Interview by: Laura Rodriguez Sierra, Staff Writer
This is the second installment of our Spring Lab Interview Series. We will be interviewing the directors of all four labs this spring quarter to celebrate their work and learn more about their artistic processes. Stay tuned for more coming soon!
Lincoln Harrison (he/him) is a 4th year Theatre Arts Director. His previous credits at The Theatre School include Everybody, Exit the King, Ring Round the Moon, and several projects with Prototypes. He currently works at Escape Artistry and O'Connor Casting.
Oskar Westbridge is a director/sound designer/psychology student. At TTS, they directed Tidewrack during their freshman year through Prototypes, as well as assisted directed Exit the King. In addition to this lab, they are currently directing a staged reading of Meet Me on the Corner, a new musical being produced through the Chicago Writer's Bloc.
Oskar Westbridge and Lincoln Harrison sat together in an empty studio space at TTS, masked, full of life and starting off with a silly friendly banter, staring into a screen that showed my face. Although it was not an in-person conversation, Lincoln and Oskar welcomed me with open arms, breaking that pesky barrier of Zoom with warmth and laughter. Long before it even existed, their co-directorial debut at TTS One for the Road (Hit and Run) has taken quite the journey. According to Lincoln, which Oskar swears they cannot recall, the two bonded during a crew assignment on Go, Dog. Go! their first year at TTS and decided that they would do a Lab together before graduating. And so, even with the lack of recollection of how it all started, the Lab collaboration came to life after Licoln had written a script in a playwriting class and Oskar found an interest in the script’s experimentation with disparate storytelling. The two artists issued a Lab proposal for the 2021-22 school year and their journey began.
One for the Road (Hit and Run) explores the questions and observations both Lincoln and Oskar developed on the nature of road trips and what makes them unique to one’s memories and feelings. Oskar mentioned that in their experience with road trips as a kid, the use of cell phones was not an option, so time in a confined space for a number of hours required passengers to take care and pass the hours with conversation and music. This experience led to the realization that “entertainment is a form of care.” This Lab explores the stories of road trips in a dynamic way that is inclusive of audience engagement. The story is metaphysically tied to the action of taking different passages, allowing for its creation to take form through the collective decisions of the audience and ensemble.
With the conditions of the global COVID-19 pandemic, unexpected challenges arose. An unexpected chain reaction of their ensemble members caught the ol’ coronavirus, taking away two weeks of crucial rehearsal time. Lincoln and Oskar jumped into this project virtually after initially feeling unsure of the detachment from in-person creative building for two years. Oskar and Lincoln confidently maintained, however, that “there will be a show opening this weekend.” The adage ‘the show must go on’, however well-used, remained very true to their circumstance and rough in the blood. The co-directors shared their pride in building an ensemble that knew little of each other having formed a successful and strong bond.
One for the Road (Hit and Run) initially started out as a more structured piece built on live games and prompts that specified its engagement solely among the ensemble and taking the audience on a journey. However, as Oskar detailed, a shift in the script’s purpose occurred when the ensemble desired a specific form of audience impact and asked “How can we take care of our audience with games? What do we learn about ourselves and [the audience]?” Lincoln added that the experience of teaching the ensemble the games during rehearsal opened the floor to the possibility of including the audience. Once they realized that sharing instructions to a game is not so difficult, the team realized that they can make space for others outside of the ensemble. Much of this active process received inspiration and special help from advisors from the Neo-Futurists including Kurt Chiang and Neil Bhandari.
In a brief reflection of the production’s overall journey, Lincoln shared experiencing “a bit of a crisis” from burnout. The lab resparked Lincoln’s desire to continue being an artist. For Oskar, they learned what it means to be a co-director, as well as what it means for questions to not need answers. They emphasized the importance of questions asked in a space as a part of the democratic collaborative experience.
One for the Road (Hit and Run), a devised piece directed by Lincoln Harrison and Oskar Westbridge, will have performances 05/20 - 05/21 at 7:30 PM and 05/22 at 2:00 PM in Room 324. To reserve a ticket, email the Box Office at theatreboxoffice@depaul.edu.
Cast includes Eli Carey, Joe Frantzen, and Bryant Hindsman. Stage management by Grace Archer, lighting design by Maday Favela and advising by Neil Blandari.
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