Rattle Your Own Cage
Devised Theatre techniques for text-based playwrights
(Registrations are now closed — Look out for future courses!)
A practical, five-week course for intermediate and established playwrights who are interested in rebooting and re-examining their writing practice for a new world. David Van Belle will use techniques and principles developed during twenty years of devised theatre experience to open up new possibilities for playwrights who are used to working in a traditional script-to-production model. Topics include the embrace of impulse, randomness, restriction and collaboration, ending with a focus on creating coherence out of chaos.
When: April 17, 24, May 1, 8, 15 from 1:00-3:30pm (MDT- Edmonton) online.
Participants will explore class content by writing and creating together around common content and themes.
1. Week One: Impulse—saying yes to your ideas, even when you don’t completely understand them
2. Week Two: Randomness—using your interpretive/connective skills as a means of artistry
3. Week Three: Restriction—problem solving as a means toward creativity
4. Week Four: Collaboration—embracing other points of view, desires and aesthetics
5. Week Five: Coherence—intelligent organizing principles for the assembly of a play
max participants: 12
PAYMENT PLANS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE: Please contact operations@workshopwest.org
About the Instructor: David van Belle
David van Belle is a playwright who has moved back and forth between the worlds of traditional theatre making and devised work for more than twenty years. With Ghost River Theatre he premiered such devised works as The Highest Step in the World, The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst and GIANT with his collaborator Eric Rose. But he is equally familiar with traditional script-to-production models, having written plays like Liberation Days and A Christmas Carol for large regional theatres. He has served as an ensemble member of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, Co-Artistic Director of Ghost River Theatre, Playwright-in-Residence at Alberta Theatre Projects, and was the 2017 Writer-in-Residence for the Edmonton Public Library system. He is fascinated with people’s lives and the ways in which they live them