The Graveyard Book

Director, Choreographer, Set & Lighting Designer: Elizabeth Mak. Composer: Kyle Randall.
Projections: Bex Kwan. Sound: Jack Ausick. Costumes: Sara Kantor, Janet Eom.
Farkas Hall Studio April 28 – 29 2012. Photographer: Andreas Randow.

The Graveyard Book is a 48 minute immersive dance theatre performance devised by me as my Performance and Theatre Arts senior thesis. Inspired by Neil Gaiman's acclaimed novel, it tells the tale of a child who grows up with ghosts, and discovers in the process what it means to be alive.

Divided into 5 chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of childhood, the structure of the performance echoes that of Pina Bausch's Orfeo et Euridice. The cast of 12 used Forsythe's Improvisation Technologies to create and modify movement, all documented on this Wordpress. All the music was composed alongside rehearsals by Kyle Randall. The evolution of the storyboard and design process is also available online. A reel of the show is available below, and the full length documentation is available upon request.