When driving in a car, one would not think that the space inside would serve well for a performance to take place. Skewed Visions, a traveling theater group, would say otherwise.
Founded in 1996 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Skewed Visions was an idea born from three people-Charles Campbell, Gulgun Kayim and Sean Kelley-Pegg-who were brought together by a common cause.
“We met while grad students in the theater department at the University of Minnesota,” Campbell said. “We formed Skewed Visions to help each other with making work, and because we didn’t see a lot of theater in the community of the kind we wanted to see.”
Kayim agreed.
“We all disliked one thing about the theater, and that was the theater itself and how it limited our performances,” Kayim said.
Because of this reason, the theater group does its performances in spaces people would not normally think could be used, like observatories, abandoned buildings and farmers markets.
One of the main goals for the group is to use spaces with a history and feel, then to use a collaboration of different arts to make a story around that space and incorporate it into the production.
Campbell and Kayim arrived at Bowling Green on Wednesday. They are here for the next couple of days to help work with BG students to put on a production. There will be a performance Friday night that will have both Skewed Visions and University student actors performing. The play starts at Grounds for Thought at 6:00 p.m., where people will meet in front of the coffee shop to get into the car.
There are two cars, and only three audience members get to ride inside each car. Each performance inside the cars will last about thirty minutes long before they meet at a rendezvous point where the audience members switch cars and watch another performance for thirty minutes. This means that only eighteen people get to see the play each night, but they are encouraged to talk and discuss the pieces they saw when they arrive back at Grounds for Thought with others.
Kelly Wicks, the owner of Grounds for Thought, was contacted by an associate professor from the University, Scott Magelssen. He told Wicks he was looking for a site off campus where Skewed Visions could have their start point for the cars, and where the audience and other students could discuss the productions in a social setting.
Wicks was more than willing.
“Grounds does a lot of interesting things, like performances,” Wicks said. “It sounded like a really neat thing for students and individuals alike to experience.”
Another unique thing about Skewed Visions is the way they use collaboration of the arts in their performances. They bring in all different forms of art to their pieces, from theater to creative writing to dance. This is what Magelssen is involved in here at the University, and this is why he invited the theater group to come up. He wanted to provide his students an opportunity to learn from the group with the performance and workshops.
“Skewed Visions provided a great opportunity for the students,” he said.
Kelci Crawford is a BGSU student who attended the workshop Campbell and Kayim had, and she was very excited about what they had to offer. They made her think about performances and productions in a different way, including how to incorporate the space into the piece.
Magelssen and another professor, Dr. Allie Terry-Fritsch, who is also involved in the collaboration of the arts, encourages all students to head to Grounds for Thought both nights Skewed Visions performs. Even if they don’t get a chance to see the show for themselves, there will be a lot of people there to discuss what they saw and felt with the performance. The audience members are even encouraged to videotape the performances while watching so there will be plenty to share.
If anyone is interested in working in the collaboration of the arts and learning more about Skewed Vision’s way to perform, contact Terry-Fritsch at [email protected].
