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Theoretically

Nina — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:10:21 +0000

I am about to (fingers crossed) finish my Masters of Science in Design at ASU. It is a design research degree, meaning I have had lots of brushes with the social sciences and methods and theories over the many years I’ve worked on this degree. I have been wondering what professional benefit this will actually give me in the end as a designer, but trusted it would become clear when it is time.
I think I have figured it out. And I am super surprised by the fact that it didn’t come from making stuff with my hands. As it turns out, the theory has made my professional life easier to understand and is completely applicable to my daily practice. This has been a major revelation for me. This is one of those Eureka moments that seems so basic after you have it your forget you ever thought any other way, but it actually has changed your daily life. Here is what I have learned through my research, as I currently understand it:
Constructivism is the idea that knowledge is emergent from many different perspectives, reality and truth is subjective and experiential. It is formed in how we relate with each other. Based on my experience with collaboration in design, I believe design and development for clients or others is innately constructivist.
Positivism is a view that there is one truth that exists that we are setting out to discover. Positivists believe we are capable of discovering it without our own bias (experience, preference, etc) affecting the findings. Post-positivists believe there is no way bias can be avoided, but as long as we reflect on it and identify it, knowledge can be validated. I really think that many people we present our ideas to are looking for one distinct truth. They believe that they can be unbiased and open to new information when they make those decisions.
Even if we have data, quantitative or qualitative or none at all, the construct of experience and preference of each person in the decision making role will affect the outcome. Fear of change, frustration of not understanding the technology, process or the social environment that we are working in is what prevents what we as designers based on our experience and education, in our own view, think is the best solution from being implemented. Our own fears and frustrations influence our process and our reaction to the decisions.
There was a study done about facts versus beliefs that I think demonstrates both sides of this. Keeping in mind that any data is delivered with some shade of bias no matter what, hopefully reflected on and acknowledged. Or so my education and experience has led me to believe.
When we can truly collaborate and develop a shared construct with the people we are working with, then everyone is on board and no one feels like they aren’t being heard. And when we can all acknowledge our bias – our hangups, our ego, our fears – and actually listen to each other instead of thinking how we can protect or position ourselves in relation to those around us, we are much more likely to be open to the collaboration. I believe that improv has really easy to understand, social and experiential way of helping people figure out how to do this. This can make an impact on both the collaborative creative process and the individual creative process, which can get stuck in places like fear and ego.
I have been a working creative for a while now, and I have been frustrated by decisions in relation to projects I am working on. I realize that my insecurity through out the years as a person has affected the process, and it affects this work. I realize that by doing this research on creative collaboration I am protecting myself from the rejection of my own ideas, proactively and reactively. I have the comfort of knowing that others may not understand true collaboration. Hopefully those insecurities fade. I can see it happening already. I don’t feel personally rejected when I don’t get cast in an acting role. It doesn’t feel like I’m being picked last in gym class when something cool happens that I am not included in. It is not personal, just my “construct” isn’t needed for that project.
That is what I have been working on for the last 4+ years. It has been a struggle, I have wanted to give up a ton of times, and I still don’t know if I will finish in the time I would like to. I do know that I will finish. And I am grateful to all my collaborators that have been there along the way. Even though it is my degree, I never could have done it on my own. And I wouldn’t have wanted to.

What I did for love

Nina — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 23:29:44 +0000

Three years ago I drove across the country with a man that I hardly knew to see a type of performance I just learned existed. And I fell in love with all of it. And him. Though I kinda already had fallen for him. Or else I probably wouldn’t have driven with him to New York.
Thank you, Del Close Marathon, for helping me realize what I wanted out of the world! Oh, and @jose602…

Silence so loud

Nina — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:07:45 +0000

It is important to me that any stage is a place for uncensored expression for any artist that goes to work on it. Sometimes that has an uncomfortable sting to it.
Torch has a running show every Saturday night called Cagematch, where anyone can sign up for a slot to compete for a run of performances.
Anyone.
Including a group of young men that think calling their team “Baseline Rapist” is for the lolz. Which is happening this Saturday night at 10:30.
It brings up interesting conversations about community standards and what we put on our stage, but at the end of the day, Torch strives to have an open system where access to the stage is available for all types of people interested in performing longform improv. And I really believe in that. An uncensored stage makes lots of political, emotional, and social conversations possible. That is the art of what improv can be and what the history and development of longform improv grows out of. I would love it if tonight was an exploration of sexual identity, rights and the history of human sexual relations, but my gut instinct is that it is about shock value. The stage is open for everyone, but man. A team of dudes naming themselves after a sexual criminal? Come on, guys. Just think about what that means to anyone that has experienced it.
Every group is different, and variety is fantastic. Rape is not.
I just want to make sure that is clear to anyone that might stumble into our theatre that doesn’t know what is up. And I don’t want people who know me to think that I am just casually sitting by while this happens in the theatre I helped build. So I prefer to face it from the stage, and hopefully balance it with as much fun as I can inject.
An open stage also includes women and survivors of sexual assault, and as a representative of both, I will be hosting Cagematch tonight. I hope I am the only person there that has survived sexual abuse or assault. But statistics aren’t on my side.
I don’t want to be silenced by casual disregard.

What does collaboration look like?

Nina — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:17:34 +0000

You and five people step on the stage with nothing, trusting everyone in the room to listen and give what they can to the performance. Together, you are there to write, stage and perform a one act play that has never been done and will never be seen again. You shade your eyes from the stage lights so you can see the audience, you try to make eye contact. You ask for a suggestion from the audience, the fulcrum that will launch your show. You turn to your troupe members with a smile, making eye contact with all of them and, together, you begin…

Whole worlds get made from seemingly so little. Photo by Kevin McShane.

In longform improvisation, the process is the product – this show we are making is what the audience pays to see. I have known writers in the past that roll their eyes at improvisation. “Why would I perform my first draft?” Improvisation isn’t YOUR first draft. It is a work we make together, it is OUR show. It is built from the collection of thoughts, emotions and ideas in the room at that hour. It is a perfect representation of that moment in time and space, ephemeral and magic.

Collaboration, to me, is individual thoughts and ideas brought together to make a cohesive whole. There is give and take of leadership, adaptation to situations as they come up, listening for patterns, no holding back. I don’t think it is everyone nodding and smiling. There is a difference between group think and what improvisors call group mind. There is conflict around ideas, but there is always respect and openness. Tina Fey articulates this in an interview with Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Collaboration looks like everyone in the room playing at the top of their game, listening deeply to information and ideas and putting forth a cohesive piece. To me, great collaboration looks a lot like a great improv show.

This post was originally written for Entrepreneurship at ASU.

Authors@Google: Tina Fey

#PHXDC: challenges and gifts

Nina — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:08:28 +0000

stephaniehorn:

There are two versions of Phoenix — the Phoenix known by Phoenicians and the Phoenix perceived by everyone else in the country. The last few years have been a bit of a battle for the city’s national reputation. Regardless of our differing stances on politics and culture, everyone can probably…

Stephanie poses some great thoughts about the Phoenix Design community and ultimately the results from the momentum started over the last 2 years.

Phoenix is a big place. We do have issues of physical sprawl to deal with. Comparing us to communities that have weather where people are required to be in small spaces all the time (Portland) or communities that have an enormous amount of wealthy clients (San Francisco) is not really serving our specific issues and addressing what we need to do in order to make our own way. But it is inevitable, I believe, when designers start thinking about a bigger picture, to say “What would do?” I have had those conversations about design, theatre and improvisation. I don’t believe it is a way to find lasting solutions.

In the #phxdc, I think the tweeting and meetups have been a great bridge to bring people physically together that normally wouldn’t bother gathering at all. I think overall there has been a sort of politeness, almost a cheer squad quality around a lot of that, which I hope won’t be a permanent feature of it. But I think it is a human reaction to a new environment and a new way of gathering.

I hope we can get to the real heart of the conversation: why do we choose Phoenix over other cities? We need to decide for ourselves first, before we do anything else. “Love Phoenix or Leave Phoenix”, the bumper sticker from Frances, is something I truly believe in. Accept Phoenix for what it has to offer, be a part of what is happening here, or leave to .

My work in the theatre and improv has made me think about Phoenix a lot. What challenges do we have in Phoenix and what are the gifts that those challenges give us? One challenge is the fact that our cultural infrastructure is not well established. I’ve heard people complain that Phoenix has no culture, and I disagree. Phoenix has tons of culture, going back to the Hohokam and beyond, but many people that live here choose not to identify with it. From The Firestage to The Heard, we have an amazing culture here, just not a lot of infrastructure to support it. By infrastructure, I mean the institutions, individuals and organizations that exist to make culture, in this case design, happen.

The gift of that situation is that we can make our own infrastructure. We can be cultural entrepreneurs, pioneering platforms that motivate and build up our professional fields, our communities and ultimately our city.

A lot of the cultural infrastures we have are young, and you can see that manifested in the venues. Our venues are often scrappy feeling – like The Firestage or Space 55, or feel like they were just built – like the Convention Center. A lack of institutional history or refinement it doesn’t diminish the work.

With that said, each individual designer has to choose to make change. No infrastructure or institution in any city can make that happen. The energy it takes to start any movement or idea is enormous, and it is worth putting things out there before they are completely finished to get momentum. It is up to each person to decide who they work for every day, what ideas they want to support and promote, and how they choose to grow as an individual both professionally and personally. There are structures in place for this already, if individuals want to find them.

But there is room for more.

Final Countdown

Nina — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:35:08 +0000

I have spent the last 6 years working for or in the Office of the President at ASU. I started as a student worker when I was an undergrad, working on ridiculous charts and terrible Powerpoints. Now I am an interaction designer. I am not like an interaction designer that deals in code only. I look at not only how we interact with objects, digital and print, but also how we interact with each other. A human interaction designer, how people can understand and connect with ideas from other people.
This job has taught me amazing things. It has helped me understand my own education and the role of education in the greater economy. I’m really lucky to work for visionaries, to make a living supporting an idea that makes the world a better place. I am lucky to work for a place whose mission I can stand behind. Even when things are tough, I know that university education can change lives. I have experienced it, my family has experienced it. I have selfish reasons for working here, too. The value of my degree is something I take very seriously, and I feel like I am in the trenches every day working on that.
My last day here is April 12. I have taken a position elsewhere in the university, and I am starting a new path. I needed a shift in audience, and a great opportunity came up. I am excited about what is ahead, but I’m sad about leaving the driven, passionate people of this office behind. They all seem to have the right mix of optimism and reality.
I am filled with nostalgia and gratitude this week. Thank you, Office of the President, for giving me pride in my education. Thank you for helping me grow beyond what they could ever teach me in the classroom. Thank you for letting me pass that knowledge on to another generation year after year. Thank you for taking risks with me, thank you for listening, and thank you for bringing me from undergraduate to career woman. I still have much to learn, but I appreciate every opportunity you have given me.

Trust us

Nina — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 05:13:08 +0000

Since I finished the Torch improv training, I’ve thought a lot about what it means to me to be a trained improvisor *bum bum BUM*. Mostly, the day after the graduation showcase looked like any other day prior. My hair wasn’t shinier, I didn’t have a new British accent. What I did have was something intangible. It was more than confidence. I felt… malleable. Like I was being affected by what was happening around me. More than I had been, more than I had let myself before.
Some community events that I’ve taken part in over the last year have really affected me. I’m learning to trust in my community more, that there are people giving everything they have to make community better. Lifting each other up. Trust is huge on stage: trusting that everyone is “all in,” no one is holding back or afraid, trust in your own ideas and trust that everyone is working at the top of their intelligence. In an environment built on trust, amazing things can happen. Without trust, big bold choices don’t happen. Creativity dies. People don’t speak and perform from the heart.
A group built on trust can dodge and weave through characters and ideas together like a school of fish, or an amazing basketball team (so I’m told – I’ll trust basketball lovers on that one). We call it “group mind” on stage.
I said Design Week changed me, and as I thought about it more, a lot has changed me. I feel like there is a group mind building in the Phoenix design community. I was open to feeling it, I was seeking it out even. And I felt it more than I had ever felt it before.
That is all well and good, but the REALLY big deal about that more than a year ago, I was told by my therapist that I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I talked about this at TEDxPhoenix, how trust is a choice that we make. My trauma involved stranger danger and public places, so my whole adult life I’ve been guarded against a sense of being part of a community. Five years ago, the terrible events in Tucson would have shut me down. The world would be filled with palpable danger, threats around any corner. While this may be true for everyone, and was proven true for that group of people at that moment, I no longer find myself having that fear make my choices day to day. Still, being affected emotionally by a group of people in public is a struggle day after day. Having a place on stage to push that trust in my fellow player farther and farther, opening my heart to the audience, not hiding behind a playwright’s words anymore and trusting myself to be the producer of the work has begun to rewire my mind. I choose to trust, more often than I allow myself to be guarded.
I’m learning more every day about how my mind works, unravelling and laying out the ratty yarn ball of emotions and structures that have been built around it. I have been living with so many kludges in my system for so long, it will take a while for me to figure all the knots and ends that have been tied together quickly. For me, working on stage as an improvisor is a vital part of that unravelling. I am seeing now the neatly wrapped ball of yarn starting to form, ready to knit into a most amazing scarf at some point in the future. It will be comfortable, beautiful and useful. It will take a lot of work to get to that point, but it will delight me every day.
My heart and mind has been very filled by the victims, survivors and heroes of Saturday’s tragedy. I hope that they, and all of us, can continue to be work towards hope for and trust in the community around us.

Spooky Story Time!

Nina — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 19:10:08 +0000

Next performance: Unicorn Warpath (I’m in that!) and Apollo 12 present Spooky Story Time at The Trunk Space!
Wednesday, October 27, 8 pm, $5.
Bring toiletries to donate to Lodestar!

How to infiltrate an improv community

Nina — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 03:26:37 +0000

In January 2009, my friend from college asked me if I would participate in an improvised movie in downtown Phoenix. My heart simultaneously flew into my throat and sank into my toes. I had done improv in college while studying acting and theatre. He had been in the troupe with me, and continued on after I was not cast… one of the most gut wrenching, soul breaking moments of my early acting career. Wah. Poor little me. But I hadn’t improvised since, and as much as it scared me, I missed it and wanted to get back to it. I said yes.
That started a whole journey into joining a community that has become like a family. I can’t (or don’t want to) remember what my life was like without the people and activities that make up this community. I’ve had people ask me about how they might get into improv as a performer, and I thought I would share my tips from this journey.
1. Go see shows
There are numerous types of improv that exist in the world, and different communities have different approaches and points of view. In Phoenix and the surrounding cities there are lots of different theaters that focus on improv: Jesterz in Scottsdale focuses on short form, game based improv, National Comedy Theatre in Mesa does as well, with a little longform mixed in. The Torch Theatre, which is the community I’m involved in, focuses solely on longform improv, like the Harold and other longform formats. I prefer that form of improv personally, but I understand everyone is different, so the first step is learning what kind of improv is happening where.
2. Participate in a jam
Jams are when anyone can step up and take part in a show. It’s like an open mike night for improv. I know Torch Theatre has a jam once a month at Trunk Space, and they are super fun. You put your name in a bucket, teams are pulled together from that, and you do a 15 minute show with your troupe for the night. I’ve done short form jams where you just step up on stage, the director runs the game, and you step in as needed. I think this is a great way to gauge where you are at as a performer in relation to this specific community. Getting to know other improvisors is key in building a troupe to perform, and jams are great for that.
3. Take a class
A lot of the theaters I’ve mentioned have classes to teach the improv that they perform. I have graduated from the Torch program, and I learned an enormous amount on top of my classical acting training. Not all improv communities have cattle calls to audition, unlike a typical acting community. Troupes are formed through people that come together with like-minded sensibilities and goals, or put together by the theatre that they perform for. Getting to know who you want to play with and what the theatre represents is easy when you are learning from them.
Everyone in improv that I admire takes classes as a way to keep themselves fresh and on the creative edge. We can all take a moment to keep learning, and in class, you have yet another opportunity to meet people that are interested in performing.
4. Form a troupe
Don’t wait until the God of improv comes down from the heavens and asks you to join him on the Cloud Stage. If you want to perform, you can find other people that are hungry to perform and make your way to the stage on your own. And when I say “stage,” that could mean any space that is willing to let you perform. There are coffee shops, bars, book stores, schools, and all kinds of other creative options where people could gather to watch a show. The great thing about improv is it can happen anywhere. Its great when you have a theatre, but it can be a fortifying experience to challenge yourself to improvise in other environments.
In addition to that, Torch has a weekly Cagematch, where troupes can go head to head to win the audience over for a chance to perform the next week. As long as you are performing longform improv, anyone can sign up for a slot in Cagematch. They also have shows like Cerberus Cup which are open to any troupe that fits the criteria.
With all that said, I am a trained actor, with a decent amount of semi-professional experience. While this did not make me an expert at improv, it did give me a lot of tools that helped me learn it. Everyone comes to improv for different reasons and with different skills. I prefer longform, some folks prefer short form. And like any art form, improv is an entrepreneurial environment. You need to understand your skill set, how it fits in with the market, and make your own opportunities. If you are open and talented and interested, the communities should welcome you.
This has been a life-changing journey for me, and I hope that more people step in to see where it leads them.

Phoenix design week changed me. Again.

Nina — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:20:11 +0000

This has been an amazing weekend, which I will be sharing in a few posts this week. But for now, video from Marc Oxborrow’s ~~session with his~~ band The Haymarket Squares. His session was about connections between being a musician and being a designer, this song was illustrating having a point of view in your work. this was a common theme among speakers.
More reflection to come in the next week. Thank you, #phxdw.

PS. the video wouldn’t upload from my phone, and its pretty low quality anyway. This video is better.