This is a little overdue, but I am pretty excited to share my experience with one of my latest projects. I was selected to participate in a musical theatre workshop called “Interpreting Andy Warhol.” Vignette Strombergs was our fearless leader and Stephen Woodjetts our MD, we also had some special guests (MJ Shaw and from Theatre Gargantua Michael Spence) who came in to offer their creation tools.
This project was a creative exploration from the ground up to create something based on Andy Warhol in the Silver Factory period. We began as a group with nothing to work with except the facts and some music and we allowed ourselves to work together to create whatever came to us. No rules. No restrictions. Can you imagine that freedom? Very rarely do we get this opportunity to create in this way, I am very grateful to have been a part of this journey. I not only learned a lot about Andy Warhol, but learned a lot about what I am capable of as a theatre artist, and just how much inspiration you can get from fellow talented individuals. We were able to deconstruct music and try to make it have new meaning. We created an atmosphere with text and dance and movement. We explored characters and emotions through movement and rhythms in text. We created a cacophne of repertoire to work with that fit absolutely no mold. Like Andy Warhol says, “Art is anything you can get away with.”
The goal of our workshop was to present what we have explored, not to have a final production. To give a glimpse into what could be, and begin a framework for what will be. This was and is a work in progress.
The group met up to post presentation to discuss our after thoughts and start a plan to keep exploring this work. I have no idea where it will go. But I have to say this experience has been something I will never forget. I hope it is just the beginning, because the group of people I got to work with are super talented and inspiring, I can only imagine what we will continue to create when we meet again to further develop this project.