Category: Play

DEVISING: It’s Different, How?

Devising allows you to build the muscles of inventing, playing, and editing in real time, on your feet.

Want to Play?

[fblike] How are you playing with our work, relationship, life, surroundings…. Today? I don’t mean the cynical way adults use the word play–synonymous with manipulating or toying with in a power play. I mean play as children do: exploring through “what if” and “why not.” Here are some prompts: Recently… Have you used something in …

The Contagious Effect of Possibilities

“We can do that?” Amazement, fear, and excitement filled their eyes. The cast was astonished they were given the free rein to… BE.

“Acting Means Pretending, Right?”

The bridge between acting and pretending.

Tiny Experiences, Big Impact

Today, in one of our Creativity Labs, a short inspiration led to a tiny experiment and became a big success! How tiny can you make this moment?

Peddling Candy to the Starving – Theatre Games

We are all hungry for play, so hungry you could feed us cotton candy and we would thank you… But at what price?

Rainbow Feathers – Developing an Idea

[fblike] It started as a handprint. But with a flip of his wrist he moved on to the ‘riskier’ idea. “What are you doing, Griffin?” I ask. “I need rainbow feathers.” Of course you do. Me too. And for the next few minutes that’s what we did, tried to make rainbow feathers where there were …

Failing Gloriously – Manifesto Sneak Peek

Without the possibility of failure, nothing new can be discovered or accomplished.

Tapping into Your Childlike Instincts

[fblike] “I began to think of children not as immature adults, but of adults as atrophied children.” K. Johnstone “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”  Pablo Picasso How do we tap back into our naturally creative selves?  We were born with the survival instincts to explore.  We …

Actively Waiting

‘Good things come from waiting in the wings for your space, for your timing to present itself.’ A playground lesson learned decades a go waiting to jump in to double dutch… Read more…

Master Class video – 2011 Actor Devised Theatre

[fblike] Last summer Episcopal School brought Creatively Independent in for a Master Class week of Physical Theatre.  It turned into a joyous adventure of actor devised work exploring the themes inside childhood games. This Master Class series is open to all Jacksonville students and will occur again June 25-29, 2012.  9-noon. *Open enrollment, limited space, …

Teaching as an Art Form and a LAB

The classroom, rehearsal hall or lab is where one must try anything and everything for the sake of the exercise or tool to be explored… Read more…

Summer Explorations in Dance & Theatre – MFA explorations

An educational romp through Berkshires’ art in the summer… … Read more…

What am I watching: the performance or the performer?

A critical essay on a strong individual’s exploration inside the dance world. Read more…

Sharing MFA Grad work

[fblike] Hi everyone, This is Jess Pillmore, Co-Artistic Director of CI. I’m currently working on my MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College and would love to share some of my work with you on this blog. My goal for this degree is to explore how to active an individual inside an ensemble and conversely …

Latest News: Hamlet opening July 21 in North Adams, MA

C.I. has been slacking a bit with the blog entries (hopefully, this will change… today). Busy bees that we are, we have tons of news: Jess & Chris have conceived and directed a post-modern feminist look at HAMLET, that’s one rollercoaster ride of rock ‘n’ roll and physical theatre! We decided to do gender specific …

Master Class montage from latest residency

[fblike] Great week in Jacksonville working on physical theatre (contact improv, “As One” collective consciousness, intention and actor/creator skills).  We had a blast with a terrific group of risk takers!  Watch the video here…

Play Today! – An Energy Game

[fblike] On the blog, we’re starting to spotlight exercises we use in rehearsals and workshops.  The key is never the game itself, it’s the use of it.  One game can be used in so many different ways, accomplishing many different goals.  Keep in mind:  What does the group need?  Why am I using this exercise …

Ensemble/Community – Play

I just spent 4 days playing with an amazing group of middle-schoolers in Germany.  Their task was to create theatre based around the theme of “Play”.  When preparing for the workshop, I kept hitting a roadblock: “What’s the difference between Play and Art?  Aren’t we always playing?”.   So, that became the quest as my ensemble …

Independent – Play

Somehow and somewhere we have lost our ability to play freely without judgment. I’m amazed at the amount of times I need to remind students, of any age, that they have an open opportunity to play within these exercises. They still feel closed off, shut down and simply not willing to let themselves go….