The only audible sound was the faint patter of bare feet on wooden floorboards as a group of 20 people walked aimlessly around The Forum at Observatory Hill Dining Hall. Suddenly, a girl called out, "Falling!" and the entire group rushed to catch her before she hit the ground. As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, the group resumed walking until someone else called out, "Falling!" and was similarly caught by the group.
Although the exercise seemed unusual, there was a method behind what seemed to be madness: the exercise was meant to heighten performers' sensitivity when on the stage, an important aspect of acting. One of many, this exercise the workshops the Pig Iron Theatre Company held at the University this week during their 10-day residency.
The company, founded by a group of Swarthmore College graduates in 1995, is "dedicated to the creation of new and exuberant performance works that defy easy categorization," according to its Web site.
"We all went to college together and we studied theatre," Pig Iron Artistic Director Dito van Reigersberg said. "The summer after we graduated, we started Pig Iron and, miraculously, we've been together ever since -- it's our 11th year. We all came from different disciplines, so there was a great coming-together of different hybrid work at the beginning."
Reigersberg mentioned various other qualities that make Pig Iron a unique theatre company.
"What's interesting is that we make all our own work," Reigersberg said. "We wanted to make a kind of theatre we hadn't seen before -- something that broke the boundaries, where you explore things that are on the cutting edge, pushing forward the form. We've taken to heart the commitment to being accessible and keeping a sense of humor, balancing what's innovative [with] what's exciting and pleasurable."
In addition to workshops Pig Iron will be performing their OBIE-award winning play, "Hell Meets Henry Halfway." The prestigious awards are given to off-Broadway works considered to be exceptional achievements in theatre. The play is an adaptation of a 1930s Polish pulp-fiction novel by novelist and dramatist Witold Gombrowicz.
"The novel is about a haunted castle, a mad prince and two tennis players [who] are turning into each other," Artistic Director Dan Rothenberg said. "Our adaptation is about melancholics -- people who have swallowed a loss; it's a battle to care the least. It's kind of a sexier play. To our surprise, melancholics, like punk rockers, are sexy people who don't care."
Pig Iron came about the idea of adapting thisnovel when the group was commissioned for the 100th anniversary celebration of Gombrowicz in Poland in 2004.
"We went quite far from the original, but I think we captured Gombrowicz's spirit, which is very much a spirit of provocation," Rothenberg said.
In addition to performing this play, Pig Iron is conducting workshops during its 10-day residency at the University. Topics range from "Entrances and Exits" to "Mask."
Fourth-year College student Emily Lacy, who attended the "Entrances and Exits" workshop, said she signed up because she had never worked on entrances and exits as a performer before, although she had always heard how important they were.
"I'm having a fun time," Lacy said. The workshop "is about being aware of the space and the things going on around you. I think [the Pig Iron members conducting the workshop] have a lot to teach me."
Fourth-year College student Matt Fletcher also attended the same workshop.
"Any kind of workshop that I can attend where someone has an expertise in their field is worth exploring, if nothing else," he said.
Fletcher is also a member of the Arts Board that helped bring Pig Iron to the University.
"We were looking for a week-long residency," he said. "From what we've read, they seemed a good fit for our family here at the drama department -- OBIE-award winning, well-received, highly recommended and overall interesting."
Fourth-year College student Jonathan Green, chair of the Arts Board, said they have been working toward this week for 14 months. They began by researching artists, sending out letters and e-mails to gauge interest and contacting Pig Iron after they settled on the company as their choice for the residency.
"I think Pig Iron is getting ready to be really famous, so I think if we waited a year, we wouldn't have been able to get them," Green said. "I was very, very happy we found them when we did and [to be able] to have 11 people here for 10 days. There's so much stuff going on for students to take part in."
In addition to workshops, Pig Iron members suggested scheduling informal time -- such as getting dinner at a restaurant -- in order for students to have a chance to spend time with the members of the company.
"You can really see how [the company members] work together and the ensemble they create," Green said. "One of the most rewarding parts of it is that students just mingle and play with these professional artists. One thing I really like about the company is they don't seem imposing or cold. The students I've talked to have really responded to how interesting they are and how willing they are to share their experiences."
Both students and company members said the workshops are worthwhile experiences.
"We get a lot out of [workshops], because so much of our work is about answering our questions about theatre," Rothenberg said. "Our work as a company is about training ourselves as we make work. It's great to not have the pressure of production but be able to focus on the questions with a new and open group of people."
Reigersberg agreed that company members enjoy workshops as much as the students they work with.
"We, as a company, have had the opportunity to take workshops together," Reigersberg said. "We had a lot of illuminating moments as students of workshops -- we hope to do the same for at least one other person."
In addition to taking part in these workshops, University students like Green are looking forward to seeing Pig Iron's original award-winning play.
"I haven't seen it live, but it's really incredible," Green said. "You're not going to see anything like this in Charlottesville for a long time."
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