Term One Brief

In the Idea Development Lab’s first term, participants familiarize themselves with the interconnected processes of research and ideation. Before beginning work on writing plays, participants are introduced to research practices and modes of critical thinking from various academic fields, which serve as valuable tools in creating for the stage.

We begin by asking our participants: why this idea? What is driving you to choose, from all the different ideas in your mind, this one? What are you trying to explain about this subject? What are you trying to understand? What questions do you want the audience to grapple with? This interrogation is a key step in producing strong personal and emotional tethers to projects; additionally, we encourage our participants to continue probing their intentions beyond their initial answers, to keep track of changing motivations and approaches to their ideas.

Then, once it is clear to participants why they are writing what they are writing, we introduce methods of research that will enable each of them to create holistic, representative play-worlds on stage. This research process includes determining a conceptual framework for their plays, establishing research questions, and undertaking reading and fieldwork, if necessary, to collect information that will inform their characters and the world they inhabit.

After the first term, participants have a strong understanding of the academic underpinnings of their play, and of how to incorporate research into the process of writing and ideation.