Let's start with a little exposition, shall we?

Central School of Speech and Drama's MA course in Advanced Theatre Practices is made up of several different strands. Each one of these strands varies in focus/discipline (performing, directing, scenography are but a few) and number of artists--anywhere between one (writing and visual media, respectively) and sixteen (performing). Over the course of the first term, in various lab assignments, we were all mixed about each week, and sent off to work in small ensembles to fulfill whatever assignment we were addressing. (See that picture at the top of the page? That's several of us, hard at work during week four on the stage of the Embassy Theatre.) The hope was that by the end of the first term we would have gotten to work with everyone else on the course, have a sense of their aesthetics, artistic interests and agendas, and know each other pretty well.

This was not entirely successful.

As it happened, many of us found we'd missed a connection somewhere (and not in that creepy or romantic Craigslist way), that we hadn't gotten a chance to work with someone we thought we'd mesh with, or were left feeling we didn't know the full potential of our classmates. The frustration that sprung from these issues brought a few of us together at the end of our first term, during an Open Space session modled off of Improbable's Devoted and Disgruntled event. Our answer was:

The Space (in) Between: Let's not be strangers!

(The subtitle is optional.)

The Space was set up as the ultimate sharing ground for our course, where people can throw out any ideas they may have, develop them a bit, rip them apart, and maybe start over from scratch. The Space is safe and supportive, and in these ways we hope it will be also productive. The Space respects that we are eachother's greatest assests. It's a way to keep the creative juices flowing, even when we think we're all dried out from the research during our second term. It's also a great place to start thinking about festival work that we'll be producing and mounting at the end of our third term. So stay tuned and up to date on this forum of the things going on, but understand: all the action is happening first hand in the Space--so show up and join in! It's there for you, and the door is always open.

Provided, of course, that you practice Advanced Theatre.