New Play Development

Program Background

Purpose: The Collision Project gives Metro Atlanta high school students a chance to collide with classic dramatic texts, respond to themes and ideas from the play and then create a new play for teen audiences.

Background:

Developed by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth.
Began in September 2001.
An innovative program of community engagement between the theatre and local teenagers.

Structure/Process:

Each summer, the theatre brings together a group of 17-23 teenagers for a three-week workshop where teens are immersed in the study of a classic play.
Alliance Theatre professionals and guest artists help the teens understand the play in detail, analyze it to discover its most potent elements (themes, characters, plots, subplot, dialogue, action, etc.) and identify elements in their own environment that correspond to the play.
The discovery/analysis process may involve performance exercises, traditional research, oral history, interviews, music, photography or videography, and writing (autobiographical or improvisational).
The teens create raw material for a new play, unique to their focus and based upon their response to the classic themes, in an artistic form.
Alliance Theatre professionals and guest artists develop the student’s work into a script that is produced and toured to local high schools with a cast of university actors.
The total project from initial workshop to production takes less than one year.