Backstage Behavior
performance experiments
We isolate and integrate aspects of behavior -- focus, energy, time, feeling, movement, voice -- and make quick, short theatre and dance studies. Working loose and fast, we subvert our big ideas and performance anxieties. Movement and voice reveal character. No one can hide, not even a good actor, which is risky, but more fun. Performance technique becomes the practice of noticing what is expressed intuitively (backstage) and making that the art.
The backstage language consists of co-operative decision-making, profanity, elaborate griping, smoking, rough informal dress, sloppy posture, mumbling, shouting, playful kidding, humming, whistling, chewing, nibbling, belching, and flatulence... In saying that performers act in a relatively informal, familiar, relaxed way while backstage and are on their guard when giving a performance, it should not be assumed that the pleasant interpersonal things of life -- courtesy, warmth, generosity, and pleasure in the company of others -- are always reserved for those backstage and that suspiciousness, snobbishness, and a show of authority are reserved for front region activity.
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
"Susan has an eye for what touches us as human beings. She was able to keep the wonder and magnificence of who I am alive and in my face."
"Her work inspires me to be more aware of the spatial arrangements between things, of timing, and also helps me remember to dream."