On the evening of Oct. 30, theater-goers gathered in the Pause Mane Stage to watch POC Ole Theater’s newest production, “This Is Us.” The movement-based devised piece featured an ensemble of 11 actors and also showcased the work of student lighting and costume designers. The piece used a combination of dance, physical movement, music, and silence to weave together narratives of joy, pain, and community.
“We really wanted to bring out all sides of who we are. The sad parts, the beautiful parts, the notorious sides of us, you know, and bring them all together and form something big,” said actor Mary Maker ’23. With no spoken dialogue or scenic elements, the entirety of the story was told through the stage pictures created by the actors, the subtle movements and breaths, the mood and lyrics of songs, and the atmosphere created by Martin Liu’s ’24 lighting design.
The ensemble also used costume elements to clarify their storytelling. In addition to black pants and solid colored tops, the actors possessed different colored silk scarves, which were worn or used as props in a variety of ways throughout the piece. At one point early in the show, Eugene Sandel ’22 stood with a scarf tied around his neck, embodying a door. However, moments later, he changed the position of the scarf, wearing it loosely draped around his neck, and transformed into a human being, distraught at the images of violence and death in front of him. In this way, the ensemble used the scarves as a theatrical convention to aid in their storytelling.
In a talk back after the performance, director Ayee Mounivong ’22 spoke about how the ensemble approached the concept of the piece and how they went about the devising process. “I kind of had a big idea of, like, identities: What is us? What is POC Ole Theater? How do we connect to one another? What are our stories?” Mounivong said. The title, “This Is Us,” comes from this idea — that the piece openly and honestly shows who the members of POC Ole Theater are as people and as a community. The ensemble spent their first two weeks together doing theater exercises to get to know one another and build trust as an ensemble. It was only after laying this foundation that they began to work on the content of the piece.
“I think my favorite part of working with this group of people was when we first sat down and we all brought an object that is important, that’s where we built the stories from… just little things that mean something to people,” said Lerato Mensah-Aborampah ’22.
Using the objects as inspiration, they then spent time free writing stories. Mounivong and the ensemble isolated recurring themes and used the stories as a jumping off point for building the six scenes in the piece. Reflecting on the experience, the ensemble also discussed how important it was that their work be process-oriented instead of product-oriented.
Referencing a conversation with former theater professor Michelle Gibbs, who started the ensemble in 2019, Sandel spoke about how typically in theater, if a piece isn’t looking a certain way or going smoothly by a certain date, actors and directors see that as a major problem. However, with “This Is Us,” Sandel said that the ensemble held on Gibbs’ sentiment that “it doesn’t need to look good. It needs to fill us with joy. It needs to make us feel something,” as opposed to being solely focused on what the final product looks like.
Ultimately, POC Ole Theater was able to blend both process and product in this piece. It was clear that the ensemble built a wonderful community while working together, and in both the heavy and joyful moments, their bond could be felt onstage. This bond also translated to a beautiful finished product that seamlessly merged identity and art onstage.
