An ensemble of UNM students is baring it all onstage.
Baring their souls, that is.
"Full Frontal Poetry," showing at Theatre X, features the confessional works of 13 actor-writers.
The show, directed by Paul Ford, explores the themes of sin, confession, journey and the loss of innocence through poetry, fable, art and nursery rhyme.
Ford chose 13 ensemble members from an open audition, and the original material surfaced from writing exercises he gave them. Ford said he has used similar exercises in his acting classes, in which he had students write poetry from their characters' perspectives.
"I had such good poetry," he said. "I wanted to use it to create a larger show."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Ford has directed shows similar to "Full Frontal" with high school students and community-theater groups, but this is the first time he has done it with college actors. This is also the first time the work was created from scratch. Ford said everything in the show was thought up during the writing and acting workshops the group started out with, and these workshops eventually became rehearsals.
"It came out of organic discussion, and we realized the wealth of material available to us," he said. "I encouraged them to be honest and search within themselves, and they simply responded. It was an attempt to lay bare a truth about human life."
Ford said similar themes surfaced from the writing exercises, which ranged from writing about artwork in the UNM Art Museum to writing about lines of nursery rhymes that the cast members felt were meaningful.
"I started trying to move it in a general direction, but the title itself suggests stripping things down," he said. "It moved from themes of confession to looking at the gluttony of society and ourselves, and then sin and the loss of innocence."
The show's nine-week development process, which began in early September, is about four or five weeks longer than traditional rehearsals, Ford said.
"I wanted to work the structure along with the journey of the writing," he said. "The actual structure of the show came out of long, long discussions with the cast. They were proactively involved."
Shannon Flynn's "Slice," a life-cycle piece that traces one woman's journey from childhood to death, provided some structure, Ford said.
"We talked a lot about journey, as a cast and as actors. 'Slice' was really inspirational in how we wanted to arrive at it," he said. "It encapsulates a whole life, and the others are pieces of a life."
The end scene, "Full Frontal," is a mosaic of dialogue from the other works and the ensemble's reactions to them that came out of discussion.
Ashley Jordan, a theater and creative writing major who wrote several pieces, said it was somewhat difficult performing her own work.
"You're putting part of yourself out there," she said, "and that's always hard to do."
Some of the pieces were written by one cast member and performed by another, which Jordan said was just as difficult because one person had to try to represent the other's work. This forced everyone to overcome a general feeling of apprehension, but it also helped the ensemble to bond.
"We all got along so well from the first rehearsal," Jordan said. "We had this kind of security in knowing that Paul wouldn't steer us wrong and trust in each other that we would come up with something meaningful to all of us."
Jordan said she and her castmates were apprehensive about creating a show from scratch but were mostly excited.
"It was a journey, which, when you think about it, is what the show is actually about. It's about thinking, 'Where did I start? How did I end up here?'" Jordan said. "It's the journey that's important, not necessarily the ending. We wanted to take the audience somewhere, and I think we accomplished that really well."
Jordan said she felt that the cast bonded as friends and as an ensemble.
"Everyone there was open to ideas and exploring them together," she said. "It's an ensemble show. The entire cast completely and wholly contributed."
Full Frontal Poetry
Thursday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, 6 p.m.
Theatre X
$10 general, $7 staff & students
