On May 16, 2007, the Week of Writing presented a Performance-Writing workshop in Creese 230. The workshop featured New-York spoken word poet Post Midnight, performance artist Dr. Maurice Henderson, and Philadelphia-based actor and playwright John Lumia. Each artist explained why they choose their respective branch of performance art and how they connected with audiences.

Lumia said that after seeing people fall asleep in the theater while he watched an inspiring performance, he decided he needed to approach the theater in a new way.

“I wanted to write how I thought theater should be.”

So Lumia began writing one-man shows using every tool he had to keep the audience engaged and get his ideas across. He wanted people to enter the world he created before they even sat down, so he transformed the lobby of the theater and used it as a visual primer. He used a video as a character in one of his plays. Lumia stressed that fusing mediums can help bridge gaps.

“The medium is the message,” Lumia said.

Lumia said that he thinks about what he to wants say, and then creates a character to explore that idea. Then as he writes the character, the idea continues to inform who the character is. In this way, he puts a very personal face on larger issues. Lumia urged writers to consistently look for the harder choices.

“You always want to be exploring the deepest level of communication between two characters,” Lumia said.

While Lumia focused on creating, Henderson talked about replicating experiences in his life.       

“Originality is important, but being able to recreate what’s already been created has a different kind of impact,” said Henderson. “In the end all we have are these moments. Save those amazing moments.”

Henderson knows about amazing moments. Just a few years ago, in 2005, he was discovered after his performance art group stole the stage at a political protest reading hosted by the Pen & Pencil Club, a private journalism club in Philadelphia. Pen & Pencil is the oldest continuously operating press club of its kind in the country; the club hosts events that are open to the public. In November of 2005, they held a Political Protest Reading. Henderson and two members of his troupe showed up and performed a piece about the flooding in New Orleans; one woman sang a cappella with Henderson, and another man engaged in dialogue, a call and response interaction. The audience was blown away.

Henderson encouraged students to work hard and to collaborate with talented people. “This is going to sound crazy, but talent can rub off,” he said. He learned this after going to school with Chuck D and Jonathan Larson, who wrote the musical Rent.

Post Midnight echoed Henderson. “Remember, you are chronicling life. There are ways to make it alive.”

One of the ways to make it alive, Post Midnight said, is to pay attention to the prosody, or the elements, such as intonation, pitch, rate, loudness and rhythm, of your speech and your writing, to make sure you’re creating the tone you want. As he likened the sounds of speech to musical scales, his own voice went from a barely audible whisper to a compelling roar and back again.

“Language is music, ultimately,” Post Midnight said. “There’s a reason it’s called composition.”

Lumia said he took the same approach to his playwriting. Just as a comedian might use a particular word to trip a joke, he said he carefully chooses words to define a character or evoke an emotion.

“I believe very much in words,” he said. “There’s a tendency in modern playwriting to downplay the structural architecture of sound.”

By being aware of our audience, Post Midnight said, we can get our ideas to stick.

“You can bring the most abhorrent quotes to light, but if you do it a little off center, maybe with a smile, you can get away with it,” he said. “I’m a big fan of left field. I like blindsiding the hell out of you.”

Henderson also said to pay attention to your audience, if only because you might find yourself in it.  “There are shared voices,” he said. “There are people out there walking and talking just like you. And if you’re good enough at what you’re doing, one day you’ll meet yourself in the room.”

All three performers stressed that we must keep our eyes open.

“Be a great cultural observer and social detective,” said Lumia.

Henderson agreed, “In your mind and in your practice, don’t leave any place without finding something new.”