Collaboration is like learning how to juggle.
Tossing and catching one ball is easy enough, but the more that are added, the harder it becomes to control and keep track of everything.
To juggle skillfully, someone must learn how to incorporate multiple balls into a rhythm, the successful outcome of which is a seamless act.
On the first day of the semester, I posed with several other students for a picture, each of us sporting a vibrant, red clown nose. I interpreted this as a good omen of the semester we would spend working on an immersion project at the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry. Thirteen students and I would collaborate to adapt Cathy Day's novel, "The Circus in Winter," into a musical, which would eventually culminate into a staged reading.
Initially, I envisioned the benefits of such an immersive experience primarily in the context of the outcome or product. I believed our "final" script would determine the success of the semester; the quality of the staged reading would be the basis upon which to judge during the seminar. This is true insofar as the reading will be a somewhat objective way for observers and audience members to gauge the semester's work, but for the participating students, the collaborative process has been an experience equally as important as the product itself.
All of us involved in the project had creative ideas or concepts we believed would benefit the musical if implemented. Unfortunately, with the allotted time and resources, not all of these ideas could be applied completely.
Eric Byrer, a fellow seminar participant and senior musical theater major, said, "As a group, we've definitely had our highs and lows as we've learned to collaborate, but we've been able to maintain that the production of the musical itself is the focus of the semester."
When someone first begins learning how to juggle, the balls often fall to the floor. Only after practicing and consciously considering the way the balls move does an exciting discovery occur: rhythm.
Tossing two balls from hand-to-hand turns into a process of managing three balls, with one perpetually in the air. Usually, when I see someone juggling, I consider the act as a whole, rather than the sum of individual items working in a pattern: three separate arcs, that, when combined, create something bigger and whole.
We learned to give and to take, to compromise, to think in terms of what would best benefit the show.
Perhaps an effect of navigating the semester with a group's mindset, we became more conscious individually of our strengths and weaknesses. Despite working as a whole, each person became recognizable for their assets, whether those were lyrics, design concepts, dialogue or any variety of other elements.
"You get the chance to know people's strengths and weaknesses and how to use the strengths to strengthen the weaknesses," Maren Ritter, seminar participant and junior musical theater major, said.
Often, we discovered someone would have an idea and another person would augment that thought with a suggestion or question, resulting in more complex plots and characters. This was a very "What if?" and "How about?" semester, and as the ideas developed, so too did our story.
As the semester draws to its end, we've begun rehearsals for the staged readings. After spending a semester collaborating on this project, everyone involved is enthusiastic about the performance. As thrilling as it is to see our project finally coming to fruition, I wonder whether the process or the product itself better represents the past semester.
An audience will see the juggling routine; they will see the product of the process. Certainly the product is an imperative aspect of the semester and we're eager to showcase the work we've done, but just as importantly, we've realized the collaborative process was as much a challenge as the adaptation itself. Although, at times, the collaborative process seemed stifling, the group effort has resulted in something we are proud to present.
In the same way someone can always enhance a juggling routine with fire and knives, so can our adaptation be improved upon. For now, we understand the rhythm and we're juggling.
A reading of "The Circus in Winter" will occur at 8 p.m. April 23 in Sursa Hall. A $5 donation will be collected at the door, with all proceeds to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County.
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