Theater In Practice - Paper Birds Notes

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 What is new to you? 

- When devising as a group, it is important to have an understanding of what you want to achieve and to decide on the direction of the piece 

- choosing an umbrella theme at the start of the devising process then think about political and social issues that could be used as this umbrella theme 

- the Paper birds use verbatim interviews within their catalogue of work - they develop research within their theme 

- develop contrasting characters (on the spot) 

- use images to affect your movement work that leads to devising 

- individuals involved in the devising process can and should affect the work you are making 

- work on creating a collage of voices that allows different fragments and approaches to the umbrella theme to be heard and engaged with simultaneously by the audience 

- experiment with different devising exercises... synchronization with sticks, improv with a letter, etc. 

What is interesting to you? 

- I think its really interesting to start a theater piece without any form of a script/storyline, but just an umbrella theme

- I also like the idea of doing research and pulling from real research and verbatim interviews, and I am curious how the Paper Birds actually incorporate this into their pieces 

What theater techniques are you most drawn to and could apply in your own practice? 

- I really like the ideas of starting with an umbrella theme and working from there as a group. I feel like we have sort of done this in some of our other group movement pieces so far in this class. I would like to complete more of these improv type exercises that help us to get a better sense of what we are trying to convey while devising theater in the moment. I think it would also be interesting to try and work from a photo and create a piece. 

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