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Final Thoughts 2..

Posted by DCA Theater on January 13, 2009 in July-December 2008 Season, INCUBATOR Series: The Plagiarists

Final Thoughts As We Depart From The Raft (Temporarily) II

by Ian Miller, Plagiarist, writer & project facilitator

For three weeks we had the privilege of taking ownership of a wonderful space at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Incubator Series. We collaborated with a fun and talented group local actors, directors, and impresarios to workshop and develop our script, The Wreck of the Medusa. The DCA provided The Plagiarists with a large and comfortable space and a generous allotment of time to workshop a script with the intention of being able to present our work to the public at the end of the session. We found there to be little to no restrictions on what we presented at that allowed for a creative environment where we were free to play with form, create characters and quickly dispatch them, draw maps, pictures, and diagrams and many other esoteric forms of expression the serious theatre has little time for in preproduction (unless you’re Anne Bogart and I don’t know how she does it.) Giving time and space to a new work is essential.  There needs to be as much refection and mediation about what you are creating as goes into the process of creation itself. Being given a space, a project, and a fellowship with artists empathetic with your purpose has been rewarding….