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Home > Archive > Mar 29, 2007

Exploring the Edges
By Ande Welling
Staff Writer
Since the beginning of humanity, art in all its glorious forms has been used to entertain, educate, pass on traditions, communicate cultural rules, and challenge those cultural boundaries. In Santa Clara, an artistic movement has begun to challenge the boundaries established. Boundaries beware: The Space Between has arisen.
The nonprofit organization was founded in 2005 by a few people vowing to travel beyond the traditional, to journey into the abstract. A chance meeting between kindred actors in Southern Utah's Kayenta planted the seed for the birth of the nontraditional, experimental theater company. Co-founders John and Judith Parkinson met Doug Caputo when they arrived in St. George four years ago. Conversation soon veered toward acting, and another recruit, Varlo Davenport, was invited to join the discussions. A few years later, talk turned to action, and the Parkinsons, Doug and Marisa Caputo, and Varlo and Andrea Davenport created The Space Between.
“We had all discussed a desire to do experimental and challenging theatre productions,” John Parkinson said. “We also saw it as an opportunity to study together and invite friends with a similar interest to join us.”
“In the space between, we will create fearless theatre and explore the connections that make us human,” their mission statement proclaims.
All the founders have extensive and diverse backgrounds. While each gained knowledge in different environments and locations, all have lived their organization’s credo: experiencing theatre, film, dance, literature, theology and television and using these experiences to move toward the edge. They embody education, fearlessness, and creative collaboration.
The organization strives to provide an exploratory space for many artistic venues including plays, film events, chamber theater and educational workshops. Plans involve “interface” events – a marriage of theatre and other performing arts such as music, poetry reading, dance and choreography, and visual art. New and upcoming playwrights and poets will also find an outlet in The Space Between.
“We feel like there is an under-served part of theatre here in St. George,” Doug Caputo said. “The thought was that there was a desire in the area for a different type of theater that was not musical based and, dare I say, edgy.”
The Space Between serves as the parent organization, its prize child being The Space Between Theatre Company (TSBTC). Following in parental footsteps with fearless theatre the ultimate goal, their first season included plays that were indeed void of fear. “Marvin's Room,” by Scott McPherson, and “Burning Bright,” by John Steinbeck, are only two of the plays presented during TSBTC's maiden voyage.
What exactly does “fearless theatre” mean?
“We are gonna do theatre regardless of the fear,” Caputo said. “Marvin's Room is a great play, but it had some language that people aren't used to here in St. George.”
According to Parkinson, fearless theater is about risk-taking, courage, commitment, and trust.
“We approach theatre as an art form, in addition to an entertainment industry,” Parkinson said. “To seek new ways of exploring human experiences and shared concerns in such a socially based art form, it is necessary to take personal and group risks.”
TSBTC's most recent production, “Waiting for Godot,” by Samuel Beckett, again stayed true to the group’s mission statement. The script is filled with challenging, abstract material; yet, its layers of complexity are surprisingly simplistic.
Theatrical material is chosen by the founding members. Each individual decides on a play of interest and presents it to the group for approval. Money is a factor, in as much as the group needs to make enough from productions to pay bills and to put into the nonprofit organization. However, commercial success is not the goal; plays are chosen only when they are fearlessly attractive to the founding members, not because they have the potential to draw big crowds.
Educational opportunities abound as TSBTC endeavors to expand the creative community. Acting, puppetry, and stage combat workshops are offered by group members to anyone interested. The stage combat (March 20 – April 23) and the puppetry (March 21 – April 11) are available through Dixie State's Community Education Program.
Members of the community are welcome and encouraged to attend workshops offered by the group as well as to audition and be a part of TSBTC's events. Open casting calls are the norm.
“We are always looking for people who feel they have something to give, whether they are technicians, actors or people who don't really know what they are – only that they are interested,” Caputo said.
The 2007-2008 season includes an intensive acting workshop by Doug Caputo, the production of “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, in May, and an “interface” event – this one a combination of jazz and poetry.
TSBTC is dedicated to making the comfortable, uncomfortable. Growth is rarely comfortable; it's most often a journey through the space in-between. Cultural boundaries will be challenged and creative communication will spark conversation. The Space Between is the exploration of humanity, the creation of art for art's sake.

For more information about The Space Between and The Space Between Theatre Company, visit www.TSBTC.org or call (435) 216-5523.

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