Theatre Encounter alumnae, Keena Herman and Chelsey Fawcett, starred and produced Seeking Discomfort, a performance that pushes the boundaries of realism in Strangerfest at Cspace Marda Loop that took from March 18 to 23, 2024.
Theatre Encounter is a performative arts school that takes an in-depth look at the work of Jerzy Grotowski — a Polish theatre director and theorist active in the 1960s who believed both the actors in the show and audience members should experience spiritual confrontation through movement.
Fawcett and Herman used Grotwoski’s work as inspiration for their production to show how secrets are held in the body and how we as individuals respond to those secrets through slow, performative movement.
“We discovered that slow movement in regards to secrets is similar in a sense because holding onto secrets is a slow burn, they usually come out at some point,” says Herman.
Some of the movements and positions Herman and Fawcett hold in their performance can be incredibly taxing on the body, which they describe in the way they dance.
“When we break free of the postures, our movements become erratic, which symbolizes secrets coming out,” says Fawcett.
The pair truly encapsulates the tribulations we experience from holding onto secrets and the understanding of how our secrets are created through protection and love of ourselves through their production.
Seeking Discomfort is just one of many performances at Strangerfest 2024, which took place in March 2024.