How to Make a Moment Skip to main content
2012-2013 Season

How to Make a Moment

by Ariel Mitchell, dramaturg

Devising is a type of theater that creates a play by building theatrical moments, or little theatricalized scenes that we string together into a production. Instead of writing a script, we perform it and then record it. The script is the last thing to be created.

When creating a moment, the first thing you do (at least according to our process) is take an interview or a couple of interviews that share an idea, feeling, or theme and tie them together with a theatrical idea. For example, if an interview is about a girl who lost her sister to cancer, while she is speaking a hospital scene could be acted out in the background. Or, another different idea, pictures could be projected of her sister before she fell ill showing the nostalgia of the sister who was interviewed. It all depends on what you want to say, but it’s not a moment until it becomes something you can see on stage.

One of the defining aspects of the Civilians is their desire to incorporate media into productions. Their mission statement summarizes this by saying “The Civilians expands the scope of American theater and champions innovation by tackling complex and under-explored subjects, enabling artists to enrich their processes through in-depth interaction with their topics, diversifying artistic voices and audiences, and integrating theater with new media.” Many productions explore how theater can be enhanced by projection and actor and audience interaction with projected images. This idea of adding media to moments was a major aspect to consider as we started to create moments and present them to the class. How did we want to use media in our project? How much did we want to use it?

Here are two examples of student presentations on how we could use media for an interview about a girl who lost her Beanie Baby snail…

Here are two examples of student presentations on how we could use media for an interview about a girl who lost her Beanie Baby snail…
And an idea as to how an actor (Hannah's finger) could interact with a projection on a screen… We were greatly inspired by this video:

Related Articles

data-content-type="article"

What Makes a Classic?

April 22, 2025 06:56 PM
On any list of “must-read classics” you will find Great Expectations. Since its publication in 1861, this novel has inspired numerous adaptations, including at least 28 films and TV series and more than 11 different plays.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

She Loves Me - A musical from the Golden Age

April 19, 2025 04:03 PM
She Loves Me is a musical with a book written by Joe Masteroff (Cabaret), and music by the duo Harnick and Bock (Fiddler on the Roof, and Fiorello!). This is one of many musicals written during the time period known as the Golden Age of musical theater.
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Fed UP!

April 10, 2025 01:41 PM
An exciting new musical by recent BYU graduate Joseph Phillips, directed by current BYU student Lydia Cox
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=