Resilient Stillness—A performative exploration/tool about Stillness and Togetherness blends each participant’s physical embodiment of embracing the theme of “resilience and resistance” during this COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The workshop is a collaborative tool devised from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed applied theatre technique ‘Image Theatre’ in which still images are used to explore abstract concepts, such as relationships and emotions, as well as realistic situations. As a tool of expression, the arts can be a place to not only be entertained but influenced, and challenged—but provide a forum for catharsis and empathy.
Ranging from a number of topics and issues, Resilient Stillness is a guided (facilitator-led) exploration, inspiring all participants to look at stillness as more than confinement or a method of hiding, but as an opportunity to ground and encourage ourselves in the basic gifts of the current: family, friends, life, health, quality time, etc. As the title suggests, even in these crucial moments, we must ‘still’ find moments of celebration and expression.
Brittney S. Harris, M.F.A. is a director and playwright from Norfolk, Virginia. She’s an Assistant Professor of Theatre Performance at Old Dominion University. Her primary background is in Race and Performance, Solo Performance Development, Activist Theatre, and Cultural Enrichment for Community Engagement. Brittney’s catalog plays, projects, and workshops explore the adverse effects of vicarious trauma in social media on the personal psyche. Specific topics explored, but not limited to, are Racial Injustice, Mental Health Awareness, Gender Equality, and Domestic Violence Awareness.
