Creation and Education using the Collective Experience in Theatre.

This paper details the process of creating theatre with students beginning with an established text first deconstructed and then reconstructed incorporating new material created by the performers.   This paper draws from my experience as the director and educator for two university productions - The Crucible Project and The Lysistrata Project. In this process, elements of the original text are explored - even taken out of context - allowing the actors to examine and dramatize their own issues.  The new material need not adhere to either the plot or subject matter of the original text.  Stylistically, there are no restrictions. This process addresses traditional performance techniques and introduces students to a broader idea of theatre beyond acting.  Students must not only have a critical understanding of the original text but are required to take responsibility for all aspects of the newly created work - writing, conceptualizing and researching new material!  They ultimately speak with their own voice and the result is always profound in its honesty. Problems inherent in this methodology involve the negative or problematic views of student participants, which necessarily must also be shared and dealt with.  What keeps me going back to this methodology is the feedback I get from students who find themselves not only doing what they can do, but what they didn't know they could do.