gglassworks of art

Artistic Director of New Work Heidi Stillman on how Lookingglass develops new scripts

From The Around The World in 80 Days Issue of ArtAntica
Mentioned in this entry: Heidi Stillman

Heidi Stillman in a promotional
image for next season's production
of Our Town.

Around The Word is 80 Days is Lookingglass’s 49^th world premiere. It’s hard to believe we’ve done so much original work in the last twenty years…but I counted and it’s true! Lookingglass is the largest ensemble-based company in the country that primarily produces original work from within its own ensemble; there are only a few others of similar size and longevity: Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis; and The Wooster Group in New York City. Gglassworks, our artistic development program, is where the original work is created and developed.

In our early history, we didn’t have a formalized development program. At our ensemble meetings we would pitch our ideas to each other…just ideas, not a word of text on paper. The ideas that caught the imagination of the group were voted in, and then it would be a mad scramble to the finish line of opening night. Sometimes this led to great artistic success and at other times it led to trouble. We got tired of feeling “Oh, if we only had more time….”and started to develop our work further out. Most of the time now when we vote, there is a full script that has been worked on for a year of two before it even comes to the table.

As Artistic Director of New Work, I think I have the best job in the company. I get to spend my days and sometimes nights working with my friends and colleagues on their projects; I get to live in the world of art and ideas.

So here is how it works at gglassworks. For a project to be put into development, the artist submits a written proposal, and then the artistic directors (aided by straw polls of the ensemble) decide what gets funded. Project development takes many different forms depending on the needs and working methods of the artists involved. Some writers/creators are very text based and start with the written word, others begin to generate material from physical workshops… the image drives the creative process and then the word follows.

So gglassworks can include month-long writing sessions, readings of scripts in progress, feedback, and workshops. There is a vast array of workshops…some to generate a physical/visual language for the project, some to write the script, some to see if a script is working, and some to learn specific skills for the show. We also have an annual week long Artistic Development Retreat, where ensemble and artistic associates read, workshop, and discuss each other’s work. The vast majority of our shows pass through our artistic development program, including Around the World in 80 Days which I hope you see!