Devising and Moment Work with Barbara Pitts McAdams

The Drama Teacher Podcast

Episode 182: Devising and Moment Work with Barbara Pitts McAdams Barbara Pitts McAdams is a company member of the Tectonic Theatre Project and was an original cast member/co-creator of The Laramie Project. The Laramie Project is a devised, interview-based play about the beating and death of Matthew Shepard. Since the play was published it’s been in production somewhere in the world, every day for 17 years. Listen in as we talk devising and moment work in The Laramie Project as well as with high school students. Show Notes Barbara Pitts McAdams Tectonic Theatre Project Drama Teacher Academy Episode Transcript Welcome to the Drama Teacher Podcast brought to you by Theatrefolk – the Drama Teacher Resource Company. I’m Lindsay Price. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening! This is Episode 182 and you can find any links to this episode in the show notes which are at Theatrefolk.com/episode182. All right, guys. Today is a very cool conversation which I am excited, I got tingles, I got my goosebumps, I am thrilled to share this with you. It’s a conversation which I could never imagine happening and the fact that it came together, well, that just made my day, my month, and my year. My guest, Barbara Pitts McAdams, was an original cast member and co-creator of The Laramie Project with Tectonic Theater Project. Yes, as I’m sure you all know, The Laramie Project is a devised interview-based play about the death of gay university of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard. Barbara is also one of Tectonics’ master teachers of moment work – the devising technique they use to create original work. Barb devices with a lot of high schools and colleges – actually, that’s kind of how she found us. So, of course, we’re going to talk about devising with high school students. Enough of me! You don’t want to listen to me! Let’s get to the conversation! Let’s do it! LINDSAY: Hello everyone! I am speaking to Barbara Pitts McAdams. Hello, Barb! BARBARA: Hello, Lindsay! LINDSAY: First of all, tell everybody in the world where you are. BARBARA: I am in New York City. That’s where I make my home and where my theatre company, Tectonic Theater Project, is based. But I do a lot of teaching at high schools and colleges around the country. So, I get around. LINDSAY: Yeah, you’re actually going very much around. You’re going to Vietnam soon, too, aren’t you? BARBARA: You know, as I was getting my computer ready for this and saw that it was less than two weeks away, I got a fat little lump in my stomach. “Oh, boy, I better open my guide book, figure out what I need to know!” I’ll be working with a Pan-Asian high school theatre conference so that’s my favorite way to travel – to be hosted by people who live and work in a place and get to be brought into their culture and see what I can do to add to their conversations. LINDSAY: Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned this right off the bat so we’ll get into this, too. You are a member of Tectonic Theater Project which I know that many of our listeners will connect to The Laramie Project. BARBARA: Right. LINDSAY: How long have you been a member of Tectonic? BARBARA: I guess since about 1999. The company had made one trip to Laramie, Wyoming, a month after Matthew was attacked in 1998. Somebody else was scheduled to be in the first sort of workshop of the interview material. Then, she got on a Broadway play and I had been working with company member, Leigh Fondakowski, on her interview-based play which was called I Think I Like Girls. And so, Moisés and company had seen that. They’re very supportive of each other’s work. Leigh said, “Well, what about Barb? You liked her in my piece.” He said, “Yes, yes, bring her!” Just for the students who might be out there listening, I mean, I was very well-aware of Tectonic Theater Project and who they were because I had made a show everyone kept comparing to Gross Indecency: The Three...