Hi Stella,
Good to hear you have used Open Space for writing.
I also used it while writing a thesis recently.
I tried to map part of the process that was going on inside my head
in words and sketches.
The thesis ended up being far too long and I had to cut it in half
(several times over the many months of writing) and that section was
left on the cutting room floor.
But the process lifted me out of one of my 'sloughs of writing
despond' and got me going again.
How did you use OS for editing?
Allison
On 15/07/2010, at 7:37 PM, Stella Duffy wrote:
hi all,
I'm new to this list, having been at all of Improbable's 'Devoted &
Disgruntled' Open Spaces led by Phelim McDermott in London in the past
years. Some years ago, when I came to a major impasse in the
editing of my
eleventh novel, I tried editing in OS and was astonished at how
useful it
was for me, alone, with my manuscript. This year I have shared OS,
along
with other practitioners, with my buddhist practice here in the UK,
and most
recently I've been working on a new theatre project and (with Phelim's
encouragement!)I now - shyly - share with you the report I returned
to the
National Theatre Studio who generously gave 30+ of us the space to
work on
this new project in OS.
I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone else who has used OS for
writing or where it's been used for making/devising theatre work.
best wishes,
Stella Duffy
stelladuffy.wordpress.com
My report to the NTS :
I'm emailing to thank you all so much for your support for the
Chaosbaby
Project Open Spaces this weekend and last.
To give you some idea of what happened, and how valuable it was :
36 people attended over both days (many of them came to both).
The age range was from 21 to mid-60's.
They were 11 actors, 2 actor-musicians, 4 actor-writers, 1
choreographer-dancer, 6 directors, 1 designer, 1 film-maker, 2
musicians, 2
playwrights, 5 writer-directors, 1 photographer.
In the two days, using the Open Space form, various groups &
individuals :
- wrote a 14-page traditional/'straight' narrative for the piece
- developed character breakdowns
- worked on the physicality/movement for a number of characters/spaces
- held many discussions about the nature of the piece
- discussed the nature of chaos (as a theatrical concept, as a
dance/movement concept, and in terms of chaos theory and mathematics)
- created/drew up initial design ideas
- wrote 3 new monologues
- worked on the (two, brief) pre-existing texts
- wrote and recorded a lullaby
- documented the work on camera and video
- made a puppet show, with live music accompaniment
Above all, I think, we showed ourselves it is not only possible,
but perhaps
preferable to work in Open Space, with a wide range of theatre-makers,
across many disciplines, which generated an enormous amount of
work/material, led not by a single director or writer, but by the
whole -
and that in doing so it is still possible to have a cohesive idea
of what
we are making and where best our skills might be used.
I'm really excited about taking this on further, I especially loved
that,
having met Slav (on the door, doing security) the first Saturday,
he took
(wonderful) photos for us on the 2nd Saturday.
We're looking at a full weekend/three day Open Space to further the
work
later in the year.
I've worked in made/devised/improvised theatre for the past twenty-
five
years, this was one of the few times I've felt that it was TRULY a
shared
group endeavour and not, at least in some ways, a director or
writer-led
experience. And happy though I am to work as both a director and a
writer, a
working form that uses ALL the skills in the room, to the utmost
that can be
offered, feels like a much better use of time, space, money and, most
importantly, the full range of all the artists' abilities.
*
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