New York City theater ensemble works in tandem with BGSU students during innovative residency

Elevator Repair Service, an experimental theater ensemble best known for “Gatz,” visits BGSU for six-day residency

Twenty-five Bowling Green State University students recently earned an unforgettable, up-close experience with a renowned New York City theater company – and never left the comforts of northwestern Ohio.

As part of the Creative Minds series, internationally known experimental theater ensemble Elevator Repair Service conducted a six-day residency at BGSU, during which students at the University learned from and worked alongside the troupe.

Elevator Repair Service, an award-winning ensemble that was founded in 1991, pioneered works that included the revolutionary “Gatz.” The performance, which The New York Times once called the most remarkable theater achievement in a decade, is a 6.5-hour stage adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” in which the company enacts the entire novel.

Six members of Elevator Repair Service visited BGSU, including artistic director John Collins, who said the residency in which the company worked alongside BGSU theater students was a rewarding experience.

“We were tremendously flattered and honored to be welcomed to BGSU,” Collins said. “I can certainly remember how important it was to me when I was a college student and I got to meet and learn from experienced artists whom I admired. For me, it was meeting members of The Wooster Group when I was a 19-year-old student.

“I always think of how much that opened my eyes to a new way of working, a new way of creating art, and it is humbling to be able to do that now for someone else.”

During the course of the residency, BGSU students earned hands-on experience into being a New York-based artist working at the forefront of experimental theater.

Jonathan Chambers, chair and professor in the BGSU Department of Theatre and Film, said Elevator Repair Service was a fitting choice for the Creative Minds series because of its commitment to cohesion.

By nature, the type of theater in which Elevator Repair Service thrives necessitates the entire ensemble working together.

“Theater often talks about how it’s the most collaborative of all art forms because of the way in which it requires the efforts of multiple people from different disciplines, whether that’s actors, playwrights, choreographers or designers,” Chambers said. “I thought we should lean into the multiple nature of theater and bring in an ensemble, and Elevator Repair Service is really known for its deep, deep commitment to the collaborative process. Seeing that was particularly valuable for our students.”

Elevator Repair Service brought a range from its ensemble, including actors, the company manager and sound designers, allowing students to see the inner workings of the creative process.

Together, students and the troupe created a series of ensemble-based theater pieces that they presented on Oct. 8 at the Donnell Theatre inside Wolfe Center for the Arts.

Working alongside professionals gave students an idea of what is possible with their BGSU degree in the larger world of theater, Chambers said.

“They brought a nice representation of their core group, and our students really got a chance to work very closely with them, which was a really great opportunity,” Chambers said. “What I really wanted them to say when it was all said and done was that they didn’t know this kind of theater was possible, and that’s exactly what happened.

“The Elevator Repair Service residency really showed that umbrella of theatrical performance is a lot broader than most people know.”

Collins said interacting with BGSU students through performance was designed to not only give experience into their creative work, but a broader examination of how performance comes together.

“For the students, we hope they got a real window on how our work is made,” Collins said. “The experience gave them a chance to try on a new way of making and looking at performance and, we hope, gave them new tools to use when making their own work. While we don’t expect these students to simply mimic our process and our tastes, we aim to give them a new perspective on their own work.”