Pamela Cole-Hudson, director of Gazebo theater company, explains “One of my favorite ways to approach a project is to work as a creative team developing initial ideas and devising around them, before embarking upon further research and writing and development into a full show.” (Cole-Hudson, 2014). She is describing how she looks for people who are generous and who don’t block improvisation ideas, similarly we want to work as a creative collaboration with this sense of play. Although we have an assigned director, we intend to all collaborate ideas, and contribute to the process. The theatre company, Forced Entertainment, agree stating that it’s “not what makes a good improviser, but what makes a good improvising team.” (Forced Entertainment, 2010).

Cole-Hudson continues to elaborate that, “With devising process, it’s really important to be a team player, to ‘share your sweeties’, to take risks to accept and go with a range of ideas and not become set on only one fixed idea, to be willing to play.” (Cole-Hudson, 2014).  What does working as a team involve? With our theatre company everybody is equal, being a team player involves listening to other people, trying out their idea, even if you don’t see it working at first. Writer, Therese Collins also likes to work with people who are generous and open. She explains “you quickly learn whether or not somebody is generous because they’ll be open to change and be excited by other people’s ideas. They are able to adapt…”, (Collins, 2014). It’s about being aware of what other people are doing and playing about with text or ideas, being creative. Similarly to Forced Entertainment, we too have a director, there is a need for someone to have the overiding say to avoid chaos, however we work as a collaboration, a team.

Works Cited

Cole-Hudson, P. (2014) How can I make an effective contribution when it comes to devising a new piece of theatre? The Stage, 13 February, 12.

Collins, T. (2014) How can I make an effective contribution when it comes to devising a new piece of theatre? The Stage, 13 February, 12.

ForcedEntertainment. 2010. How we work. [Online]. [Accessed 25 March 2013].