Mysticism in Performance

Artists coming of age at the sharp, waning edge of
Western Industrial Capitalism, a time still very
much informed by centuries of Settler Colonial
erasure of heterogeneous ontologies, there is a
resurgence of inquiry into and exploration of the
mystical. Long derided spaces of inquiry are once
again being courageously entered by artists from a
range of disciplines and long dismissed artists
are being "rediscovered" and their bodies of work
reconsidered in more accurate contexts; from the
late musician Alice Coltrane to the late visual
artist Hilma af Klint, the work of self-described
female artists, in particular, are reaching
audiences who are now wholly receptive to these
formerly ridiculed genii.

Mysticism in Performance will guide students
through a research-to-creation process across an
intensive semester-long laboratory. Students will
first learn about the invitations, ethics, and
historical challenges of exploring the unseen/the
spiritual/soulful/mystical aspects of art within
charged and often polarized cultural contexts.
They will next do a deep dive into tenets of
Afromysticism as utilized by artist-seeker-makers
in a range of disciplines. Students will
subsequently identify an artist, a tradition of
practice, and/or an extant work that compels them
personally (we will consider a wide range of
forms); the artist, tradition or work will
exemplify an impactful exploration of the mystical
in practice. [Note: we will be capacious in our
consideration of forms and students can root their
inquiry within their specific métiers, although
they will be welcome to explore beyond them]. They
will embark upon a student-led [in close
collaboration with the instructor] research phase
which will include presentations and discussions
with the class as a whole. Finally, they will each
create both a blueprint for a work at scale, and a
substantively realized excerpt of the whole to be
shared.

Students will be asked to devote significant time
to reading; research; compiling a project dossier;
developing a project-specific generative process;
and reflecting upon that process with the class in
meaningful ways. Students will be asked to
function as a creative brain-trust for their
fellow classmates and will be assigned to
small-group "teams" within the class that will be
responsible for regular process & progress
meetings outside of class.

Students will read and view a wide range of
material including plays, performance pieces,
biographical and autobiographical excerpts,
recorded music, film, performance documentation,
and visual art. Students will be expected to
devote a significant amount of time outside class
to their research. Students will also be required
to schedule a series of in-depth one-on-one
meetings with the instructor throughout the
semester to discuss and revise their progress
across the span of the semester.

The course will cover a diverse array of practices
including theatre, standup comedy, drag,
vaudeville, cabaret, slapstick, spoken word,
performance art, podcast, social media,
photography, oratory, television, and film.
Figures studied, among others, may include
Kendrick Lamar, Samuel Beckett, Phoebe
Waller-Bridge, Fred Astaire, Anna Deveare Smith,
Cindy Sherman, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Nina Simone,
Marina Abromovic, Charlie Chaplin, Chantal
Akerman, Okwui Okpokwasili, Hannah Gadsby,
Spalding Gray, Tania Bruguera, Richard Pryor, Eve
Ensler, and Buddha.

Students will develop a vocabulary to discuss
elements of style and storytelling, and film and
edit their projects. Disciplines learned in other
classes (speech, voice, movement, text analysis,
etc.) over the course of their time at CalArts, as
well as the actor's creative instinct, passion,
and imagination are synthesized in the Solo
Performance Lab.