Abstract

In August 2012, Patrick Sutton, Director of the Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin, came to Carthage to lead a workshop with a select group of students admitted into the 2013 Ensemble & Experimental Acting course. The workshop generated a set of images that would serve as the source material for a new play, written by Irish dramatist Martin Maguire. These students then rehearsed and developed the play before travelling to Dublin, Ireland to premiere their creation at the historic Smock Alley Theatre. This would constitute a new approach to play-making for the students and for director Neil Scharnick, demanding a more active collaborative role from the actors (and the stage manager) and a new approach to the play script by the director. This presentation documents the journey undertaken by members of the Smock Alley Project ensemble—cast, crew, and faculty alike—and attempts to condense and articulate the most vital lessons learned about performance, theatrical collaboration, and the devising process.