[O'CONNOR] For the second year, Salisbury University is hosting the Six Viewpoints Institute, which is a summer residency that brings artists from across the country together to create, collaborate, and experiment through a practice known as the Six Viewpoints. For many artists involved, it's more than a creative technique, it's actually a way of approaching the world.
I'm Jenny O'Connor.
[MCKITTRICK] "The Six Viewpoints, it's a deconstructive practice that's based on observation. It's about noticing what is happening and being able to pull it apart into its pieces."
[O'CONNOR] That is Jamie McKittrick. She's an assistant professor of theater at Salisbury University and the faculty member responsible for bringing the Six Viewpoints Institute residency to campus.
Jamie says the practice encourages artists to explore six elements of performance, space, time, shape, movement, emotion and story. The residency itself is designed to give artists the freedom to create without the pressure of producing a finished work.
[MCKITTRICK] "This needs to be a place where artists can come and dig in deep to the work and like luxuriate. That is not always the case."
[O'CONNOR] One of this year's artists in residence is playwright and performer Youlim Nam.
[NAM] "Six Viewpoints. It's my primary artistic practice and philosophy, but also it's a lifestyle for me as well."
[O'CONNOR] Youlim says the residency has provided a fresh perspective and much needed reset from the fast pace of New York City.
[NAM] "I get to slow down and really appreciate what's around me, what's in the nature. So I get to..."
[O'CONNOR] Just this past week, Youlim shared both a showing of her play, New Year's Day (Sae Hae), and a staged reading of her piece, A Connected Place. Her work for New Year's Day (Sae Hae) draws from her experience growing up in Korea and living in the United States.
Youlim says New Year's Day was inspired by a dinner she attended with a Korean-American family.
[NAM] "So I just asked how they communicate when they want to talk about some deep topics and her answer was, yeah, they just don't talk."
[O'CONNOR] And while Youlim's work is one of several projects featured in the residency, Jamie says one of the biggest benefits of the Six Viewpoints Institute is bringing these artistic experiences to Salisbury that audiences would otherwise have to travel to large cities to find.
[MCKITTRICK] "All of a sudden, there's all these exciting performance events that are largely inaccessible. Our students in the theater program have access to some of these things if they take classes with me. The larger community does not always have this much access."
[O'CONNOR] One of those opportunities is Ephemera, a collaborative dance theater piece written by Sophia Trainor, Deborah Black, and their late collaborator Mary Overlie. Overlie was the founder of the Six Viewpoints method.
The production itself invites community members to become part of the performance.
Youlim has even participated in previous productions and admits she wasn't immediately convinced by the concept.
[NAM] "The first time I was in the performance in New York, I was like, oh, wow, is this going to work?"
[O'CONNOR] The performance is never exactly the same, and it leaves room for chance through a type of controlled improvisation performed by audience members and other participants known as particleists.
[NAM] "That was the part that felt really radical for me, like as a playwright. Oh, you play this role. This is your role. And you must just say B because your role is A. As a particleist, there are infinite possibilities and options."
[O'CONNOR] Jamie says that's part of what makes this piece so special.
[MCKITTRICK] "You don't have to know what this is. You don't even have to have ever been on a stage, but if you're like, man, this sounds interesting, you can come participate in Ephemera."
[O'CONNOR] Ephemera will be performed June 4th and 5th at 7:30 p.m. in the Fulton Hall Black Box Theater at Salisbury University.
There will also be a work-in-progress showing beginning at 2 p.m. on June 6th in the University Art Gallery.
Check out more from the theater and dance departments at sutheaterdance.com.
For Delmarva Public Media, I'm Jenny O'Connor.