Unfinished Reflections
Introduction
Unfinished Reflections is the capstone project for my Theatre and Dance major completed in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. I chose to explore how digital tools could be used to produce an online performance reflective of underrepresented voices in my local community. I created an original script of monologues, skits, and poems based on ethnographic research and interviews I conducted with black and African-American students at Grinnell College.
Through the spring semester of my final year at Grinnell College, I conducted a series of ethnographic interviews with black and African-American students with questions focusing on their college experiences, their process of coming of age, their connections with community and friends, and their hopes for their futures. My project was focused on capturing the stories from youth, which can often be discounted at not serious or worth writing about in the world of theatre. I drew from the stories from the interviews with students create an original script of monologues, skits, and poems organized into three different movement: “I Lost My Voice”, “You are My Company”, and “We Can Do Anything We Want”. I then recruited a cast of four black and African-American female students, who were mostly first time actors, and lead them through a rapid-fire rehearsal and filming schedule over the course of 4 weeks. Unfinished Reflections was premiered virtually in a short film style to the Grinnell College campus community and students families around the globe on May 13, 2021 with a runtime of just shy of 34 minutes.
Questions Unfinished Reflections explores:
When you lose your voice, how can you get it back?
What does it mean to want something so bad that you feel like you’re burning?
Were you silent, or were you silenced?
What do you owe your community and what do they owe you?
What does it mean to live as a work in progress?
What is the meaning of friendship?
and many, many, more.
Show Description
Unfinished Reflections
4 college students step back and reflect on their roles in their community, their past and present ambitions, and the process of finding their voices.
Promotional Designs
I designed and distributed all promotional materials for Unfinished Reflections, including the official show poster myself. Additional graphics feature quotes from characters in the show such as “My thoughts are art!” and “We’re gonna punch a whole in the sky and eat the moon!”.
Press Coverage
The Grinnell College student-run newspaper, The Scarlet and Black, did an interview with the Unfinished Reflections cast and crew on the process of bringing the creative project to life.
The full article can be read on The Scarlet and Black’s website.
Reflections
While creating Unfinished Reflections, I am returned to the original reason for why I wanted to tell stories and do theatre in the first place. I wanted to be heard and allow for the stories other of people often left out of the narratives to be heard as well. I wanted to use my skills as s storyteller to allow people to see themselves reflected in the performance art and stories they consume.
Unfinished Reflections is focused on how we see ourselves. I believe that as individuals and as communities, we will never be finished reflecting on ourselves and our experiences.