What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JULY 26-AUGUST 1, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 3 Life, Delivered ArkansasStaged brings theater to your doorstep BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette "It's like pizza delivery," Laura Shatkus says, "but better for the heart." That's a succinct explanation of an ArkansasStaged project called Curbside Theatre. Conceived just after the covid-19 crisis hit Northwest Arkansas, it was born through the work of playwrights, performers and technicians and is a new kind of intimate performance that may be the theater of the future. "This piece, now titled 'Hold Fast,' was devised and created over the period of 3½ months by myself, Kholoud Sawaf, Mischa Hutchings and Michael Bell, with additional contributions from Adrienne Dawes, Na'Tosha Devon, Claire Fossey and Audrey Romero," Shatkus explains. "We began with the question: 'What do people miss most?' and set out to create a theatrical care package for the audience." Challenged with creating new theater for an unprecedented time, Shatkus and her collaborators also tried a process new to them. "We spent most of our initial creative work using a method called Moment Work, developed by the Tectonic Theatre Company ('The Laramie Project,' '33 Variations') which embraces all aspects of theatre equally — light, sound, movement, props, costumes, and yes, text too, but rather than leading with text, it asks creators to let these other elements inform the story," she explains. "Shockingly, this process worked really well. We did a lot of self- taping of original moments on our own, then presented these short video clips to one another and analyzed them via Zoom. Next, we began to sequence and layer them, and soon enough we had something like a script!" In an abbreviated two-week rehearsal process, "we workshopped the piece and tried new things with the actors," Shatkus says. "And now, indeed, we have a play!" The Clown (Na'Tosha Devon) looks on curiously (above) as The Space Traveller (Claire Fossey) works on an "experiment" in the Curbside Theatre production "Hold Fast." The play is an answer to the yearning for live theater that many are feeling during the coronavirus crisis. Below, The Space Traveller tries to make contact. Audiences at the Curbside Theatre production are invited to "wear one fancy thing; hats encouraged." (Courtesy Photos/Lynn Meade) COVER STORY See Curbside Page 4 FAQ 'Hold Fast' WHEN — Through Aug. 14 WHERE — Delivered to your home, with "priority access being given to marginalized communi- ties" COST — Free; donations welcome INFO — curbsidetheatre. com