Artistic Statement
I make theatre about the unknown. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been mesmerized by all things beyond our knowledge. As a child, I constantly looked up at the stars, read ghost stories, and devoured science fiction literature. My thirst for the unknown naturally bled into my theatre making, and I began writing plays that engage with other times and places, whether they were sci-fi stories set far in the future, or fantastic explorations of cultural myth and legend.
The unknown can be messy, scary, and shocking, but in my experience, this is where the pith of great theatre making resides: in the moments when the playwright decides to take a risk. When plays embrace these moments of uncertainty, mystery, secrecy, surprise, or wonder, the audience is reminded that at any moment, the world could be altered forever, and a new reality might reveal itself. When my characters encounter magic, experience déjà vu, fall in love, have a dream, predict an event, or experience a coincidence, they cannot help but hope that something more is at work in their world. As a playwright, I seek to explore the intersection between these moments of the unknown, and the enduring hope that that something more is in fact at work.
With these abstract ideas as a starting place, my work as playwright has always leaned towards the fantastical—epic, sprawling stories—with highly imaginative elements. Yet, I make sure to ground my genre-rich writing in concrete action, strong characters motives, and high stakes. My goals for stagecraft are two-fold; first, I want the audience to look up in wonder at the vast incomprehensibility of the world, while also re-evaluating their own presence and purpose within it; and second, I hope for the audience to partake in the theatre as empathy machine, reassessing old or established relationships in order examine the difficult truths of our times.
I am interested in stories centering around science and technology, the seldom told stories of strong women, postmodern philosophy, and posthuman thought. I am an enthusiast of science, technology, cyberculture, robotics, mixed media performance, hauntology, object oriented ontology and classic philosophy. I think of my plays as experiments in a kind of futurist feminist landscape, inspired by the work of scholars like Donna Haraway and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, as well as playwrights like Jennifer Haley, Anne Washburn, Alistair McDowell, and Mac Rogers.
The unknown can be messy, scary, and shocking, but in my experience, this is where the pith of great theatre making resides: in the moments when the playwright decides to take a risk. When plays embrace these moments of uncertainty, mystery, secrecy, surprise, or wonder, the audience is reminded that at any moment, the world could be altered forever, and a new reality might reveal itself. When my characters encounter magic, experience déjà vu, fall in love, have a dream, predict an event, or experience a coincidence, they cannot help but hope that something more is at work in their world. As a playwright, I seek to explore the intersection between these moments of the unknown, and the enduring hope that that something more is in fact at work.
With these abstract ideas as a starting place, my work as playwright has always leaned towards the fantastical—epic, sprawling stories—with highly imaginative elements. Yet, I make sure to ground my genre-rich writing in concrete action, strong characters motives, and high stakes. My goals for stagecraft are two-fold; first, I want the audience to look up in wonder at the vast incomprehensibility of the world, while also re-evaluating their own presence and purpose within it; and second, I hope for the audience to partake in the theatre as empathy machine, reassessing old or established relationships in order examine the difficult truths of our times.
I am interested in stories centering around science and technology, the seldom told stories of strong women, postmodern philosophy, and posthuman thought. I am an enthusiast of science, technology, cyberculture, robotics, mixed media performance, hauntology, object oriented ontology and classic philosophy. I think of my plays as experiments in a kind of futurist feminist landscape, inspired by the work of scholars like Donna Haraway and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, as well as playwrights like Jennifer Haley, Anne Washburn, Alistair McDowell, and Mac Rogers.
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Bella Poynton
Artistic Statement
I make theatre about the unknown. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been mesmerized by all things beyond our knowledge. As a child, I constantly looked up at the stars, read ghost stories, and devoured science fiction literature. My thirst for the unknown naturally bled into my theatre making, and I began writing plays that engage with other times and places, whether they were sci-fi stories set far in the future, or fantastic explorations of cultural myth and legend.
The unknown can be messy, scary, and shocking, but in my experience, this is where the pith of great theatre making resides: in the moments when the playwright decides to take a risk. When plays embrace these moments of uncertainty, mystery, secrecy, surprise, or wonder, the audience is reminded that at any moment, the world could be altered forever, and a new reality might reveal itself. When my characters encounter magic, experience déjà vu, fall in love, have a dream, predict an event, or experience a coincidence, they cannot help but hope that something more is at work in their world. As a playwright, I seek to explore the intersection between these moments of the unknown, and the enduring hope that that something more is in fact at work.
With these abstract ideas as a starting place, my work as playwright has always leaned towards the fantastical—epic, sprawling stories—with highly imaginative elements. Yet, I make sure to ground my genre-rich writing in concrete action, strong characters motives, and high stakes. My goals for stagecraft are two-fold; first, I want the audience to look up in wonder at the vast incomprehensibility of the world, while also re-evaluating their own presence and purpose within it; and second, I hope for the audience to partake in the theatre as empathy machine, reassessing old or established relationships in order examine the difficult truths of our times.
I am interested in stories centering around science and technology, the seldom told stories of strong women, postmodern philosophy, and posthuman thought. I am an enthusiast of science, technology, cyberculture, robotics, mixed media performance, hauntology, object oriented ontology and classic philosophy. I think of my plays as experiments in a kind of futurist feminist landscape, inspired by the work of scholars like Donna Haraway and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, as well as playwrights like Jennifer Haley, Anne Washburn, Alistair McDowell, and Mac Rogers.
The unknown can be messy, scary, and shocking, but in my experience, this is where the pith of great theatre making resides: in the moments when the playwright decides to take a risk. When plays embrace these moments of uncertainty, mystery, secrecy, surprise, or wonder, the audience is reminded that at any moment, the world could be altered forever, and a new reality might reveal itself. When my characters encounter magic, experience déjà vu, fall in love, have a dream, predict an event, or experience a coincidence, they cannot help but hope that something more is at work in their world. As a playwright, I seek to explore the intersection between these moments of the unknown, and the enduring hope that that something more is in fact at work.
With these abstract ideas as a starting place, my work as playwright has always leaned towards the fantastical—epic, sprawling stories—with highly imaginative elements. Yet, I make sure to ground my genre-rich writing in concrete action, strong characters motives, and high stakes. My goals for stagecraft are two-fold; first, I want the audience to look up in wonder at the vast incomprehensibility of the world, while also re-evaluating their own presence and purpose within it; and second, I hope for the audience to partake in the theatre as empathy machine, reassessing old or established relationships in order examine the difficult truths of our times.
I am interested in stories centering around science and technology, the seldom told stories of strong women, postmodern philosophy, and posthuman thought. I am an enthusiast of science, technology, cyberculture, robotics, mixed media performance, hauntology, object oriented ontology and classic philosophy. I think of my plays as experiments in a kind of futurist feminist landscape, inspired by the work of scholars like Donna Haraway and Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, as well as playwrights like Jennifer Haley, Anne Washburn, Alistair McDowell, and Mac Rogers.