This written thesis documents how I, accompanied by a team of talented colleagues, conceived of, planned, and began the process of staging Exodus, a museum of between. I begin with an introduction to the theory and influences that shaped the work in its earliest stages. I go on to discuss the major themes of the work, chiefly an excavation of the idea of belonging, and posit a model of theater making modeled on a kaleidoscope, a model that aims to serve as a device through which to see one of our oldest stories with new eyes. I discuss the three lenses through which Exodus will examine the topic of belonging: a museum exhibition comprised of artifacts of mass migration, the first-hand oral testimony of those whose lives have been immediately effected by events of mass migration and a staging of Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo I also discuss the role that chance procedure would have played in establishing the tempo and narrative. I then reflect on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that derailed the production of Exodus and suggest alterations to the project that I would make in the event that production should be recommenced in a post pandemic future. While it is difficult to include much assessment of a project that was still in its early stages when aborted, I finish with a critique of the work that had been accomplished and offer a few thoughts on how I view the work now, in light of the work done and global developments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:masters_theses_2-2003 |
| Date | 18 December 2020 |
| Creators | Harrell, Gabriel |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Masters Theses |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds