The TEAM Creates New Work in Chapel Hill

Recently, the theater company called the TEAM did some work in Chapel Hill, as part of a residency program with PlayMakers Repertory Company. According to their website, "the TEAM is a New York City-based theatre company dedicated to dissecting and celebrating the experience of living in America today." Founded in 2004, the TEAM writes collectively as a unit, separately from their individual careers in the arts. They met collaborator Taylor Mac in 2008. Some members of the TEAM spent a week in residence with PlayMakers Repertory Company, developing new work by collaborating with each other and experts among the faculty at UNC. In the two-to-four-year process of writing a show, the week they spent in residence at PlayMakers is step one. Their current work focuses on the themes of drive and discipline, based on the idea that in America, perhaps we have an abundance of drive and a deficiency of discipline.

Exploring the at times seemingly dichotomous worlds of drive and discipline, the TEAM has set out to do some things for which they've always had a desire, but never the discipline to actually complete. These tasks include writing a novel, learning to play the electric guitar, becoming skilled with electronics, and playing the banjo. Additionally, the group is working on a collective task for which they had (at least initially) little drive, but which requires a great deal of discipline - learning to speak Mandarin. They're already on their way, as they introduced themselves in Mandarin to the audience. The piece they're writing is not necessarily about these disciplines to which they are committing themselves, but those experiences will inform what they eventually write.

The TEAM presented, to an audience of people in the rehearsal space at PlayMakers Repertory Company, some pieces they had created as exercises responding to assignments having to do with drive and discipline over the course of their week in Chapel Hill. These are probably not pieces that will end up in the finished work, but are launching points for furthering their exploration of the subject matter. One piece was a professor teaching a lesson about discipline that involved young children involved in an experiment about whether or not they would give into the temptation of eating a marshmallow placed in front of them, when told that if they waited and did not eat it, they would receive a second one. Another was a workshop of sorts about being a disciplined person, which asked the question, "what are we looking for as a sign of a disciplined person, and are we ever fooled?" Another was about a zombie, tied to a post, trying to eat a landscaper. The last performance piece was about real-life Russian gymnast Elena Mukhina, who became a quadriplegic after her coach pressured her into trying a stunt that was too difficult. These pieces had the clear theme of drive and discipline and were an excellent preview of the ideas that are being generated toward the final product.

The TEAM will continue working on this project over the coming years. For more information, visit their website, theteamplays.org.

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