‘The Gauntlet’; enacting social transformation through the facilitation of community in ensemble actor training

Abstract

One of the fundamental aspects of actor training is the creation of the ensemble as a ‘community’. In an intersectional feminist actor training, this community is built for the purpose of social transformation; defined by the dissolution of structures designed to suppress; racism, sexism, heterosexist ‘norms’ and other oppressions that marginalise and harm those that self-define in ways outside of a white, heterosexual, male ‘norm’. Social transformation seems a lofty, generalised goal based on theoretical constructs, and one that is difficult to measure. How can feminist pedagogues facilitate community creation with actors in training towards social transformation, and how can this be measured? In this article, I will interrogate community through the lens of bell hooks and Audre Lorde's similar definitions of it; as a tacit sense and an entity intentionally built that acknowledges similarity and difference for the purpose of social transformation (2003, xv, 2017a, 14, 18). I will argue for the Gauntlet as a foundational practice for creating community in a feminist pedagogic framework, and as positively impacting rehearsal and performance for ensemble in general. I will detail my facilitation of the Gauntlet in a recent workshop, making reference to the ways in which myself and other practitioners have used and adapted it. I will discuss the further potential of this exercise as a tool to facilitate recognition, connection, and communication as well as for conflict transformation and adaptations for daily use as a shared language to affirm community.