I have just started working on an exciting production of Eugene Ionesco's play The Lesson. I'm directing this play in conjunction with two other directors, Ryan Brown and Robin Brooks. We've divided the script into 3 equal sections with each section to be performed in a different non-purpose built performance space. The audience will follow the action as it moves from location to location, but our purpose is not to create a single cohesive piece of environmental theatre. We've designed this event as an experiment.

Each third of the play will show obvious directorial biases and emphases. The audience will see one play, but they will see it in three parts, in three locations, with three separate casts, and with three very distinctly different directorial styles. The audience will see one play from three points of view. We have decided that Robin will take the beginning, I will take the middle, and Ryan will take the end. However, we are all creating our own cuttings of those sections. It is possible that one section may overlap into another, and it may also be possible for large textual gaps to appear between sections. This is all part of the experiment.

Searching for a performance site has been a tricky process. Because of the logistic constraints imposed by moving an audience quickly from one space to another during the performances, we decided that the 3 locations must be kept in close proximity to each other. We limited ourselves to the U of I campus, and after some digging, my actors and I have selected a seemingly abandoned room in the bowels of the university administration building. The ceiling is low. Pipes and wires run overhead. There is a door on each wall that leads out of the room, and the concrete walls and metal piping create some amazing acoustical effects. I can't wait to see how the play takes shape in this space. The atmosphere is right. We start rehearsals next week. Stay tuned for more...