Adventuring Together: Ensembles, Collectives, Laboratories & Networks by Around the Teapot

Around the Teapot in Los Angeles presents a performance gathering Adventuring Together: Ensembles, Collectives, Laboratories & Networks livestreaming on the global, peer produced, open source HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 21 September and Sunday 22 September from approximately 12 p.m.-6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 2 p.m.-8 p.m. CDT (Austin) / 3 p.m.-9 p.m. EDT (Philadelphia) / 19:00 GMT - 01:00 GMT. Use this tool to convert to your local time.

Join us as we bring together local, national and international performance artists, practitioners, academics, and critics to discuss collective organization, performance-making processes, existing and new models of networking, and much more.

The changes in the American theatre landscape over the last few years have repositioned and renewed interest in ensemble and collaborative processes. Ensemble theatres are increasingly being looked to for new models and new inspiration. In order to fuel this national discussion, we are hosting this Around the Teapot as a series of lively dialogues, practical workshops, provocations, and presentations.

August 2013 saw the publication of three new books exploring the history and current conceptions of ensemble and collective creation in American and European contexts: Encountering Ensemble (John Britton, Editor; Methuen Drama) and A History of Collective Creation & Collective Creation in Contemporary Performance (Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva, Editor; Scott Proudfit, Associate Editor; Palgrave MacMillan). Aimed at practitioners and academics both, these books expand our current understanding of a tradition Todd London has recently called:

[A] story of revolution, quiet, sustained, many-headed. It’s a story of the rise of democratic practices, the exploration and elaboration of methods of participation and shared leadership. It’s a history of experiment, not of form but of process—practice and process—how we collaborate and care for one another, how we interact with community. It’s a story of relationships—between individual and group, inside and outside the theatre.

With Britton, Syssoyeva, and several contributing authors on hand—and in collaboration with local and visiting theatre artists, teachers and scholars—this Around the Teapot celebrates these three new collections by inviting exploration—in conversation and practice—of collaborative performance-making in its many forms and guises.

The ethos of the Teapot is based on self-organizing principles, rather than a firm agenda. This means that the schedule carries potential for flexibility. While we plan to livestream as much of the Teapot as we can, on Saturday we will also utilize Open Space Technology for a larger breakout session so that any and every issue or concern of participants may be addressed—and it will not be possible to simultaneously livestream all parts of the multiple conversations that ensue.

The Teapot aims to broadcast the following live schedule although in accordance with its nature, we may create and follow a wholly different set of programming:

Saturday 21 September (all times in Pacific Time, Los Angeles.)

12:30 p.m.-2:15 p.m: What does ensemble mean in the 21 century? 

A Roundtable Conversation prompted by enticements from John Britton, Mark Valdez, Steven Leigh Morris, Adam Ledger, Scott Proudfit, Rachel Anderson and Rachel Rosenthal

2:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m: Provocation statements

An opportunity to state what you want to discuss after lunch, in breakout groups utilizing Open Space Technology

3:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m: Provocations via Open Space Technology

A time for passionate small group discussions to emerge from the pre-lunch provocation statements, as well as other forms of “conversation” to occur, such as songs or installations

5:00-6:00 p.m: Where do we go from here?

Insights, germinations and solutions gleaned from the Provocations. Facilitated by Michael Hunter

6:15-7:00 p.m: Practical Sharings

Roy Hart Theatre-based extended vocal range technique with Rafael Lopez-Barrantes

Sunday 22 September (all times in Pacific Time, Los Angeles.)

12:00-2:00 p.m: Organizational models, networks, resource sharing, and curation

A Roundtable Conversation prompted by enticements from Bryan Brown, Ben Yalom & Deborah Eliezer, Kate Hannah Perry, Daniel Han, Miranda Wright, Michael Hunter, and Valerie McCann

2:00-3:00 p.m: Working Lunch on Artists and Academia 

A Roundtable Conversation prompted by enticements from Kris Salata, Maiya Murphy, Wendell Beavers, Ben Spatz and Michael Hunter

3:00-4:30 p.m: Collectivity and the American Landscape

A Roundtable Collage initiated by Lizi Watt’s performance rant, and further prompted by enticements from Theresa Chavez, Rose Portillo, Michael Rohd, Opera del Espacio, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Moira Smiley and Theatre Plastique

Given the nature of Around the Teapot, we will do our darnedest to feed questions and comments from our virtual participants into the live conversations fluidly, but please respect that we may not be able to immediately accommodate your input. If you're on Twitter use the hashtag #howlround and follow @HowlRoundTV