theatre can literally start with anything: a painting, a song, a real-life event, a novel to adapt, etc.
John Walton, artistic director of the British theater company Fol Espoir says: “From actors to technicians, everyone is involved in the creative process…It’s both an exhilarating and terrifying way to work. [It poses] the challenge of creating a show from scratch, but with this freedom comes a significant catch: there’s no [source] script; no safety net." For more on devising, read John's short essay in The Guardian.
Marta Becket Save Us All began with:
A Starter Prompt - Marta Becket's life
Core Questions - what is "success"? How is it defined? What happens when we define it for ourselves? Can we move towards great authenticity?
A Place - the town of Death Valley Junction aka "Amargosa"
Dustdevils - and the desire to become one
Vaudeville performance - Marta's Opera House shows
Puppets - how does Marta occupy this place still? What other living things are here?
Cast Reflections on Devising
From Chloe: I feel so drawn to the idea of “getting lost to find oneself,” which was one of our guiding questions in creating this piece. While that was challenging and scary on many different levels, I can look back now and realize that I grew so much as an individual and artist through this process. It was magical to witness and be an integral part of everyone’s personal journeys, and I am so grateful for the strong community and support system we built with each other.
From Tommy: Looking back on the process, I realize we had the most agency after we had spent almost a month working within the confines of prescribed exercises and themed conversations. However, I would assume devising in a classroom-like setting kind of necessitates this, and I really appreciated the direction it gave us. As a cast working within a director’s initial concept, it took us some time to reach a balance between creative freedom and fixed direction, but as the majority of the collaboration occurred later in the game, I felt a quickly growing investment and enjoyment in the project and community we were building.
From Har-El: This process felt like building a roller coaster while riding it at the same time.