Preserving and Transmitting American Ensemble-Based Devised Theatre

FAIN: EH-288124-22

Pig Iron Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA 19122-3859)
Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel (Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Allen J. Kuharski (Co Project Director: February 2022 to present)

A two-week residential institute for 25 higher education faculty focused on the study of ensemble-based devised theater and its impact.

Devised theatre is a highly collaborative but uniquely fragile art form that has existed for generations in communities across the United States. Despite its proliferation as a professional and educational training practice, it suffers from limited scholarship, criticism, and academic study. The Institute will address that misalignment with a deep critical examination of company-based devised theatre, past and present. This two-week, residential Institute will foster new collaborations among working artists, conservatory faculty, college and university professors of theatre and performance studies and their students, resulting in improved preservation, innovations in teaching methods, and heightened cultural awareness relating to American ensemble-based devised theatre and its impact over time.

Associated Products

Professor Shows Theater’s Power to Transform (Blog Post)
Title: Professor Shows Theater’s Power to Transform
Author: Sam McDonald
Abstract: For Old Dominion University professor Brittney Harris, staging a play means more than polishing a performance. The work is about helping young people express themselves, see their worth, and discover the world around them.
Date: 11/9/23
Primary URL: https://www.odu.edu/article/professor-shows-theaters-power-to-transform-0
Website: Old Dominion University

Devised Theater After COVID (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Devised Theater After COVID
Author: Allen Kuharski
Abstract: The past, present, and future of devised physical ensemble theater in the US was the topic of an historic NEH Institute in Philadelphia in June. A diverse group of over 50 professors, artist/teachers, grad students, editors, and archivists from around the country as well as several foreign countries gathered for 12 days to discuss the issues of archiving, criticism, and especially the theoretical and historical teaching of this 60-year-old practice in American and world theater. This exchange was prompted by the recent proliferation of the teaching of the practice of devising in colleges, universities, and drama schools (often without a theoretical, critical, historical framing) and the larger challenges to such innovative live performance following the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, and the growing impact of climate change. The Institute was initiated by Quinn Bauriedel of Pig Iron Theatre Company's School for Devised Performance, and co-hosted by Allen Kuharski of Swarthmore College. The panel at CUNY will consist of participants in the Institute and will be a report and critical reflection on the larger issues that emerged from the Institute. With Allen Kuharski, Rye Gentleman (NYU), Tracy Hazas (CUNY-Queens College), Rebecca Adelsheim, Tom Sellar (YSD) and/or others.
Date: 10/16/23
Primary URL: https://www.thesegalcenter.org/prelude-2023-events/devised-theater-after-covid
Conference Name: PRELUDE Festival 2023

Pedagogies of Creation and Hope: A Report on the 2023 Philadelphia Institute on Devised Ensemble Physical Theatre (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Pedagogies of Creation and Hope: A Report on the 2023 Philadelphia Institute on Devised Ensemble Physical Theatre
Author: Allen Kuharski
Abstract: In June 2023, 45 theatre professors and artists gathered for 12 days in Philadelphia to discuss the past, present and future of devised ensemble physical theatre, with an emphasis on the future pedagogy, historiography, and archiving of these practices in American universities and theatre schools.
Date: 11/10/23
Primary URL: https://www.facebook.com/events/1461979077915528/?active_tab=discussion
Conference Name: International Conference, ‘Devised Theatre / Dance Theatre’

“Herein Lies the Truth,” April 18 through 28 (Blog Post)
Title: “Herein Lies the Truth,” April 18 through 28
Author: Reader Staff
Abstract: A preview piece of the theater production Herein Lies the Truth's, directed by Johanna Kasimow. The post mentions Kasimow's participation in the NEH Summer Institute amongst her accolades.
Date: 04/04/2024
Primary URL: https://www.rcreader.com/theatre/herein-lies-the-truth-riverside-apr18-28
Blog Title: River Cities' Reader

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