American Theater Lecture 6

I am....

I want.......

Everybody contemplated hard and dug deep inside themselves to find answers to who they are and what they want. The same pieces of self-knowledge and self-discovery for each of us, that we created on Monday, were handed over to us randomly by Ms. Asma Niaz in our Tuesday's class. Everybody had to speak out some other person's mind through those writings.  While presenting those bits of contemplation, most of us thought them to be a part of our own-selves. To me, that was just like an ethno-theater performance in which different human experiences/thoughts were presented dramatically for an audience. Further, in our discussion and exchange of views over these presentations, Prof. Boyd Branch emphasized the fact that theater is a way to experience things. That is so much of a theater that is not story based but experience.  

Dr. Erika Hughes showed us three video clips on her laptop. The first video clip was a production by PIPS: lab that is a Dutch company. This video presented a theatrical performance that was intense with the use of holograms, lights, technology, varying sounds and music tracks, different visuals, multi-talented people, all on the stage at the same time, and most of all, the active participation of the audience. PIPS: lab describes its theatrical performances to be "fiction and reality" mashed up.

Audience participation in PIPS: lab production
Image Courtesy: Google Images

The second video clip showed to us was 100% Melbourne. Our city, on stage. Watching that video was a real delight. In that theatrical performance, different people from Melbourne, who represented the demography of the city, were invited on the stage to share their opinions, feelings and stories of life. It brought about many heart-touching aspects of human race, irrespective of their demographic divisions and differences. It was being aptly described as "part theater, part game, part reality performance".

100% Melbourne. Our city, on stage.
Image courtesy: Google Images

The third video clip showed people from entirely different backgrounds being connected through technology. The best part was that each effort of this human connection was warmly reciprocated. It showed the modern advancements in technology in a real positive way that how they connect humans. This idea of human connection was further deepened with the use of art i.e. music and dance in it. 

After watching these video clips, we all had a real fruitful discussion with our professors about our views and thoughts on them. Through discussion it was being explored that how, through the fusion of fiction, technology and human realities, these theatrical performances stand for experimental theater. Particularly, in the first two videos, personal was turned into theater, which again is a feature of ethno-theater.

Next, we all got CONNECTED virtually through internet on our smart phones and took an online test designed by Dr. Erika Hughes. It was rather a short game, that comprised certain directions. The directions mainly involved a hand shake and eventually giving ourselves a grade. To me, again this test carried the purpose of connection and understanding others as well as ourselves.

Finally, we were being given the homework of recording three sounds that represented Lahore. And with this, another of our American Theater class came to an end.