Rehearsal as a Learning Experience
"Kind" and "Wicked" Learning Environments
[Note: I suspect these posts will be a bit dry compared to my previous posts, as I’m trying to figure something out step by step. Usually, I do all of this “getting from Point A to Point Z'“ alone, and then I write about Point Z. What I’m hoping is that going through the process “in public,” as it were, will help you to follow the development and also perhaps lead to your own ideas. I hope you’ll bear with me.]
Opinion: It seems to me that little innovation has occurred as far as the rehearsal process is concerned. (One exception would be the effect that Anne Bogart’s development of Viewpoints has had on the rehearsal process.) But for the most part, rehearsals are run now the same way they were run when I was starting out in the 1970s. Directing textbooks look pretty much the same. I think it’s time to rethink.
Focus: While I think many of my ideas apply to any situation, I am particularly interested in rethinking rehearsal in the context of an ongoing company of multi-disciplined artists running in rotating rep which I developed in Building a Sustainable Theater.
Rehearsal as a Learning Environment
Broad Argument: a significant portion of rehearsal is about learning, and most of that learning is done by actors. They learn their lines and their movements, they learn how a scene or a moment needs to be executed, they learn what emotions they need to express, how a line is going to be delivered, who or what they are looking at and how they are looking, how they interact with each character, and so forth. The “illusion of the first time” is a result of having learned the play so thoroughly that it is possible to be “in the moment” and “pretend like you are the guy.” In sports, this is what they mean when they say that the game has “slowed down” for the player. As such, research into how people learn/practice can help us make rehearsal most effective.
Kind vs Wicked Learning Environments
Two Definitions: The psychologist Robin Hogarth defined two kinds of learning environments: "kind" and "wicked." A kind learning environment is one in which the learner “improves simply by engaging in the activity and trying to do better...Patterns repeat over and over, and feedback is extremely accurate and usually very rapid.”
On the other hand, a wicked learning environment is one in which "the rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete, there may or may not be repetitive patterns and they may not be obvious, and feedback is often delayed, inaccurate, or both."
Application to theater: If you grant that rehearsal is about learning, what kind of learning environment is it?
My First Response (tentative): Both. There are parts that are kind. For instance, the process of learning lines seems to be something where "patterns repeat over and over" (the order of the lines doesn't change), and "feedback is extremely accurate and usually very rapid" (you either said the line correctly or you didn't).
On the other hand, an important part of the rehearsal learning is done in a wicked environment. The script gives some clues about how to perform it, but those rules are "often unclear and incomplete," the "repetitive patterns...may not be obvious," and feedback from the director is "often delayed, inaccurate, or both."
Further Reflection: Which aspects of rehearsal are kind, and which are wicked? In other words, where do we draw the line, and is that line moveable?
Why It Matters: Within the context of an ongoing theater company working in rotating rep (one in which productions can be revived after the initial run as desired), the efficiency of the rehearsal process allows the stockpiling of productions and multiplies the options for artists and audiences. Being able to identify aspects of the rehearsal process that can be accomplished more quickly without sacrificing the quality of the work could be helpful.