Scott Wesley Slavin, solo theatre director and Executive Director of All For One in New York writes a seriously awesome article about solo performance over on HowlRound. It is entitled "Theatre of Transformation." See the whole article... HERE.
Favorite snippets:
I have always thought of solo theatre as an act of defiance—I once heard defiance described as rebellion with a purpose. I like that. Solo theatre artists rebel from traditional entertainment forms in order to give what’s calling inside them a life—an opportunity to become itself and make its impact.
and...
The first opportunity most solo artists get to share their work is in a major festival, such as a Fringe or United Solo. Instead of a trusted group, the solo artist faces a theatre of strangers—or a varied group of friends who may not know this part of their life or care for the theatre. It takes strength of character to step in front of such an audience and perform deeply revealing material—material the artist often knows still has problems and may even doubt works at all—for sixty minutes or more.
Beautiful. Again, check it out... HERE
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| Scott Wesley Slavin |
All for One’s Managing Director Scott Wesley Slavin has begun a series of blog posts called "Lessons From Solo Theater in the UK" about traveling to see solo shows in England. Over on the All For One blog. Here's a snippet of the first post:
Time and again I’ve watched theater audiences forgive just about every mishap and clumsy execution they’re forced to endure in a live performance–except one: a lack of insight into the human condition. Our hunger for theater comes from our ever-present hunger to be pulled from the shell of our habitual defenses and raised up into the world again, alive and feeling. Travel wakes us, restores us. We see the world–and ourselves, warts and all–with fresh eyes. It offers its own Hero’s Journey, from which we can return with barrels of new elixir.
Worth a look. His first post deals with "Getting out of Kansas" and the next (of three) is called "Forget the Text" about devised theatre.
See it... HERE
