Students in a Turner-Funded RISD Studio Create Courageous Conceptual Solo Performances

“Mister whiskers. Misty vista.”

“Misty vista. Whiskey mixer.”

“Mixer … misher?” Senior Phillip Walker 25 PT bursts out laughing and pays the price for his mistake by taking a lap around the circle of students assembled in RISD’s Tap Room. He is leading an icebreaker game popular among actors as part of a fall Painting studio focused on solo performance art funded by theater devotee and RISD alum Robert L. Turner 74 IL. Established in 2014, the Turner Theatrical Performance and Design Fund supports experimental, interdisciplinary courses focused on everything from costumes and set design to staging and dance.

After several rounds, the class moves on to another game in which they must move across the room at a snail’s pace focusing on the sensation of patience building inside their bodies.

“Creating any kind of performance requires courage, vulnerability and a deep critical engagement with historical performance practices combined with personal investigations,” says Painting Professor and Department Head Angela Dufresne, who developed and led the class along with her former student Jarrett Key MFA 20 PT.

“When I was a student at RISD, there were classes in which you could work on performance pieces, but it just wasn’t a strong emphasis in the curriculum,” Key recalls. “It felt like RISD students were really hungry for a class like this.”

Each session began with a 10-minute writing exercise, encouraging students to reflect on readings, lectures and in-class workshops. The funding allowed Dufresne and Key to invite experts in the field like Theatre Arts & Performance Studies Professor Kym Moore and Modern Culture and Media Professor Rebecca Schneider—both from Brown University—as well as celebrated performance artist M. Lamar, who presented a lecture to the class and an intense piece open to the entire RISD community incorporating piano, vocalizations and video.

“It was really amazing,” says Key. “He created this sort of narrative, experimental visual and auditory experience, which inspired the students to respond with their own soundscapes.”

As the semester progressed, students worked first as an ensemble, then in small groups and finally as solo performers, creating unique, personal performances for the RISD community in early December. “We asked them to pursue something singular to their humanity and their practice that isn’t necessarily engaged in larger social constructs,” Dufresne explains. “The experience allowed them to see their existing practices and disciplines through a totally different lens.”

Senior Anna McLeod 25 FAV, a Film/Animation/Video major, says that she and her creative partner Ian Kelewae 25 FAV have experience with performance as musicians in the local act Banana Pup, but she jumped at the chance to explore performance art. “We spend so much time animating in our studios and then presenting completed pieces in crits,” she notes. “In performance, you can do all the advance preparation in the world, but the success of the piece rides on being present in the moment.”

Kelewae says that his final performance piece incorporates the same kind of narrative he uses in his animation practice, which he describes as “storybook language,” as well as musical accompaniment.

Fellow senior Mayuko Kobayashi 25 FAV created a piece in which they attempted to adopt the slow, deliberate movements of their grandmother. “I’m not used to getting up in front of people,” they add, “so this class has definitely been a challenge for me. One of the things our professors stress is the importance of taking risks or having something personal at stake. It has really taken me outside of my comfort zone.”

top image: senior Izzy Choi in performance

Simone Solondz / photos by Adam Mastoon
December 18, 2024