"Our" Stasis
Immersive
Devised Piece
"Our" Stasis was an assignment of the Advance Directing class at Baylor University. We were given the task of directing a scene that played of the atmosphere and architecture of immersive theatre.
The scene was cast with 6 actors (2 sets of real world couples), devised and rehearsed for 4 weeks with one closed performance for Baylor Theatre.
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"Our" Stasis, is a 30 minute immersive devised scene that follows couples at different stages of their relationships. They explore the 'ups' and 'downs' of having a long-term partner. This piece is a choose your own adventure, so you may follow any of the performers as they navigate Dutton Parking Garage.
Research
I first started with researching the space. Parking garages are places of transition. It is both public and private. They are meeting places.
What are the different levels of relationships? What are milestone? What are points of conflict.
How do we interact with other relationships versus our own?
The first three rehearsals were spent brainstorming the types of stories we wanted to help. I also met with each of the pairing individually to come up with a story line for each pairing.
Scene by Scene
Opening
The piece starts with the actor, Liz, exiting the parking garage from setting up for a movie night date in the parking garage. She calls out for her friends who are on different levels of the parking garage based on what "level" of relationship they are in. The couples hype her up and she runs off to finish setting up.
Immediately after she leaves the actor, Logan, appears looking for the a party his friend Hailey, another actor, commissioned him to sing and play at. The couples ask if he has any plans today. Logan denies having any date scheduled for today and tries to cover for Hailey about the surprise party.
Liz
Liz arrives at the date spot and puts When Harry Met Sally on the projector. She checks her phone and receives a voicemail from Logan stating he will not be at the date. Liz talks to the audience about her dating whoas and references behavior Logan displayed to lead her on. She asks the audience to weigh in then calls her female friends to comfort her.
Joseph and Hailey
Hailey and Joseph first appear on the third level of the parking garage. They are a real couple who have been dating for 2 1/2 years. In their personal lives they have seriously considered marriage. Hailey is at the parking garage to throw Joseph a surprise party since she is moving away and he is finishing off school. Hailey sends Joseph on a scavenger hunt. Hailey's starts a fake fight and calls him to give him the first clue. Joseph puts her on speaker in his car and she sings the Kahoot theme song.
With the help of the audience he figures it out and goes to find her and play the kahoot. He receives a clue that he must figure out. He enlist the help of his boys to figure out the clue. Meanwhile Hailey helps and comforts Liz through her boy troubles with pros and cons. They then go to get ready for the surprise party while Joseph looks for the clue.
Wyatt and Melia
Wyatt and Melia are second real world couple. They have only been dating for four months and are struggling with the 'pacing' of long term relationships. They first appear to us on the second floor. After helping Liz, they decide to ride the elevator for fun until the party. Melia wants to continue to ride the elevator, but Wyatt wants to move their relationships to high levels. As the physically go up and down, they discuss graduating early, taking the relationship to the next level, and going to different levels for different people.
As they argue, they find themselves on the stairs. Melia gets a text from Liz and she immediately runs up the the second floor for Liz. Wyatt runs into Logan and they discuss the best course of action. When Melia returns, Wyatt finds himself "love bombing" Melia with water balloons to help the relationships. Joseph calls for Wyatt which takes him away from their fight. When he returns they find a way to meet halfway up the stairs and reach stasis.
Logan
Logan enters from outside the parking garage expecting to perform at Hailey's surprise party for Joseph. He arrived too early and covers by saying the acoustics in the garage are good. He walks up the ramp to stall till the party but stumbles upon Liz and turns around. Logan goes to the 3rd floor to play music and do poetry with the audience members he is with. Wyatt enlists his help with Melia. Then Joseph appears to ask for help with the scavenger hunt. After they figure out the cool, Joseph confronts Logan about Liz. Joseph convinces Logan to talk to Liz. Logan heads to the 4th floor to talk to Liz.
Tea Time!
After Liz receives the voicemail from Logan, she texts Hailey and Melia to comfort her. The women pour tea and discuss their problems with their partners. They ask the audience for tips. Liz gives Melia an umbrella for protection and she leaves to talk to Wyatt again. This moment is meant to be an act of solidarity between women as the navigate different problems in their relationships.
Dance Time!
After receiving the clue, Joseph drives around the parking lot thinking about the clue. He finds Logan and they decide to call the 'troops' to help with the clue. Joseph plays Get Into It (Yuh) by Doja Cat out his windows as he drives up to the fourth floor to met up with his boys. Wyatt pauses his fight with Melia to run to the forth floor. The men do a synchronized dance as they discuss the clue.
Joseph drove by Hailey and Liz making a pros and cons. Hailey is nervous that they will see the party set up. They climb up the stairs to spy on the boys dance.
Party Time!
Liz and Hailey enlist the help of the audience to set up the party by writing sweet messages to Joseph. When Hailey sees Joseph driving up to the party, she tells everyone to hide. At this point, Melia and Wyatt have arrived just in time to hide.
Joseph arrives and everyone jumps out. Hailey invites people to dance together to La vie en rose by Louis Armstrong. As they dance, Liz looks over the edge of the parking garage roof.
Logan arrives and walks through the couples dancing to talk to Liz. He invites her to dance and she gives him a party hat. As they dance they talk privately and Liz seems to be enjoying herself. Logan then pulls out his phone and Liz makes a comment about him leaving another voicemail.
Logan becomes argumentative and a fight ensues. The music dies down. Liz yells at Logan to stop talking. Logan looks around at the audience he's created. He apologizes to everyone. Liz tells him to leave. The music resumes as he walks away. Hailey goes to Liz as we watch Logan leave the party.
Media
"Our" Stasis was created with the context of the audience and actors in mind. It delts with the dynamics of relationships but also the private versus public aspects of being apart of a tight knitt theatre department. An anonymous social media account was created to play off the public and private context of these people/ characters.
