DMP Artist/Educator Statement

As an artist I learned that my artistic contributions are essential in a devised piece and group work in general.  In past projects involving collaboration I often took the role of note-taker, question-poser, and listener, which are very important, but I was not the best at suggesting creative ideas of my own to the group.  I have recently discovered that a fault of mine that has kept me from having and sharing creative ideas is that I fear blame.  If something turns out less than ideal, I don't want to be connected to the reason of the failure.  Through this assignment I have really learned to contribute more and make  decisions.  I think a devising project made this easier for me to learn because most of the process was everyone trying out each other's ideas.  When something didn't work we weren't afraid to acknowledge that and try something else.  I think it's safe to say that each one of us posed some ideas that were rejected and some that are included in our final product.  The confidence to contribute comes from the understanding that we are all a team working towards a common goal and that we all succeed and fail together.

As an educator I learned the power of using assignments as building blocks for a final project.  In another class this semester I had a similar final of creating a devised piece.  However, our only instructions included a rubric of the final product.  We didn't have any guidance of where to begin and although our final product turned out well, I remember the stress and confusion I felt at the beginning of the process.  Doing little assignments, such as gathering stories or searching for key texts, not only made this project more manageable as a whole, but it added so much depth to our final product.  It also created several oppportunities for discussion, discussion that was essential in bringing us all on the same page and solidying our goals for our piece. 

My contributions to our final product include choreographing a scene of physical theatre, creating the original idea of the set layout (although we ended up adjusting that), keeping notes of class feedback to incorporate in our rehearsals, and offering suggestions and solutions throughout the devising process. I also had a few lines of verbatim theatre from my interviews that were used in the final script, including a line that became our title and theme: "cross the silence."

In my future classroom I think I could modify this assignment by including more guidelines.  Giving a theme for example, providing a poem/interview/story for them to base their devised piece on, etc.  I think building a devised piece about any topic could potentially be overwhelming for students.  Giving them a few more restrictions would allow them to use their creativity in a more clearly defined space.  I would also require the final product to be 10-15 minutes instead of 20, making it more of a devised scene they need to prepare rather than a complete show.  I think these modifiactions will make the project more manageable for my students while still teaching them the key skills of devising.