by Ariel Mitchell, dramaturgy
One of the things we want to explore with Gone Missing are the special qualities of theater. We will be using a lot of projections and mixed media, including many technologies that we’ve “lost.” Is theater a lost art? Has film made it obsolete? What can theater do that no other art form can?
Here are some thoughts from our Performance Writers:
“Unlike other performing arts, theater directly engages in a discussion specific to people–their culture, thought and story–as well as the emotional connection of performance. The best theater marries textual discussion along with emotional appeals and connection of performance-specific mediums: the actors, the audience, set, music, lighting and others.” –Alizabeth Leake, Actor and Performance Writer
“I don’t know much about theatre theory or anything like that but there is something about theatre, the fact that it is live, that something could go wrong at any moment, and things do or don’t go wrong, that is exciting. It doesn’t matter how many times you rehearse or how well you know a script but something might go wrong, but you can’t let the illusion falter for the audience. Theatre can be formally interesting and create a feeling that film and other mediums can’t.” –Chelsey Roberts, Costumer and Performance Writer
“Film is bound to realism. Storytelling uses simplicity. Dance performs without words. On stage can you tell a complex story using all bodies, words, music, costumes, and props in a way that can weave stories together to make meaning, tension, or juxtapositions stronger than other forms. In a film you can cut from one shot to another to show a relationship between the two stories or two points in time. On stage you can have an actor representing the past or the other story and they can actually affect the other. They can move their things, invade their space. In life, other people and their stories are constantly affecting our own story, and on stage you can really show that relationship– in many forms.” –Hannah Kroff, Props Mistress, Actor, and Performance Writer
