ReCyclone: Community Theatre Project
Theater is often described as an ephemeral art form. Once the lights are off and the set is struck, the performance lives on only in memory. But the material used to build the scenery is not ephemeral. All too often, material used to construct scenery is thrown away, while the memory of the performance lingers. In response, Brian Shaw, Professor of Theater at Columbia College Chicago, developed ReCyclone, a re-use project building new works of youth theater out of the scenic remains of past productions. ReCyclone has been conceived as a project that will take tangible and ephemeral resources from a previous theatrical production and use them to build an entirely new performance. ReCyclone projects are born out of the remains of a play presented by the Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago. Our work begins when the original play has completed its run. Our starting point is the scenery for that play. Instead of throwing the material away we use it to build a regenerative response to the earlier production. Themes and relationships are also lifted from the original to spark the creation of a wholly new production. Our goal is to entertain and educate audiences and build an argument for the conscious re-use of theatrical materials within the wider theater community. For additional information contact Brian Shaw at Columbia College Chicago: bshaw@colum.edu

 

ReCyclone productions have been developed in partnership with:

Performances are held outside the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, Chicago

Performances are held at Association House in Chicago.

 

ReCyclone: Initial Student Assignments
This is the initial assignment given to students engaged in the course around which ReCyclone projects are built.

ReCyclone and Re-Use in Context
In working on ReCyclone, you will be engaged in the conscious regeneration of materials that would otherwise likely be thrown into landfill. Re-use projects of this kind are very much growing in number and influence within the culture. There is an established literature and community that has developed around this work. There is a strong future for work of this nature in the arts. Welcome to it.

Regeneration Terminology
Definition of Regeneration
Regeneration is a conscious process of creating new use for objects, places or content that would otherwise be discarded. Regeneration seeks to build awareness of the origin of materials and the consequences of waste in the promotion of a more sustainable economic and environmental approach to resources.

Purposes of Regeneration

Processes of Regeneration

1. Re-conception
Object A becomes Object B

2. Restoration
Object A is returned to its original state and condition

3. Re-utilization
Object A is re- used in a series of actions that gradually diminish its value and utility

4. Recombination
Object A is combined with Object B to become Object C

5. Reduction
Object A is reduced to component parts, each of which can be used in any of the processes listed above.

6. Re-enactment
An original experience is reviewed, revisited or re-acted.

ReCyclone: Initial Object Assignment
Prepare and bring to class an assemblage. This assemblage must be a visual and spatial presentation that can include objects, drawings, photographs, diagrams, language, etc.

Find an Object.
Examine it.
What is it made of?
What use or uses can it be put to?
What condition is it in?

Consider that the object currently exists at some point in the midst of its life cycle.
This is not its moment of origin.
This is not its end state.

Find a way to visually present a transformation/process/event/construction that brought the object to this moment in time.

OR

Find a way to visually present a process/event/transformation/construction that would allow the object to be used again either in this or some altered form.

Journal Entry:
What did you think about your object and its place in time?
What did you discover about the different elements your object is composed of or can be broken down into?
How might re-imagining a new use for your object pull you into a different community of people or a new location or a new circumstance?