The Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM) held its annual meeting in Washington, DC from October 27-29, 2008 with the theme: MAAM on the Mall: The Museum as Storyteller. IMTAL maintained a strong presence at the conference with a double session titled Museum Theatre: Storytelling through Performance.
Eleven IMTAL members collaborated to present a fast-paced session that included sample performances, answered some basic questions and discussed the entire spectrum of museum theatre. Todd Norris, Bill Weldon and Jeff Villines from Colonial Williamsburg performed a scene (see above) and spoke about their Revolutionary City program and working with actors. Roberta Gasbarre from the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater showcased an excerpt from her touring show African Roots, Latino Soul with actors Nia Medina, Giselle Gilpin and Fernando Romero and technician Kathryn Pong. She also discussed the evolution of the Discovery Theater and its touring program. Jillian Finkle chaired the session and presented definitions of museum theatre as well as a case for its use.
In Part 2 of the session Larry Gard from the Science Museum of Virginia performed The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and discussed script development and working with playwrights. Jillian Finkle discussed the National Children's Museum latest outreach theatre productions and introduced the attendees to creative drama. Harriet Lynn of the Heritage Theatre Artists' Consortium in Baltimore, MD closed the session with a presentation of oral history performance as a way to engage museums' communities, highlighting her program East-Side West-Side Life Stories as an example.
Lively discussion throughout the sessions raised questions such as how the museum theatre community might engage with the professional theatre community and how the current economic crisis might affect existing, emerging and new museum theatre programs. The idea of quality control and the setting of museum theatre standards of excellence was raised as an important issue facing the field moving forward, pointing to the impact that a single negative experience with museum theatre can have on museum colleagues and decision-makers. (If any of you have thoughts on that topic, please leave a comment!)
IMTAL members can access the outline and handouts from the session on the Conference Hub page of the Members Only Area.
Eleven IMTAL members collaborated to present a fast-paced session that included sample performances, answered some basic questions and discussed the entire spectrum of museum theatre. Todd Norris, Bill Weldon and Jeff Villines from Colonial Williamsburg performed a scene (see above) and spoke about their Revolutionary City program and working with actors. Roberta Gasbarre from the Smithsonian's Discovery Theater showcased an excerpt from her touring show African Roots, Latino Soul with actors Nia Medina, Giselle Gilpin and Fernando Romero and technician Kathryn Pong. She also discussed the evolution of the Discovery Theater and its touring program. Jillian Finkle chaired the session and presented definitions of museum theatre as well as a case for its use.
In Part 2 of the session Larry Gard from the Science Museum of Virginia performed The Curse of King Tut's Tomb and discussed script development and working with playwrights. Jillian Finkle discussed the National Children's Museum latest outreach theatre productions and introduced the attendees to creative drama. Harriet Lynn of the Heritage Theatre Artists' Consortium in Baltimore, MD closed the session with a presentation of oral history performance as a way to engage museums' communities, highlighting her program East-Side West-Side Life Stories as an example.
Lively discussion throughout the sessions raised questions such as how the museum theatre community might engage with the professional theatre community and how the current economic crisis might affect existing, emerging and new museum theatre programs. The idea of quality control and the setting of museum theatre standards of excellence was raised as an important issue facing the field moving forward, pointing to the impact that a single negative experience with museum theatre can have on museum colleagues and decision-makers. (If any of you have thoughts on that topic, please leave a comment!)
IMTAL members can access the outline and handouts from the session on the Conference Hub page of the Members Only Area.
