EYE: an exploration
Performance and Installation
May 1-3, 2015
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX
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Bailee Rayle, Kristen Kelso, and Eva MeiLing Pollitt performing EYE: an exploration
installation
The interactive installation consisted of four stations, or "doorways." With each doorway, audience participants were invited to explore human connection in ways other than spoken conversation. They were: eye contact, physical contact, auditory contact, and textual (written) contact. At each doorway, participants were given the option either to interact with actors, and/or to observe the interactions between actors and other participants.
Participants were also invited to comment on and document their experience. The notes pictured below are examples of some of the responses we received.
project
Consisting of both a performance and an installation, we began an exploration of human connection, i.e. what connection is, what the fundamental ways are that we as human beings connect to one another, and why we are so desirous of this connection. The two parts of the project approached the exploration from different perspectives, one of observation (performance), and one of participation (installation).
performance
The hour long performance consisted of a series of etudes, or non-scripted, devised pieces of theatre. The arc of the performance followed the basic path of a human relationship. Although the piece's overarching structure remained constant, the actors were free to improvise within those boundaries, keeping each performance surprising and spontaneous. We explored what it means to connect to one another and how we do so, why we need connection and how we might overcome our fear of it, what we gain and learn from connection, and how a connection between two people waxes, wanes, and/or is severed. The performance included almost no dialogue. Accompanying the actors was a musician who created the score spontaneously each night in response to what occurred on stage. Click here for the opening scene of the performance, the first impressions we make and receive.
a special thanks to:
Meadows Exploration, Darren Diggle, Jack Wanamaker, Sasha Davis, Katie Ibrahim, Cayla Simpson, Salvator Bonilla, Kelsey Rohr, Marsha Grasselli, Steve Leary, Jay Hengst, JT Ringer, Rhonda Blair, Haley Nelson, My MXAT Family, and Dmitri Krymov