Manifesto

TDLF Manifesto

1) All performances can be played for anyone, anywhere at anytime

2) All productions are portable, and begin with an empty space

3) We embrace a spirit of economy; the implements of performance are chosen carefully seeking items that can serve a plurality of purpose to the work

4) In an effort to open the art-form, we strive to reduce the power of language in the theater emphasizing more visual, kinetic and plastique aspects of performance

5) Our work is a search for a ‘something’ which is purely theatrical; a shape, a relationship, a feeling that can only be discovered in theater

Elaborations

1) Our work is a search for a performance aesthetic which can touch any willing spectator.  Inspired by modern dance’s de-emphasis on story, character and emotion, we seek to, similarly, open the theater art which is currently largely synonymous with language and story (the “play”).  In this way, our work can be open to non-english speaking individuals and touch something which is purely theatrical.  This we define as that incomparable moment when a relationship is made between audience and performer.  When, if only for a brief moment, a connection is made.  A story told in words establishes contact, but is there a deeper connection to be made which is separate from character, action, plot and emotion, ie – the basic outer shape and image of living.

2) It is our intention to travel the world doing theater.  Therefore, we must be portable.  As part of each performance, the creation and maintenance of the space is included as an element in the evolution of the piece.  There is no backstage or offstage.  There are no crew or stagehands.  Each piece is wholly facilitated by the players themselves.  Nothing is excluded, in other words.  Everything is an element of production.

3) All objects used in the work shall serve a variety of purpose.  Our intention is to work with as few devices or properties as is possible.  Everything is carefully chosen to have a multitude of function within the work, thus reducing the demands placed upon anything other than ourselves and the ideas being researched.  We wish to make naked the intangible aspects hidden within the work.  This requires emphasizing minimalism and economy.

4) What is more synonymous with theater than language and story?  We believe that there is more to the artform than mere words, plot and character.  Our work does not intend to destroy an author’s work, character and style.  Rather, we intend to expand our work in the direction of something more open and purely theatrical.  We hope that this destroys the tyranny of words functioning mostly to engage the mind and rather to touch the imagination via the senses seeking contact with the spirit.

5) Ultimately, there is a moment in the theater we seek.  This is a moment when, for some unknown reason, from some unknown place, a connection is made.  It often sounds like “yes”, it feels warm and familiar, it excites the mind and compels us each to privately (or not) celebrate life.  It is these moments, and these moments alone, which separate the theater from the other non-performance arts.  These moments open our imaginations and cause us to simultaneously question life and delight in it.  The point of our work is to discover these moments and share them with you.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

~Albert Einstein