SoulWork

SoulWork is a philosophy of theatre-making based on African American performance traditions and aesthetics that shifts actors’ focus away from “me” and onto “we”; it relocates directors’ ownership from “mine” to “ours” and rescues the audience relationship from “them” to “all of us.” As a technique, SoulWork has specific tools, effects and, for those who want them, chronological guidelines, but its structure and implementation are not fixed. To train others in SoulWork requires the same explorative presence as training in and practicing SoulWork. SoulWork is an aesthetic tool for creating space and experiences. The “Work” in SoulWork recognizes that soul, as a practice and aesthetic, must be cultivated and developed. Soul gives art a unique quality because soul is as particular to each individual as a fingerprint. SoulWork’s key principles and tools unite performers, directors and writers alike around the particularity and collectivity of collaborative creativity.