Performance Lab
the experimental spirit
Through quick, short theater and dance studies, we isolate and integrate vocal delivery, movement phrasing, staging -- teasing apart the act of performing and the inside experience we are actually having. How we do what we do reveals character, and no one can hide, not even a good actor, which is risky but more fun. We practice shaping and delivering the message, the movement, the words -- add music & visual elements -- with a loose attitude and strong physical presence. What are the rules of the game? The frame? Performance technique becomes the practice of noticing what is expressed intuitively (backstage) and making that the art.
"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."
~ John Johnson, performance artist
"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."
~ Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life