Joseph Handlin
The moment we at the Abington Sun heard about a student performance on campus, we had to get the scoop. “EXIT: A Banquet Piece” will be a moving performance–literally–so the audience will be following the performance across campus. Abington Students worked with Dr. Marissa Nicosia, Associate Professor of Renaissance Literature, and Dr. Jac Pryor, Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts, to think through both Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale and Adrian Maree Brown’s Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds,” and develop a performance in response. We sat down with the heads of the project for a very informative interview.
Just before we start, for the people who haven’t heard, what is this performance called and when will it be held?
Dr. Nicosia: “The performance is called “Exit: A Banquet Piece” and will be held April 21st at 6pm and begin on the Sutherland plaza. This performance was created by students enrolled in our linked English/Theatre courses “Emergent Strategy: The Winter’s Tale.” In this course, students embarked on a deep exploration of William Shakespeare’s 1610 play The Winter’s Tale. As a tragicomedy, this play explores loss and strife, but ultimately ends with repair and recovery. Dr. Pryor and I were drawn to this play because it resonates with our own historical moment two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Dr. Pryor: “This contemporary resonsance led us to pair Shakespeare’s play with adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds (2017). Drawing equally from Black feminist philosophy and natural science, Emergent Stategy is a handbook for social change, offering tools and strategies for working with others in ways that aim to break from rather than reproduce the logics of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. In other words, this class is also one about healthy collaboration.
How has the production been so far?
Dr. Pryor: It’s a devised performance, which means that the vast majority of our time together has been spent doing research and building a sense of ensemble and a spirit of play. We are now transitioning into the phase of the project where we are actively generating the mechanics of the performance itself—writing the spoken text, setting the movement, rehearsing the music and songs.
Dr. Nicosia: “Last Sunday we had a retreat on campus where we worked through the structure of the performance.”
Dr. Pryor: For the past few weeks, students have also been working intensively with Philadelphia-based musician and composer Emily Bate to create original music for the event.
What has been your favorite part about this project?
Dr. Nicosia: “I actually have three favorite things to share. Co-teaching a class with Dr. Pryor has been something I’ve been looking forward to since we first started discussing the possibility in spring 2021. Second, I’ve never worked with a group of students more devoted and motivated, kind and caring to one another. Finally, it has been an absolute luxury to dive deep into a single Shakespeare play and our collective exploration has informed my own research on The Winter’s Tale.
Dr. Pryor: “I’ve loved working with Dr. Nicosia. She is a brilliant scholar and educator of early modern drama and cultural history, and I’ve learn so much from her. We each facilitate the course at different moments, so there are opportunities to be both student and teacher. The students are also a very special cohort of humans who have said yes to the experimental pedagogy at the heart of the course, and it’s been a pleasure and honor share space with, teach, and learn from them, as well. I am now looking forward to welcoming the audience into our process and share this immersive performance event which we have created for them.
The audience will follow this site-specific, outdoor performance across campus.
The creative team includes: Jonathan Bercovici (he/him), Madison Branch (she/her), Kyleigh Byers (she/her), Trim Walker (they/them), George Ye (he/him), Aman Zabian (he/him). The Production Team includes: director Jac I. Pryor (they/them), dramaturg Marissa Nicosia (she/her), musician/composer Emily Bate (she/her), stage manager Jaleel Hunter (recent graduate, he/him), and production manager/technical director Lisa Suzanne Turner (she/they).
There you have it, folks! Make sure you get to Sutherland Plaza at 6pm on Thursday the 21st for a very special performance! Reservations can be made at tinyurl.com/exitbear.
Wow, I loved this article! I should go and see this play.