Hazardous Moves

A dive into the creation of original work harnessing accident, contingency, and chance. A devised sport, talk of Tadashi Suzuki, and neurobiology used to investigate practical concepts and practices. Whit MacLaughlin will reshape your ideas of theatrical creation. 25 years of experience boiled into 3 hours.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:

Whit MacLaughlin is the OBIE and Barrymore Award-winning Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories. He has conceived, written, and produced 25 original works with the company since 1996, nationally and internationally. His work is known for its strong visual sensibility, visceral muscularity, and pop treatment of philosophical discourse.

His recent work includes large-scaled outdoor and indoor experience design: How To Get To The River (2022), an ecological art adventure for the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, Gumshoe (2017) for the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and Spectre Vivant (2017) for Opera Philadelphia.

His work for the stage and other media include: 707 Hazardous Moves (2021), Hello Blackout (2017), O Monsters (2016), The Adults (2014), and the web-based immersion pieces Extremely Public Displays of Privacy (2011) and Fatebook (2009). He has created work in New York, Seattle, Minneapolis, Louisville KY, Princeton NJ, at CalArts, Ankara, Turkey, and Kansas City, MO. He has received Fellowships from the Pew Charitable Trust, the NEA, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; grants from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Mapfund, NEA, TCG, and the William Penn Foundation.

His publications include Batch, An American Bachelor/ette Party Spectacle by Alice Tuan and Whit MacLaughlin, Humana Festival 2007; Prom, U of Minnesota Press, 2010; Live Movies, a Field Guide to New Media for the Performing Arts, ed. Kirby Malone and Gail Scott White, George Mason University, 2006.

His work has been presented in NYC at the Ontological Theatre, the Connelly Theatre, and PS 122; at the Walker Art Center, Warhol Museum, Humana Festival of New American Plays, Fusebox Festival, Philadelphia FringeArts Festival, and Prague Quadrennial.

WHAT TO BRING/WEAR:

Please make sure to wear clothing that will make it easy to move freely.  Movement is a huge focus so this may not be the best place to try out platform heels.  Of course, it goes without saying, but bring water.  This is a 3-hour intensive.