JMU students explore impact of memories in devised theater | Arts And Entertainment

Since May, James Madison University students have been working with faculty members to create an original theater ensemble piece.

The piece, “{re}written,” which features 15 students, will debut Tuesday at JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts Mainstage Theatre and run through Saturday.

The piece is a devised theater piece, which means it is a completely original production put together by those performing in it, said Ingrid De Sanctis, Associate Professor of Playwriting in The School of Theatre and Dance, who is co-directing the production.

“Devised theater is when an ensemble comes together and builds a piece of theater from scratch,” she said. “A devised theater piece kind of creates its own form,” she said. “It’s got movement, a storyline, and singing all weaved in. You’ll follow a story, but it’s just a collage of style and form.”

The story that the 37-scene piece tells is about memory, said Dioma Ogwara, a junior theatre major from Woodbridge, who is one of the students who helped to create the piece and is starring in the production.

Ogwara said one of the pieces explores is “How do we remember things? Like if there was a machine to erase or alter recall of any of our memories, would you do it? And, if that happens, will you still be the same person?”

Students began talking to their professors and each other about the project last spring, and over the summer, they continued to think about ideas for the play.

In the fall, the students took a devising class in which they brainstormed and collaborated on the play.

“We started the class back in August,” Ogwara recalled. “We had no script, no nothing.”

After the class, most students continued to work on the play throughout the spring semester. However, a few could not participate in the final production due to scheduling conflicts. 

One thing that’s exciting about the play is that it features art from several disciplines, said Jasper Wilson, a junior theatre major from Charlottesville.

“We have music, we have dancing, we have acting, all combined in this piece, and it’s been incredible getting to work on it and try out new things and really just learn and grow throughout this process,” Wilson said.

Wilson said that working on this piece was a different experience than working on a scripted play.

“I feel like there’s a lot more uncertainty going into it, and that’s an exciting thing,” Wilson said. “It’s like you’re creating something from the ground up entirely.”

Wilson described the final product as beautiful.

“It’s a cool, kind of dystopian sci-fi piece, talking about memories, experience and life,” Wilson said.

JMU has not taught a collaborative theater devising class before, but the university plans to do it again every four years, said Emily Nuckols, a senior theatre performance and theatre education major from Powhatan. 

“I’m really excited that I was able to be a part of the first one,” Nuckols said. “I’m glad that my final show at JMU was something that I got to pour so much of myself into. It’s rare to get to do that.”

The script for the play was just finalized a few weeks ago, so the production is brand new, said JMU Assistant Professor of Dance and Technology Tara Lee Burns, the other co-director of the play.

“What’s really exciting to me about it is that the students came up with a lot of the ideas for this production. So, the whole story comes from the students. They often still are like, ‘Oh, I have an idea about this part,’ and we will use that idea. So they’re very involved in the making, presentation, and final product, which I think is unique and exciting,” Burns said.

The play runs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at the JMU Mainstage Theatre at the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets for “{re}written” can be purchased online, in person at the box office at 147 Warsaw Avenue, or by phone at (540) 568-7000.