Meet KAARON BRISCOE, creator of “A Feeling Of Great Happiness”, premiering at The Doxsee, JUNE 5TH. Read below to learn about Kaaron’s exploration of joy and how this show will do the same for you.
TARGET MARGIN THEATER (TMT): Take us through the creative process of making this show.
KAARON BRISCOE (KB): The process of making this show involved a lot of found resources: a principal’s graduation speech during the pandemic, snippets of Ogden Nash and Dr. Seuss, the writings of Carl Sagan, and a recipe for making Swiss buttercream. I took those resources and ran them through a blender to create pieces that would work for us.
I’ve spent time working with Michael Levinton and Little Lord theater company and it has definitely influenced how I approach creating: trusting your audience, being okay with letting go with the linear, making a mess.
Theater has its roots in religion and I’ve had the idea of theater as church for some time, but nothing seemed right. “A Feeling of Great Happiness” is a secular service based on joy.
It’s only purpose is to explore joy.
I’m embracing the TMT model of exploration with this piece. What ever happens on Saturday will not be its finished form. Maybe it will never have a finished form. Maybe it will continually be a work in progress.
TMT: Beyond a residency at TMT, what are the hopes for this project?
KB: I have no idea! I won’t know until after we put it up. Will I want to keep going? Will there be more I want to say? I don’t know.
I may be ready to put it down and say, “That was great. Now what?”
I can say that I hope people walk away feeling a little lighter. A little happier. That would be awesome.
TMT: What was your biggest inspiration in creating this project?
KB: Exhaustion.
The past year and a half has been dark. It can be draining to always think about how horrible things are. We have systems in place that have been corroded for years and we’re finally looking at the extent of the damage. It’s easier to stick our heads in the sand and dream about “getting back to normal”. But, there never was a normal and what we did have was basically trash.
Thinking about this day in and day out can wear on your soul. It can make it hard to get out of bed in the morning because you’re not sure that anything is ever going to change.
It’s a lot!
I wanted a brief moment to sit with joy. A little space to be happy. It doesn’t mean I don’t still think about the need for new systems, but it does mean that I need to recharge my batteries sometimes. That’s what this piece is for me: A moment to recharge my batteries.
TMT: Is this your first live creative endeavor since the pandemic? How did you maintain your creative energies while being stuck inside the last year?
KB: This is not my first live creative endeavor since the pandemic. I devised a piece with some very talented high school students in a pop up theater piece for TMT this past fall. I also had a short play I wrote, “Lost and Found” in the Downtown Live festival last month.
When the pandemic hit, I was unsure of what was going to happen for about two weeks. Then, I went back to work. I brushed up my editing skills, learned how to livestream, and then crafted the two shows I was directing to be shown online. I have been writing, performing, and directing in this time. I’ve been incredibly fortunate.
I’ve also adjusted my idea of what is “successful”. It’s easy to forget how traumatic this pandemic is, the massive shift it has brought to our lives. Add in the daily life stressors and putting on pants without elastic can seem like a miracle. Some days, I rewrite a full scene. Some days, I sit on my couch and watch Bob’s Burgers on repeat. All of those days are successful for me. I look at creating as a constant work in progress. I am a work in progress. If I’m still trying in some way, I’m succeeding.
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