Abstract

An ensemble of UNCA students created and performed a devised piece of theater using the history of Black Mountain College (BMC) and John Cage’s Lecture on Nothing to explore the idea of experimental artmaking. Using a non- linear lens, Nothing’s Happening: A Black Mountain College Project reflects on devised theater, its associated performances, and the intentional community intersections of both devised theater and the subject matter of BMC. The organization of this paper is based on the structure of Cage’s Lecture on Nothing. In accordance with the Lecture on Nothing, there are five different sections to this paper. The first section is an explanation of the layout and brief overview for the reflection. The next four sections cover as follows: Material, Structure, the Here and Now, and Silence and Method. Within these sections, various artmaking groups will be compared and reflected upon: the UNC Asheville ensemble, Black Mountain College, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. These artmaker’s reflections of past and present personal experiences revealed that every devising process must have a structure, method, and material, but those differ based on each distinctive process. While this project was a unique devising process, the intentional community and thoughts surrounding experimental artmaking created a connection across distance and time. Using the path of UNC Asheville’s ensemble and the history of Black Mountain College as the lens to look through, this reflection aims to explore intentional community and devised theater within the framework of Cage’s Lecture on Nothing.

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