Science, Art, and Seattle!

Science, Art, and Seattle! We get asked the question a lot. How does Found make the shows? The truth is, it is slightly different every time. First, though, we need an idea we are passionate about, and once we have questions about that idea, we have to do research. Ever since we started with our Outer Space research it has become more clear how very similar artists and scientists really are. The basis of each field is the same. Research, Experimentation, and Discovery. The research gives us ideas and a group basis of knowledge to start with. I love the research part. It's so fun to discover things and to be like a scientist searching for facts. I couldn't even get away from doing research when I was on vacation! I took a trip to the west coast before rehearsals started and found myself seeing space everywhere!It was pretty easy to think about Space whilst in the 'Icons of Science Fiction' Exhibit at the EMP museum in Seattle. But what I loved most about the exhibit is that they organized it by posing big questions. And that's something that Found does too. We base all of our material on questions that we have. Here are some intriguing questions I found at the exhibit that Found also might pose as we build This is the Twilight Kingdom: This thing also happened there... Whilst in Seattle I also visited the public Library to do some research on questions I had of my own. Like: Where do physical theatre and space exploration meet? Why are Outer Space stories so fascinating and successful in our society? How have people portrayed space and science stories in the past? How can we use different mediums to explore the topic? Then we went up in the Space Needle! I kept seeing things that reminded me of our upcoming project, not only because it's called the Space Needle, but because it was built with the future in mind during a time when people were thinking about how far we could travel in every direction. It feels great to be in rehearsals now answering these questions and exploring these ideas with performance. I can't wait to see what happens next! Until Next Time: To the Vast Unknown!Ali Hoban Signing Off