#barbicanopenlab

A Glimpse Behind the Scenes of the Monster Lab.

Barbican Open Lab Workshop Week: Race Today - The Method

Our Artistic Director Tian collaborated with 3 writers and 4 actors to create a promenade piece about race and class in the past and present. Their stories are inspired by research from the Black Cultural Archive (https://www.bcaheritage.org.uk/), specifically the agitational Race Today magazine from the 70's produced in it's later years by British Black Panther members.

The workshop week will see the writers developing their own 15 minute vignettes but collaborating together on themes, overarching narratives, style and tone. They will learn the basics of dramaturgy/direction of their own pieces and how to communicate ideas to actors directly. 

Actors will help facilitate the rewriting and ideas process with improv and will perform in the sharing. Tian worked to pull this all together to create a cohesive journey for the audience through the vignettes.

This is all surrounded by a week of frank and open discussions about race, diversity and representation in the past and present.