Apologies for making you re-route to an off-Moodle site like this. If only Moodle's forum function allowed for links, images, etc. But noooooo... (Discussion experts: if you'd like for your prompts to be multimedia, send them to me, and I'll post them here.)
Anyway--
You have three possible readings for Wednesday. Here's my advice: Prioritize the Walsh. That's the most straightforward in terms of the kind of writing it is. It's basically the author reflecting on three different kinds of performance that involve a degree of intimacy and physical touch. Questions to ask/address:
- What would your reaction be to these performances if you were to experience them firsthand?
- How if at all would these performances change in the wake of the "intimacy awareness" training from groups like Theatrical Intimacy Education?
- How if at all do performances like these change in a post-COVID-19 world?
When you finish the Walsh, move on to the Carlson. Take your time here. Carlson is writing to other advanced theatre scholars, so she's using a specialized vocabulary, making references to other thinkers that her readers will know. Don't let not understanding each and every reference stop you. Skip and move on to a part you understand. I'm happy to explain any reference you'd like me to. (I encourage you also not to dismiss this kind of writing harshly just for being difficult for non-experts to understand totally. Remember, we don't expect experts in engineering, medicine, or science to write to each other in ways that laypeople can understand. Advanced conversations in the arts and humanities deserve a similar allowance. Trust me on this: Carlson is a superb writer within this style.)
That said, you should be able to get the gist of the main performances Carlson discusses here (The Angel Project, The House with an Ocean View, Her Long Black Hair, and The Sonic Memorial Project). Between her description and the links I'm providing here, try to get a sense of what each one of these performances is doing. Note that Carlson isn't just reporting these experiences. She's weaving them together as part of an argument about how theatre might activate memory or serve as a memorial. Looking and listening, she suggests, are unique routes to memory. Questions to consider:
- What's a project that stands out for you here? Why?
- Take some time and listen to some of the audio samples on the Long Black Hair website or on the Sonic Memorial website. What do you notice (especially those of you with sound design chops)?
- What kind of looking and listening projects might be appropriate to a COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 world?
- See if you can pull out a and share quote from Carlson that seems worth wrestling with.
Finally, if you have time, look at the Worthen about Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. You've probably heard of this production. It was instrumental in making "immersive theatre" a big thing (though there had been many immersive productions prior to it). Note that the Walsh article, written about a decade after Worthen, asks some more critical questions about this kind of theatre. If Worthen is of the "isn't this cool?" wave of scholarship, Walsh is more in the "Yeah, it is, but . . ." wave. Reading Worthen, can you think of some ways that a production like Sleep No More might be more complicated than "this is so cool!"?
More soon,
JF
One more thing: here's your raise-your-spirits music for this post:
EDIT: Next level: from some Italian kids--
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