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Then I began to
make pieces with the parameters of solo work applying to the individuals within the group.
The Little Theatre was a major departure in this process, the beginning of
application of the experience I had as a soloist within a group context.
Significantly, I worked with other artists, from the areas of fine arts and dance.
Chris Crickmay, Miranda Tufnell, Libby Dempster, Denis Greenwood, and for a short but
formative time John Cousins and Coleen Anstey were involved in these early
experiments. The work crossed between improvisation and choreography. The
definition of process within improvisation and choreography was fundamental to the work.
As I think back, I see the early work on the concept as predominantly anarchic, but
that was within a tacit agreement about formal structures and meaningfulness. Each
of the people listed above contributed an aesthetic perspective that was incorporated
overall in the work. I’m not sure what sort of director I was, not wanting to
slip into past ideologies nor having a real idea of a future perspective. I
vacillated between philosophical concerns and practical needs for performance. I truly
enjoyed all these people and their contributions to the discovering work. Three
statements of this work are in program notes as follows. NOTES ON “THE LITTLE THEATRE,” MARY
FULKERSON Members of the audience are invited to come and go at will during the
working sessions. The total duration of each session is two hours. The Development:
We began as three people working together in a space with specially chosen things.
These things we made into a little theatre and we told a story of three characters,
“Orange,” “Owl,” and “Words.” “The Little
Lady” was already with us and “Pillow” and “Little Mouth Organ”
became part of the work very early in the process. “Egg” was added a bit
later. From telling each other a simple story, we moved on to ask a series of
questions: What is the relationship between the little Theatre and the whole
space? What is the true nature of each character? In taking different roles,
how does memory function in the present time? How does the whole space look?
We became involved in training sessions concentrating on work with movement and developing
a sense of place. We discussed the natures of characters and stories as they were
changing through the work. At one point in the process Orange fell into the future
and discovered a new place called Never Mind. Since that time she has known the
direction of her work which is to explore that place. Orange often lectures on
balance even without using words. She often makes balancing a circus. Similarly,
each person has defined his or her work with names of characters now functioning to locate
that way of work. We discussed the true source for this work as being within each
person’s perception. Each person has experiences, during the work, which are
equal to the experiences of the others, even without mutual perception. This sharing of
the nature of the activity equals the unity of the process. It is this similar
experience in kind and depth but through different channels which yields the
