LAKEWOOD RANCH — Under the mentorship of the Asolo Repertory Theater, students from The Out-of-Door Academy, and Lakewood Ranch, Southeast and Booker high schools recently got to create “devised theater,” a relatively new art form where the script is derived from interviews.
Their creations, grouped under the title, “Lend Us Your Voice,” will be presented Dec. 3-5 in the new black box theatre at The Out-of-Door Academy’s Visual and Performing Arts Center.
Led by Leah Page and Emily Freeman from the Asolo’s education outreach department, the students chose a subject area they wanted to explore and went into the community in September to record the views and feelings of everyday people.
Besides teachers and fellow students, the young actors interviewed clients at Community Haven for Adults with Disabilities in Sarasota and at Manasota Buds, an organization serving Manatee and Sarasota for families with children who have Down Syndrome.
The drama students also interviewed residents at the Glenridge retirement community and some local businesses.
“It made us think about ourselves,” said Molly Bonham McDonald of Out-of-Door Academy, whose topic was social groups and cliques in high school and beyond.
Molly and fellow performer Maggie Winkler decided to sit down at a table with sophomore boys during lunch one day to record their comments. The boys asked them why they were there and encouraged them politely to leave.
“They tried to gross us out, but we hung around,” Molly said. “We learned that people go into cliques for comfort and support.”
“Everyone is in a group without even knowing it,” Maggie said.
Out-of-Door’s performance, called “Groupz!??!” will be performed 7 p.m. Dec. 3 and 2 p.m. Dec. 5.
Lakewood Ranch students chose to explore “What is normal” and their show, called “(Ab)normal,” is scheduled 7 p.m. Dec. 4 and Dec. 5.
Southeast High students will be performing, “What’s my age again?” a show exploring ageism in Sarasota and Manatee. Southeast goes on stage at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 5.
Booker High, in Sarasota, will perform “A Mark Left Behind,” about the physical and emotional scars in the Sarasota community. Booker performs 7 p.m. Dec. 3 and Dec. 4.
Devised theater has been popular in theater since “The Laramie Project,” where actors and directors went into the town of Laramie, Wyoming to talk to residents about the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered.
The Tectonic Theater Project premiered “The Laramie Project” in February 2000.
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 6686.
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