PRESENTED WITH North Hennepin Community College
Writer, Director, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer
ABOUT
Presented as part of a 1 week intensive with the North Hennepin Community College student body.
Over the course of one week, I led the students through the process of creating a completely original piece of theatre from nothing. We explored scene work through generative exercises and, by day three, honed our animating question—the dramaturgical heartbeat of the piece—into something that resonated deeply with all of us: why do “trends” and “hysteria” feel so similar? We set out to investigate this human impulse to follow along, to join the crowd or the stampede, often without much forethought. The work was inspired by the students’ observations of increasing social media influence and political tribalism in their world. What resulted was a short performance that inverted the audience–actor relationship and reimagined moments in history when people lost themselves—and their autonomy—within the crowd.
SØREN OLSEN 