PHILADELPHIA YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS
  • About
    • Mission & History
    • Programs >
      • In School Programs
      • Annual Playwriting Festival
      • Classes & Mentorship Programs
      • Community-Based Programs
    • People
    • Podcast
    • Alumni
    • Supporters
    • Press
    • Careers
    • Donate >
      • Works in Progress: Dourdan
      • Works in Progress: Pryor
      • Works in Progress: Jackson Jr.
      • PYP Store
  • Classes
  • On Stage
  • Resources
    • PYP at Home
    • Quarantine Challenge
    • For Students >
      • Submit your Play or Monologue
    • For Educators
    • For Parents
  • Blog
Insights,
Updates,
​Stories.

FIRST THEY CAME FOR: Finding Found, A New Way to New Work

2/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Why is Found partnering with Young Playwrights to produce work outside of your normal process?
Picture
What has it been like to marry Found's process with a pre-existing text? 
Picture
​Found is perpetually fascinated with finding new ways of working. When PYP reached out to us, we felt the immediacy and relevance of Shannon's script and believed that our approach to generating physical and music-driven work could benefit the surreal style she was interested in exploring. We've partnered with PYP before, and found working with a young student's script to be a refreshing approach to theater. When you're paired with a young writer, there can a newness to art-making. They are literally experiencing the process of putting up their own show for the first time, and that excitement is contagious. Ultimately, this partnership is about telling a powerful allegory Found believes in and using the skills we've picked up as a company to help Shannon further develop her work and discover her unique voice.


-Phoebe Schaub
​Found Company Member, Producer
Vertical Divider
Found works from a sort of blank canvas. We use concepts and detailed research to build a story out of performance art. Literary inspiration has always been a key element to our creative process, but we have never had an opportunity quite like this.  Working alongside a brilliant young playwright on FIRST THEY CAME FOR has proved to be an incredible experience for us. 
 
From our first rehearsal we were given fully formed characters. We had a narrative structure that blended history with the expressionist and unreal. We were basically given a springboard to propel us into devising our performance pieces. As the play was still being written, characters could jump right off the page and into room. We could improvise, search the depths of the world we were creating with our writer, and then see the script grow alongside our devising work.
 
It has been a bit like “show and tell” (or maybe “show and write”). As we moved through the rehearsal process we really found a great back and forth- Shannon would share new writing and we would show some art pieces inspired by that. By the next day would end up with another scene incorporating both: writing inspiring performance art inspiring. It definitely helps that Shannon DiStefano is a young playwright who isn’t afraid to take risks. Found is mostly about taking risks (failing, going beyond the bounds) and hopefully returning with something both wild and true. 

-Matt Lorenz
​Found Company Member, Director
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    1219 Project
    Alumni
    Autism Program
    Board Of Directors
    Butterfly Project
    Candles
    Classroom Program
    Lesson Plan
    Middle School Monologue Festival
    Mouthful Monologue Festival
    New Voices
    Partner Productions
    Paula Vogel Mentors Project
    Photos
    Press
    Productions
    Re Play Newsletter
    Re-Play Newsletter
    Saturday Reading Series
    SDP
    Students
    Teaching Artists
    Testimonials
    Time Machine
    Video
    Workshops
    Write On!
    Young Voices
    Youth Council

Picture
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

Contact Us!
Job Opportunities
Press Room
Donate
© Philadelphia Young Playwrights - 1219 Vine Street, Floor 2 Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215-665-9226
Fax: 215-665-9228 Email: info@PhillyYoungPlaywrights.org
  • About
    • Mission & History
    • Programs >
      • In School Programs
      • Annual Playwriting Festival
      • Classes & Mentorship Programs
      • Community-Based Programs
    • People
    • Podcast
    • Alumni
    • Supporters
    • Press
    • Careers
    • Donate >
      • Works in Progress: Dourdan
      • Works in Progress: Pryor
      • Works in Progress: Jackson Jr.
      • PYP Store
  • Classes
  • On Stage
  • Resources
    • PYP at Home
    • Quarantine Challenge
    • For Students >
      • Submit your Play or Monologue
    • For Educators
    • For Parents
  • Blog