Fighting myopia: from writer/performer to writer/director in Free Range and Palms Down Like a Rainbow

This document examines the processes used in the creation of my first year project Free Range – a solo theatre piece I wrote and performed – and my thesis project Palms Down Like a Rainbow: A Folktale Eulogy – a multi-character piece I wrote and directed. The discussion of Free Range investigates strategies for writing as a performer, engaging in improvisations with a director and a musician. The discussion on Palms Down Like a Rainbow focuses on writing with a director's sensibility, using creation sessions with an ensemble of performers improvising around a source. The challenges of shifting from writer/performer to writer/director invite questions about the playwright's authority, and the line between an open and closed text. This exploration of collaboration, decision-making, values and praxis, leads to a personal understanding of the relationship between process and product.