AM690 OnStage with Larry Larson

Listen to the radio feature with Larry Larson.

Adam Fristoe and Koos Hogeweg, artistic project leaders of Group Intelligence talk with Larry Larson about Out of Hand Theater and The Lunatics, their past work and collaborations, as well as the current project, Group Intelligence: a mass MP3 experience.



Learn more about the performances here.

Watch the promo videos.  Connect through Facebook and look for yourself in the videos.

Watch performance video and learn more about the science in the experiment.


Take some time to watch this fascinating conversation between Martha Grover and Robert Spano on the convergence of new science and music.  This conversation digs deep into very similar subject matter explored in Group Intelligence.

WWN at Brave New Works: Final Thoughts

The cast gathered at the theater bright and early on Saturday morning for our final rehearsal of "Without Which Nothing," followed by our first staged reading of the work.

We began in a flurry of activity, with Anne, our stage manager, hurridly printing pages for a new scene to be inserted that day (!), and Clint rushing in after being blockaded in his neighborhood by marathon runners. Work continued on our opening image for the prologue, as we set more specific actions with our bodies that would compliment Raven's language. We read through our new scenes and decided they made the cut for now, and scrutinized the stage directions throughout the piece, discussing what would be helpful for the audience to hear and what could be left out. After one final read through, we took a break for lunch, feeling nervous and excited in anticipation for the afternoon's staged reading.

A little after 2pm, Matt Huff, our director, and Margaret Baldwin, our lead writer, took the stage and introduced the work, explaining to the audience that today they would be hearing the first movement of the piece. Overall, the reading went well. We had a great team of actors, from the incomparable Clint Thornton, to Emory grad Nick Surbey, to our awesome student actors -- Sophie Edwards, Josh Izaak, Madeline Teissler, and Robin Iriele -- go Emory! It was incredibly helpful to see what moments the audience responded to, what was funny or confusing, where the play dragged on or, conversely, where it felt rushed and compacted.  

Out of Hand Co-Artistic Director, Adam Fristoe, lead an engaging talkback session. Audience members were asked to close their eyes, then call out any images or moments that stuck with them as compelling or evocative. Responses included the songs woven throughout; Raven's wings in the beginning; the plight of Perceval the Frog; generational relationships; the rotation of narrators; imagery of water and physical bodies; willful destruction; and the three very different worlds depicted in the play.

Discussion then moved to connections the audience perceived between the three narrative streams in the play (consisting of a scientist searching for water on Mars; three women in a dry place searching for water for a funeral rite; and a modern re-telling of the Frog Prince fairytale). One audience member voiced that a main connection was the quest to obtain or find water, though reasons for this might differ in each stream. Another member added that water seemed to mean different things to different people in each stream, while a third felt the parts of the play were connected through rituals that involved water, whether they be daily or heightened rituals. Raven's interactions and role as a trickster in the Frog and Well Women streams stood out to the audience, and some voiced a desire to see him interact more with Dr. Which and his quest to find water on Mars. Science peeps were well represented in the audience, and commented on the tension between astrophysics and microbiology that emerges through the writing. 

As the work we presented in the reading was only the first half of the piece, one question we asked of the audience was, "How do you see this all coming together?" One audience member sensed that the funeral for which the Well Women characters are preparing would be the point of convergence, while another felt that Ada, the youngest character in the Well Women stream, could help connect all narratives in the end, as she is caught between old ways and the new, between the myths of her grandmother and the science she studies in America.

We left the theater feeling accomplished and relieved, with many ideas and much helpful feedback to consider as we move into the next stage of development for "Without Which Nothing."

 

- Erin Weller Dalton

Music and Collaboration in Without Which nothing

We gathered on a balmy Friday night for our next- to-last rehearsal  at Emory for the staged reading performance of Without Which Nothing. The goal of the evening seemed to be to polish and heighten dynamics we had previously touched on.

Rehearsal began with listening to a capella arrangements  that some cast members made of the songs in the script. After hearing the original arrangements sung, both cast and director decided that trying a new arrangement during the reading was worthwhile. One of the actors, Madeline Teisller, had the best arrangement of the night that included layered voices and a beautiful melody.

After listening, the Well Women (Robin Iriele, Madeline, and  I) were tasked with learning  the new arrangements. The actors who play Dr. Which and Janet, Clint Thornton and Sophie Edwards, were asked to find moments during their scenes together to face each other and when to face the audience. Percival and Jules, Nick Surbey and Erin Weller, worked on staging choices. 

Raven, played by Josh Izaak, was given a new monologue from our dramaturg and writing contributor, Barry Carman.  Dr. Which, Dr. What, and Janet also gained a scene, once Margaret arrived.

With our additions, we began a full read through. Matt and Margaret discussed and decided on blocking. Our director and our playwright guided us through different takes on character interaction as it pertains to the direction of the actor’s gaze during a staged reading. After trying a few things, a decision was reached.

Raven is the only character for whom many so many parameters are different as he is both in, yet above the action. We played with this character’s rule breaking abilities. Nick played around with Percival’s voice, and staging dynamics were worked out for his interaction with Raven.

We spent some quality time on our staging of the prologue/opening sequence. In my humble opinion, I think the end result is quite striking and I can’t wait to see and hear the audience’s reaction to it. It gives a clear impression of the mythic element to the story and establishes the characters in a subtle but engaging way.

We used the last section of rehearsal to clarify characters within the Well Women narrative and to trim repetitive dialogue from the revamped script. Helpful notes about pacing and vocalization were given by Matt and adjustments were made.

We are so close to the finish line of this part of the development process. I am torn between pride and nerves about our reading. But I am also looking ahead to the play’s next stage.

-Mauree M. Culberson

Without Which Nothing Show Development

The second night of Brave New Works rehearsal was a mix of physical work, character analysis and in-depth discussion of questions regarding structure and development.

Matt Huff, our fearless leader, kicked off the night by challenging us to create three non-moving stage pictures inspired by the opening image of the play. He then chose one picture and had us experiment with movement as Raven, the first character we meet in the play, read his beginning monologue.   This exercise allowed us to experience the tone and imagery of the scene in a new way. Matt also let us play with setting up our chairs and reading stands in a way that reflected our relationships to each other. The result was unconventional for a typical staged reading, but certainly expressed our characters!

Concentrated work began on the first two scenes. Madeline, Robin and Mauree worked on adding song and music to their scene, as well deepening their understanding of the relationship between the women they portray. Josh explored how bombastic his anthropomorphic character, Raven, should be – where should he emphasize his performance, and where should the words speak for themselves? When is he bird-like, and when is he human? Matt insightfully encouraged actors reading stage directions to think of themselves as engaged storytellers, setting the action for the audience, instead of objective voices that merely relate information.

Margaret, our lead writer, brought new scenes she wanted to hear out loud, helping her consider how to shift the scenes from talking about action to real theatrical action. It was especially helpful to hear comments from our non-writer cast members about what images and moments stood out to them, what was funny, what confused them, etc. This lead to discussion about why characters tell stories in the play, and what those stories can/should reveal. One of our actors, Clint, offered very perceptive ideas about how to use physical action to weave points of a story more organically into one of the new scenes we had just read. We also discussed the challenge of distilling our massive amounts of fascinating scientific  research into a few sentences that reveal the world of the play without explaining too much.

We left rehearsal with many questions, and are eager to jump back in at Friday’s rehearsal.

--Erin Weller Dalton

Interactive video. You are the star

Watch the Interactive Group Intelligence video here!

Check out theses groundbreaking videos created by Captain Crazy TV for Out of Hand's Group Intelligence: a mass MP3 experience.  If you allow Facebook connectivity, your pictures show up in the video and it calls you by name.  Seriously.  It's fantastic and little mind blowing. 

Out of Hand collaborates with The Lunatics (Netherlands) collaborates with Captain Crazy TV.  This is a cool project.

Without Which Nothing Rehearsals

Despite the stormy night that preceded it, we met for our first Brave New Works rehearsal at Emory
for Out of Hand’s and Margaret Baldwin’s Without Which Nothing. We were situated on the same floor
as two other BNW pieces being rehearsed that night. We began in a circle and in the middle of it all of
course………a pitcher of water.

Our wonderful director, Matt Huff, began our introductions with a watery twist. He asked each of us to
describe our most scary, sacred, and/or awe inspiring moment with water. The replies varied greatly.
They included nearly drowning, getting caught in dangerous storms, falling off a boat while fishing, and
falling into water in the dark of the woods.

For our first task we turned our attention towards 3 image boards that our lead writer, Margaret
Baldwin, made. Each board contained images that described in visuals some aspects of the 3 narratives
(often called streams) in the play.

We were split into two groups and asked to make 3 slides (stage pictures) inspired by or based upon one
image what we as a group selected from the image boards. Matt gave us the use of chairs and music
stands but we were not to use speech or movement. The slides we came up with were although still
very active and gave the feel of movement. Stand outs included all the actors in one group lying on their
backs in a circle balancing chairs above them. Another of note included a group lift of one actor.



When talking with the other contributors at break, I found that we shared similar feelings after the
initial rehearsal read through of the script. It was great to hear new voices and perspectives on words
that to us contributors seem old. Hearing the interpretations of fresh eyes on the words breathed into
them new life. Things that were funny months ago but not weeks ago were funny again. A slight change
in pacing made pieces that didn’t seem to fit well together flow beautifully. Subtext was rediscovered.

After a break, there was a discussion about Out of Hand’s ensemble approach to creating new work.
Barry, our dramaturg and one of the contributors, spoke of the importance of different voices within
the company coming together to make the play truly poly-vocal. Margaret spoke of her role as head
writer and writing coach on the project and of taking the many voices and making them meld into part
of a whole while still retaining what is important about each of them. (That is a huge undertaking! Go
Margaret.) Erin and I, both writing contributors, spoke of our research and talked a bit about how we
contributed to the writing process, as well as the ever important rewriting process.

There was much talk of science and myth as it relates to water. We chatted about water origin stories
from many different cultures, astrobiology terms and themes, frogs as bioindicators, and waterborne
diseases. We wanted to somewhat familiarize the cast with some of these ideas that we have been
researching and concentrating on these past few months.

As one of our last assignments we were to use one line in the script per character and demonstrate
how we would play that scene if we were given full physical range for the performance but were only
allowed to use our music stand and chair. It was revealing to play with physical distance with the script
and explore what that added to character development.

We had a blast and are looking forward to reading more and helping shape this project into its final
version!


-- Mauree Culberson

International Year of Chemistry

This year, Out of Hand is in residence at the NASA/NSF Center for Chemical Evolution.  Last week, we participated in an International Year of Chemistry event at Emory University.  200 Dekalb County High School students participated in a trial run of GROUP INTELLIGENCE, a mass MP3 experience.  


This Science and Art experience uses techniques from MP3 Flash Mobs to create immersive experiences for audiences.  In this experiment, participants play the part of primordial molecules forming the universe, solar system and the first complex organisms.


"It was especially entertaining during the theater part.  It's fun how you can put two things together (science and art) and something amazing comes out."
- Andre Smith, Dekalb County High School Junior