Cooking. Car maintenance. Dance techniques. There’s a video tutorial on YouTube for almost anything, giving us one more reason to depend on the internet. And for third-year MFA in Dance student Katherine Dorn, this easily accessible knowledge exacerbated potential feelings of “imposter syndrome” as a graduate student and is the crux of her solo piece “You Are Here,” one of two performances featured in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre’s MainStage production Emerging Artists this weekend.

“Imposter syndrome is when you feel like none of your accomplishments are actually from your own talent — everyone else actually earned the right to be here whereas I’m just pretending,” she said. “The fact that there’s so many ‘how-to’ videos on the Internet and on YouTube [means that] we have this place where we can reference and say to ourselves we don’t actually know how to do anything, we just have the internet all the time.” MFA in Dance student Katherine Dorn will showcase her piece “You Are Here” in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre’s MainStage production Emerging Artists. Photo by Tim Trumble Download Full Image

Dorn, who has been dancing since she was 3 years old, calls her piece a choreographic memoir exploring anxiety in the YouTube generation.

She says dancing is her life, but in grad school she decided to also pursue her talent for writing, merging the two fields. In her time at ASU she has presented pieces that deal with the physical movement of words and writing as well as dancing to recorded stories. For Emerging Artists, her multidisciplinary postmodern dance production incorporates these ideas with the tools authors use when writing memoirs.

“I took some creative writing courses, worked with some specifically memoir writers and actually used their tools and their teaching methods as part of my choreographic process,” Dorn said.

She hopes when audiences see her choreographic memoir on stage, they see the potential power that dance has to ease any anxiety from living digital lives. 

“What I hope to communicate is the power of dance to basically help ground you in reality, especially when more than half of your life is online and intangible,” she said. “Dance can save you from that — make you feel more real when you don’t.”

Yingzi Liang also hopes people experience the power of dance with her piece, “INK.”

Liang, another MFA in Dance student who is featured in the Emerging Artists show, says her work is more abstract, and she often uses metaphors “to create a bridge of communication between cultural differences” she experiences as an international student from China.

Her piece started as an exploration into why she loves black-and-white photography.

“At the beginning I was kind of overwhelmed because there is a lot of theory about how whiteness means goodness and blackness means badness,” she said. “Then I realized what I believe is that people are born as a blank paper.”

Liang says this could be a black sheet of paper with white writing or a white sheet of paper with black writing. The color of the paper and the color of the writing don't matter. What matters is the writing itself, the details we add to the paper as we grow.

“I made my decision to explore my personal perspective about growth, like how my family raised me and how I went to school and all of the training that shaped my movement, and then how I created this piece,” Liang said. 

Using a cast of six dancers plus herself, Liang’s piece looks at that growing process as drawing on that blank paper.

“If I imagine the whole space in the studio as a blank paper, I’m the person, or the environment, or the context, that’s pulling the ink onto the blank paper,” she said.  

To do this, she focuses a lot on the production of the show, including costumes, the set, lighting design and multimedia aspects. The piece also includes video installations in the lobby.

Liang said because her work is abstract, people might have to guess what she’s doing, but that’s not the point.

“If you could just enjoy the piece, that would be great,” she said. “I respect all different understandings.”

What she does hope people get out of the show is that dance is a powerful art form that is more than movement. 

“I always want more audiences to realize dance is not just movement,” she said. “I’m presenting a whole creative process.”

How to watch 

When: Emerging Artists will be held at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 and 19 and at 2 p.m. Nov. 20.

Where: Dance Laboratory in the Nelson Fine Arts Center, Room 122, on the Tempe campus.

Admission: $16 for general admission; $12 for ASU faculty, staff and alumni; $12 for seniors; $8 for students. Purchase tickets online or call the Herberger Institute Box Office at 480-965-6447.

How do you get Arizona voters to stick around and cast votes for the bottom of a very long ballot? That was the challenge put to a group of graduate students in Arizona State University's School of Film, Dance and Theatre. They were one of four teams commissioned by the Congressman Ed Pastor Center for Politics and Public Service to produce videos highlighting important aspects of the upcoming election.

ASU students Ricky Araiza, Malena Grosz, Vickie Hall and Chris Weise were asked to promote the final part of the ballot: retaining or rejecting Superior Court judges, also known as the merit selection process. ASU students used popsicle-stick characters to highlight a lesser-known part of the November ballot. Download Full Image

“We needed to get people aware of this and try to get them to finish the ballot,” said Weise. “So we had a unique challenge initially."

More like an impossible challenge. More than 2 million Arizonans cast ballots in the last presidential election in 2012. Guess how many stuck around to the end of the ballot? Only 7 percent of voters bothered to mark whether to retain the final appellate court judge on the ballot.

"Voters really have no idea how we end up with the judges that we get or the fact that we're one of the very few states that have appointed judges that then have to be elected to keep their seats, " said Alberto Olivas, executive director of the Pastor Center.

Explaining the merit selection process in a short video is difficult enough. But doing so in an entertaining way? It was a challenge that Weise says his team embraced.

“We all had various ideas and tried to incorporate as many as possible,” Weise said. “One person thought puppets would be fun. I thought of the idea of using a game show.”

They ended up using popsicle-stick puppets for characters and the TV show “The Voice” as the platform.

“We really were focused on the idea of the citizens judging judges, right?” recalled Weise. “And then we just thought about the format of 'The Voice.' And we thought that would work.”

For the uninitiated, "The Voice" features aspiring singers being critiqued and coached by established music stars. Hosted by TV personality Carson Daly, viewers vote to eliminate contestants until a winner is declared at the end of the season.

The opening sequence of the student-produced video features a clever play on the show’s logo. Instead of a hand holding a microphone flashing a “V” or victory sign, the hand clutches a gavel and the words “of Justice” are added under the show's title creating “The Voice of Justice.”

Three other student teams produced videos highlighting different aspects of the election. All took a different approach but used humor to make what could be dry topics come to life.

One titled “Zeeta’s Guide the AZ Corporation Commission” plays off the popular use of the iPhone voice command feature “Siri.” In this video skit, "Zeeta" comes to life and walks a hapless young person through his struggles losing electricity and water. In the process, the video highlights the work of the Corporation Commission and provides information on the five candidates running in the general election.

"If that's all they take away from their video, that's a huge accomplishment,” said Olivas. “Because voters are not aware of this body, and they're not aware that this year three out of those five seats are going to be elected."

What is perhaps the most passionate explanation ever of an Arizona ballot proposition is the work of another group of ASU students. They use a telenovela to bring Proposition 206 to life. Titled “All my Wages,” the video spoofs the popular Spanish-language soap opera complete with sappy dramatic scenes and music. The lovelorn characters recite actual language from the proposition, what a “yes” or “no” vote means and what supporters and opponents are saying about it.  It ends with the following words on the screen: “This issue doesn’t need drama. ... It needs voters.”

“And so it closes with that message that voters just need to pay attention and inform themselves and participate in this decision that will have a major impact on our economy," Olivas said.

A final student-produced video examines Proposition 205, which would allow for the recreational use of marijuana and a sales tax on marijuana sales. The students use small plastic dinosaurs, visual props and a heavy dose of humor to explain the proposition and arguments for and against.

"Their challenge was to be fair to both sides because it seemed like the preponderance if not all of them were on one side of that issue,” Olivas said. “But I really feel looking at it that they did a very good job at representing both sides well and comprehensively. And they did it in a way that was funny and attention-grabbing and hopefully will be something that people share online.”

Two of the student-produced videos were played before audiences attending debates on Proposition 205 and Proposition 206, respectively. The events were co-sponsored by the Pastor Center. The videos can also be found online on YouTube.

Veterans of the U.S. military will share personal stories of service and life after the military in "The Veterans Project," which will be presented at FilmBar in downtown Phoenix on Nov. 9. Currently in its fourth year, "The Veterans Project" is the product of an ongoing initiative at ASU to create space for veteran-civilian community dialogue. Five previous iterations have been performed in Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson since 2013.

The unscripted and uncensored performance aims to push against preconceived notions about who serves, and why. Jeramey Reamer, U.S. Air Force veteran and music director for "The Veterans Project," has experienced firsthand the ways in which “military veterans tend to get crammed into a very outdated and stereotypical mold. Many of us don't identify ourselves with the box that society thinks we fit in. That's exactly what makes ASU's "Veterans Project" so important; it sheds light on the issues that matter, and allows the veterans to express themselves as individuals.”  In 2015, the Veterans Project included (left to right): US Air Force Veteran and ASU alum Cody Trimmell; US Navy Veteran Shantelle Reamer; US Army Veteran Matthew Nicholls; and US Air Force Veteran and ASU graduate student Jeramey Reamer. Photo by Erika Hughes/courtesy of the Herberger Institute Download Full Image

The process of making the show entails a month-long workshop with local veterans, many of whom have never before performed onstage. Erika Hughes and Boyd Branch, assistant professors in ASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre and co-directors of the project, say they have greatly benefitted from their years of working within the Valley veteran community. These veterans-turned-performers, according to Hughes, “represent an incredible range of experiences and political viewpoints, and yet are all willing to share something of themselves with the community in which they live. We’re very grateful for their openness and willingness.”

The importance of sharing and hearing stories is underscored by "Veterans Project" alum Shantelle Reamer, who served in the Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She notes that “anyone born within the past 15 years has never known an America that is not at war. War has become such a common backdrop in our country that we often forget it is still happening. In one short hour, 'The Veterans Project' brings the realities of conflict into focus. Through a relevant and deeply human dialogue, a panel of veterans reveals the true nature of the military, war, and the search for inner peace.” 

Audiences are invited to join the conversation at FilmBar, 815 N 2nd St, Phoenix, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9. Admission: $5 or free for veterans. Tickets available at http://thefilmbarphx.com/.

The inventive theater company 600 HIGHWAYMEN has been lauded by the New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, the Wall Street Journal and other publications for its performances, which offer a new way of seeing for today and explore a radical approach to making live art. New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als once declared, “I wish to hear anything that 600 Highwaymen has to say.”

What 600 HIGHWAYMEN has to say now is something the ASU community and surrounding areas can see for themselves when this cutting-edge theater company performs its new work “The Fever” for eight nights at the Galvin Playhouse as part of a residency with the School of Film, Dance and Theatre. The Fever is performed in complete collaboration with the audience. Photo by Maddie McGarvey/600 HIGHWAYMEN Download Full Image

“I think this is one of the most exciting events happening in our school this year,” said Lance Gharavi, assistant director of theater.

Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, the artists behind the award-winning 600 HIGHWAYMEN, have made six original works since 2009. They aim to construct performances that illuminate the inherent poignancy and theatricality of people together. With “The Fever,” they examine how we assemble, organize and care for the bodies around us. Performed in complete collaboration with the audience, it tests the limits of individual and collective responsibility and our willingness to be there for one another.

“We're thrilled to be hosted by ASU and to preview our new work,” Silverstone said. “Audiences will experience brand-new writing and will become an essential part of our development process.”

With the shows at Galvin, 600 HIGHWAYMEN offers audiences an early chance to experience “The Fever” before it premieres in The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival in New York in January. Since the nightly performances are part of the development process for the piece, any future production of “The Fever” will include mention of it being developed in part at ASU.

“We are a forward-thinking school, and now the ASU name will be tied to this performance by a forward-thinking theater company,” Gharavi said.

In addition to the performances, 600 HIGHWAYMEN will be working directly with ASU students in workshops and working groups.

“I think our students, most of them will never have seen art like this — mind-expanding art,” Gharavi said.

How to watch

The show runs Oct. 27 – 30 and Nov. 2 – 5 at 8 p.m. each night. Performances are free and open to the public, but seating is extremely limited. To reserve your ticket, call the Herberger Institute Box Office at 480-965-6447. Performances are part of a residency partnership between 600 HIGHWAYMEN; The Public Theater in New York; ASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre; and ASU Gammage.

Throw a group of grad students into a room, and tell them to make a play from scratch. Creating a cohesive work might be hard with around a dozen artists bringing their own ideas and identities to the project. But Arizona State University's School of Film, Dance and Theatre’s MFA theater cohort used that potential hurdle as an asset when devising the MainStage production “Out of Many,” which premieres Friday, Oct. 14 at the Lyceum Theatre.

“We’ve been working on this play for about two years now together,” said Phil Weaver-Stoesz, one of the play’s three directors. “It’s one of the core components of the cohort process that all of the performers, designers and directors go through.” Download Full Image

With the play’s run scheduled a few weeks before the election, the cohort began exploring themes of America and what it means to be American.

“As that developed over the course of the year it became more and more clear that what really mattered was the differences in the way that we all perceive what that means,” said Wyatt Kent, another one of the directors. 

The final play is a one-of-a-kind production featuring various vignettes devised by members of the cohort — told from different perspectives and in different ways.

“We wanted to make show about our identity in America and what that means to each of us,” said Kyra Jackson, also a director. “Because we obviously can’t agree on one identity that we all have in this wonderful, weird country.”

Weaver-Stoesz says the autobiographical nature of the show makes it unlike other shows and impossible to reprise.  

“This could only be done by this specific group of people,” he said. “This show could never be passed on and redone somewhere else with some other group of people. It feels so personal to us because it’s our own stories. It’s our own writing. It’s our own thinking.” 

He said working on such personal, and at times vulnerable, issues, everyone in the group keeps each other brave.

“Through the process of this development, which has been at times both beautiful and painful, we have had to square and come to terms with each other,” said Vickie Hall, a member of the cohort. “It’s making us, I think, ultimately stronger as a group of people who are making art together.”

Pulling their disparate identities together at a time when the country seems so divided is also part of what makes the play timely, according to members of the cohort. 

“I don’t think the show purports to have any clear answers as to here’s what it means to a citizen of this country or living in this country, but what it does do is shows interpretations of a wide variety of perspectives,” Kent said. “Looking into individual stories is one of the most valuable things that we can do in order to better understand the country as a whole.”

The stories range from football to food, from movement to dialogue, and from serious to funny. 

“I was really inspired by two of the people in the cast; one of them comes from Louisiana and one of them comes from Mississippi,” Weaver-Stoesz said. “And they both have this experience with gumbo — the food. I was interested in them talking about what gumbo is to them. The piece also plays with movement in terms of coming to the table, leaving the table, sort of separation and unity.”

Another story, created by a stand-up comedian, uses physical comedy to make a metaphor of Facebook’s targeted advertisements.

One of the more serious pieces deals with race and was inspired by an actual conversation between members of the cohort.  

“Basically it’s centered around an actual discussion between an African American and a group of Caucasian Americans,” said actor and creator Michael Alexander. “And we’re just talking. We’re hashing things out. We’re talking about stereotypes, and then it gets more serious.”

Conversation is exactly what Alexander hopes audiences get from “Out of Many.” 

“No one can get anywhere if no one talks to each other,” Alexander said. “And that’s what this entire piece is about – to start conversation on these different ideas, using art.”

How to watch

Catch one of the performances of “Out of Many” at the Lyceum Theatre, 901 South Forest Mall, on ASU’s Tempe campus: 7:30 p.m., Oct. 14-15, 20–22; 2 p.m., Oct. 16, 23.

Tickets are $16, general; $12, ASU faculty, staff and alumni; $12, senior; $8, student. Purchase tickets online or call the Herberger Institute Box Office at 480-965-6447.