Performance art is an ephemeral event that is lived rather than studied. It can be abstract and boundary-pushing even as it affirms that art is everywhere around us and that, as we age, we shouldn’t forget that play is itself a form of art.
Consider “Dear Crombie I Hope This Finds You Well,” an evolving set of live performances on three successive Fridays in August at The GalleRE @ Resource Depot in West Palm Beach. Presented by the recently founded Sea Change Collective arts group, it is presented as a work of “devised theatre,” with words, scenery and movement created for a cast that will include people with little or no previous background in stage performance.
It started in June and July with Sea Change principals Autumn Kioti and Suzanne Ankrum-Harris leading a pair of workshops, dubbed Tabula Rasa, for people of “all shapes, sizes, abilities and identities,” and “all physical abilities,” as their open invitation states. Tabula Rasa participants learned basics of performance through exercises and techniques designed to help open their minds to “experiencing everyday objects in a new way,” as Sea Change explains.
The end result, “Dear Crombie,” won’t be a fixed piece. “We consider this a living work in progress,” Kioti tells PureHoney, “so the viewers will have a chance to participate in the process via Q&A, and it will continue to develop over the three performances.”
Sea Change was founded in 2024 on the premise that “the traditional theatrical model was not addressing the needs and concerns of a changing world, a changing audience, and a diversity of artists,” to quote their homepage. Through workshops and performances, Sea Change is empowering anyone and everyone to create.
When we’re children, there are few limits to the imagination before adulthood and all its requirements distance us from our capacity to live in the moment and conjure new worlds. Sea Change reminds us why “play” is a synonym for “theatre.”
Sea Change Collective presents “Dear Crombie I Hope This Finds You Well,” 6:30pm Friday, August 15, 22 and 29 at The GalleRE @ Resource Depot in West Palm Beach. seachangecollectivetheatre.org ~ Tim Moffatt
