ABSTRACT
The Objective Drama project was a special research project conducted at the University of California-Irvine (UCI), formulated and directed by Jerzy Grotowski. The direction of the project was to isolate the performative expressions of several traditional cultures and introduce them to performers outside of their original cultural contexts. Once the technical aspects of a form were internalized, the effects of the relationships among performer, form, group, and environment were the subject of observation. A 1984 “Research and Development Report” described the project:
“Objective Drama” is Jerzy Grotowski’s term for those elements of the ancient rituals of various world cultures which have a precise, and therefore objective, impact on participants, quite apart from solely theological or symbolic significance. Mr. Grotowski’s intention is to isolate and study such elements of performative movements, dances, songs, incantations, structures of language, rhythms, and uses of space. Those elements are sought by means of a distillation process from the complex through the simple and through the separation of elements one from the other.
(Focused Research Program in Objective Drama)
