Amplifying Student Voices

I’ve enjoyed working with PETE & ICP for several years (that’s the Portland Experimental Theater Ensemble and their training program, the Institute for Contemporary Performance). I regularly document their productions, which take place in black box theaters, warehouses, public parks and pickleball courts. Each performance is unique, from stagings of Beckett and Chekhov to devised experiments in form.

For this project, I spent a morning with ICP, filming their collaborations as they presented work for each other in the CoHo Theater Resource Center. A group discussion afterwards showed the intense engagement that each student brings to thinking about process, the value of noticing, the vulnerability and freedom of performing. As an educator in college classrooms, it’s a treat to observe different educational environments. Looking through the lens, I try to find and frame moments that reveal an authentic dynamic. This program understands the power of the circle, as distinctions between faculty and student seem to mingle in productive ways. Evidence of the collaborative process cover the walls - lists of ideas, prompts, and agreements serve as a backdrop to interviews.

Weaving together an impressionistic montage of performance, interviews and group discussion moments, in these two short promo videos designed for social media, I let student voices take the lead.