What has really stuck with me in Fletcher's Performance Theory class is the concept of phenomenology...and how all the topics we studied help to create that phenomenological experience. What, I think, the term means to me is creating a certain kind of experience we want to leave with the audience. And how we need to balance that objective by remembering to look through a "binocular" where we see the semiotics, or the signs and symbols that inform, as well as what we sensitively take in from the experience.
I've thought about this term throughout the semester--especially since I am tasked to create a solo performance thesis. Not only do I explore what my character experiences moment by moment, but I've thought about what the audience would feel as well. And I've set the goal for myself to create an experience for the audience that parallels my character's truthful experience on stage. But I've also come to realize that there needs to be a balance between the two. For example, the isolation and violence I want the audience to experience complements Saeed's experience in his solitary confinement cell. I've discovered that some of the pauses, moments of isolation, that I thought would create tension and uncertainty, really just sucks the life out of the rhythm and overall experience of the piece. Discovering the balance between the two is difficult, and reinforces the importance of the director.
Phenomenology is something I never considered, or even heard about, as a director. Yes, directors want to create an atmosphere. But phenomenology seems to mean much more than that to me...Foucault's ideas about space, the work of the environmental theatre articles we read, the fascinating idea of dark matter in a play, the hyper real quality of verbatim/documentary theatre, and even some of the moment work the MFA ensemble did with Leigh Fondakowski all seem to influence this concept of creating an experience, rather than just a story. I want to create experiences, not just stories.
