Devised Theater with Director Sina Heiss and Playwright Gabrielle Sinclair

At our most recent meeting, NextGen members participated in a devised theater workshop with theater artists Sina Heiss (a director) and Gabrielle Sinclair (a playwright) who are working together on a new piece of theater called Telling the Bees. Here is a little more about the project, from their blog:

"Telling the Bees is a theatrical art project inspired by the plight of the honeybee in relation to the Earth’s environment. The project weaves together storytelling and drama with science and current environmental issues. It will be developed to be part traditional playwriting, part collectively devised drama."

Most NextGen members had never heard of or participated in devised theater, where there is no script or individual playwright but rather an ensemble of actors that create a script based on improvisational work. They found it to be surprising easy to let loose their creativity and take risks. It was fun to play so many games together and rewarding to have something to show for it that was really quite impressive by the end of the workshop.

In the video below, members move as an ensemble, attempting not to lead or follow any one individual. It's harder than it sounds!

Sina and Gabby are planning to work with kids of all ages as collaborators to help them create the script. NextGen was the first group of students that they were working with, which meant that in addition to helping generate material for the project, members also helped shape what future workshops will look like as Sina and Gabby continue to work with kids.

Sina and Gabby will stop by one more time at our final meeting next week, and NextGen members have the option to continue to work with these artists as collaborators.