the beginning: a production at kennesaw state university
Where it all Began
Vital Matters began in 2019 as a devised workshop production with eight undergraduate students at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, led by Michele Minnick.
"We explored local natural and manmade landscapes, connected with natural elements through somatic movement practice, journaling and ritual. We read books about climate change and related environmental concerns, discussing our intellectual, emotional and political responses to them. The cast developed text, songs, movement, and exchanges with the audience. The result was an immersive, interactive piece in which audience members were invited to discuss their relationship to vitality, home, and the sacred, in this time of climate crisis.
Our dramaturgical process was grounded in The Performance Workshop and Rasaboxes (see Inside The Performance Workshop: A Sourcebook for Rasaboxes and Other Exercises 2023 by Bowditch, Cole and Minnick), Ecosomatics practices developed by Jamie McHugh, and beginning explorations with essential oils as a way of regulating the nervous system and opening up the bodymind for the creative process.
The content we introduced into this framework then took various forms, including whole group performances of a climate crisis fashion show, a dinosaur dance for the end of the world with the audience participating in animal masks. Each student was also given the assignment to create a small group interactive performance, in which they would invite the audience into conversation, writing, or drawing. Thus the dramaturgy and environment of the piece was a cumulative integration of our 8 weeks of training, research, workshopping, and rehearsing both in the studio and outside, and the audience's stories, drawings, questions, and participation in rituals."
