Redefining 'devised': a new MFA program from UArts and Pig Iron

What do we think of when we hear the word “devise”? To devise a cunning plan, maybe? Narrowed eyes, a furrowed brow, maybe some judicious chin-stroking? A solitary schemer?

Get with the program in the theater world, though, and the word is taking a new direction, which is the antithesis of the traditional planning and leadership of works for the stage. Hell, a lot of the time, the works aren’t even going on stage.

A playwright, a director, designers, actors, and a stage? Please. So last century. Now, it’s all about “devised performance,” which isn’t based on the vision of one writer or director, but arises from the collaboration of a group of artists. It could be a new musical or a spine-tingling circus act or a theatricalized tour of your basement.

Philadelphia is leading the devised theater charge with a new degree and certificate program. Pig Iron Theatre Company and the University of the Arts’ Ira Brind School of Theater Arts are joining up to offer an MFA in Devised Performance, or, perhaps for those with a little less time to devote to devising, a Certificate of Devised Performance.

Gaining traction worldwide, “This form of theater is derived from the collective inspiration of the group, not from a script written by a singular playwright, and performances are not confined by the boundaries of the stage, but often occur in found or public spaces,” Pig Iron and UArts explain in their statement about the new program, which will begin this fall.

(You always thought that proscenium was a gateway for the imagination, but with definitions as broad as “found spaces,” you better rethink your concept of theater.)

The new degree and certificate program is helmed by Pig Iron co-founder Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel. The Brind school, since January 2014, has been under the enthusiastically collaborative leadership of director Joanna Settle. The program replaces Pig Iron’s School for Advanced Performance Training (launched in 2011), but APT will still offer summer workshops and master classes.

So the mavericks have broken out of politics and into the arts. Bauriedel calls the new partnership a “pioneering study” within the structure of a university that “deeply believes in fostering the next generation of artistic mavericks and leaders.” For more information on the Pig Iron/UArts Devised Performance application process, click here or email [email protected].

At right: devising away. Pig Iron Advanced Performance Training graduates debut Communitas after founding Almanac Dance Circus Theatre. Photo by Ian Douglass.