Reflections on 2014
We close out our blog entries for BTG 2014 with a montage of voices. First up are some final thoughts from co-directors Sherry, Kevin and Tim followed by quotes from group members taken from our final reflection session.Sherry: Bridging the Gap 2014 satisfied me in many ways. First, I got to take risks and experiment with the balance between freedom and structure as I directed the five members of my “crew” scene group. My group enthusiastically developed two alternate endings and presented them to the whole ensemble for feedback. Second, I found it exciting when the ensemble accepted the challenge of an entirely new form: a place play. I had never used this form as a director, so it stretched my artistic muscles and took me into new territory. In addition, the ensemble embraced the device of dividing each scene into three parts and then weaving the parts together throughout the show. In past BTG shows, each scene
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Session 8 Recap: Full Steam Ahead!
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All hands were on deck at our latest Bridging the Gap rehearsal. The 22 member LGBTQ intergenerational cast continued to develop scenes for our original show: Aboard the Raging Queen.
First the company welcomed a new member. They introduced themselves to him by working in groups to create frozen images inspired by the word “welcome,” followed by words and phrases that described the essence of our group and our playbuilding process. You can see one of the frozen images in the picture above!
After our welcoming activity, everyone broke into scene groups and continued developing the four original scenes we have been devising over the past weeks. With the support of co-directors Timothy Connell, Kevin Ray and Sherry Teitelbaum, group members focused their rehearsals on refining ideas generated in earlier sessions by improvising dialogue, writing original monologues, experimenting with props and costumes, and creating an original song! These techniques were used to highlight the underlying thematic content of each scene through the colorful characters aboard the fictional LGBTQ cruise ship, The Raging Queen.
Following our small group work, the entire ensemble came back together to perform their revised scenes for each other. It was thrilling to watch the variety of ways each group revised their scenes to bring into focus explorations of themes such as invisibility, privilege, tradition, family, and romance.
When the scenes were over, we pulled our seats into a circle and the ensemble gave each other feedback about the aspects of each scene that excited them. Near the end of our discussion, one group member expressed how delighted she was to be creating original theater inspired by her ideas She stated,
Another group member who has been in Bridging the Gap since its inception in 2011 told the rest of the group,“I am enjoying this process so much. I feel like we are creating the play rather than working with someone else’s lines.”
“This year it feels different. Somehow the process feels longer. And there is a feeling of warmth that has never been there before.”
We’re only a few rehearsals away from our December 7th performance but by all indications, Aboard the Raging Queen is sailing on smooth waters! Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.
To read more about our show, Aboard the Raging Queen, click here.
To visit our Facebook event page, click here.
To make a contribution to keep this program free to our participants, click here.
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Announcing Our 2014 Production and Fundraiser
We are very excited to announce the title of our 2014 production: Aboard the Raging Queen. We are also excited to announce our 2014 crowdfunding campaign. Click here to make a contribution today!Professional theater artists and community-based practitioners Tim Connell, Kevin Ray, and Sherry Teitelbaum are co-directing a devised play using the sights, sounds, and colorful characters we might see onboard a cruise ship as the point of inspiration.
Bridging the Gap, now in its fourth year, is a twelve-week intergenerational LGBTQ theater project, offered free to participants. During the course of weekly workshops held in Chelsea, group members collaborate to create an original 45-minute play through improvisation, group reflection, and revision. The show presents issues and ideas that matter to our participants. Group members also build theater skills, celebrate difference, challenge their assumptions about age and have fun!
PLEASE MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN TODAY
Bridging the Gap offers a platform to amplify voices from within the LGBTQ population that are frequently ignored/not considered, from both ends of the age spectrum. This year our LGBTQ group members range in age from 18 to 90 years old! Their alternate perspectives are not the dominant voices we normally hear in LGBTQ discourse. For this reason we believe it is urgent to keep both our weekly workshops and our performance accessible by removing economic barriers to participation. In order for these programs to remain free, we need your support. Without it, we cannot pay for artists’ fees for the three co-directors, theater rental, costumes, props, sets and transportation. We need $4,600 to bring this project to the stage.You can help subsidize this vital community-based theater project by making your donation now. Read More...
Brian on The Art of the Unknown
Bridging the Gap is featuring blog posts from our group members to give an inside view of what it's like to be part of the project. This post is written by Brain, a member of Bridging the Gap since 2012. You can see a pictures of him in our productions of Food for Thought and The Quest for Love above. Enjoy!by Brian Frank
I’m 24 years old and I guess you can call me one of the “old” young people in this ensemble as this is my third year with Bridging the Gap. I joined this project in 2012, after a recruiting session at the LGBT Center’s YES Program (Youth Enrichment Services). I was drawn to this project because it was an opportunity to get involved with theatre. Theatre has always been a huge passion of mine, so if any chance to stretch my acting wings and develop skills on a stage came along, I was going to jump on it. However, I soon discovered this would be a unique experience, one that I never expected to come my way.
The concept of using theatre to bridge generation gaps between the young and old is nothing new. But the idea of theatre bridging the generation gap specifically in the LGBT community is something I never gave much thought. As a gay 20-something, my upbringing and coming out has had its hardships, but thanks to the advancements of the law and positive changes in the social perceptions of LGBT people over the last few years, it has been open and relatively smooth.
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Session 3 Recap: Beginning the Playbuilding Process
There are many ways to create an original show in tandem with ensemble members. As facilitators of Bridging the Gap, Tim Connell, Sherry Teitelbaum and I use a process that is sometimes called devised theater and other times called playbuilding. Through playbuilding, we use theater games and activities to generate ideas from group members. We watch the group to see which ideas are exciting them and then we support the group in developing those ideas into a show through improvisation and reflection.
As a starting point, the facilitation team presents a central idea that we hope will spark the group’s interest. In the past, we used an overarching theme as our point of departure. We worked with group members to make plays that explored themes such as the generation gap, love, and food.
This year, we began the process with a new kind of starting point to offer returning group members a fresh change of pace and to give ourselves as facilitators a new challenge. Rather than starting with a theme, we started with a
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