the Method Gun

Click the image to go to the production video.

written by Elena Araoz - June 30, 2020

Originally created by Rude Mechs of Austin, Texas and re-devised by a Wesleyan ensemble in a generative process led by Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl, The Method Gun explores the actor-training techniques of theater guru Stella Burden and her wildly-committed students. Burden was the creator of “The Approach” (referred to as “the most dangerous acting technique in the world.”) The Wesleyan University ensemble trained in this approach, and uses archived audio and found text from the journals and performance reports of Burden’s company to re-enact the final months of rehearsals for a nine-years-in-the-making production of A Streetcar Named Desire. In translating the show to Zoom, we ask: ‘What does it mean to be a theater artist when you can no longer gather together in process or performance?”

Please find the production website here, and our interview with Katie Pearl here. Further, please explore our articles about Katie Pearl’s Website “Directing on Zoom” and The Method Gun’s lighting design. 

Watch Wesleyan University's short video documenting the translation from a fully-staged live production to a Zoom production at the beginning of the COVID lockdown..