RAW! ASMR

My partner and I filmed this wee promo in Napier during the summer. I finished cutting together six promo videos yesterday! There are lots of silly outtakes that I'll share over the next 38 days, too.

This week we had our first rehearsals! Booth and Liz Butler joined Sara and me in the rehearsal room to play with ideas. Our focus this week was 'Generating Ideas' – we said yes to any idea we had and either wrote it down for later or tested it out on the floor.

To inspire us I collated a basket of fresh fruit and vegetables! We had bananas, a grapefruit, parsley, apples, carrots, apricots, pears, and onions. I collected some cooking equipment, too, for us to play with including a box grater, knives, spoons, a pizza cutter, cheese knives, peelers, and a handheld spiraliser.

A big part of my theatre practice is creating Feminist Spaces for professional non-binary and female artists to work within! This has included assembling a team of non-binary and female artists to work with, having consent conversations before rehearsals, acknowledging feelings and giving space to those who need it, and making space for children in the rehearsal room. I’m so proud of the rehearsal space Sara and I have been able to create this week.

Sara’s wee child joined us both days. This looked like a pillow cave for James to play with while we chatted over ASMR research, James napping in a pram while we played games with fruit and vege, and then James eating their dinner while Liz and I were trialing looped ASMR sounds. Feminist Spaces are possible, they just need a bit of thought x

Next week is ‘Exploration’ where we’ll test all the ideas we’ve had on the floor!

RAW! ASMR

Created by Amy Atkins

Directed by Sara Hirsch

Sound & Lighting Design by Danielle Sciascia

Supported by New Zealand Fringe Festival and Creative New Zealand

Development Season of RAW! ASMR

8-9 March 2022 at BATS Theatre

As part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival

https://fringe.co.nz/show/raw-asmr

We still have $1,670 left to raise to reach the $5K target, but we have 7 days left! If you wanted to tell an ASMR loving friend, or a mate who loves theatre about this fundraiser now is the time! Link them to this campaign profile and tell them a donation of $25 will help to make New Zealand's first-ever Live ASMR show a reality!!! It'll also support the careers of six professional artists working in Wellington including a new mum, a professional clown, an opera singer, and a posse of theatre-makers!

In other exciting news... yesterday I had the privilege of performing a five-minute preview of RAW! ASMR at the two Opening Gala events NZ Fringe held!!! They held two because, well, Red Setting means reduced capacity and they wanted as many Fringe artists as possible to celebrate the opening.

Here's a link to Gala Performance #1 – I only had a mic to work with but I think Letitia did amazing! For context, you've missed the first 20 seconds where Letitia walks on stage, shows off her tray of fruit and veg, and makes the Hon. Grant Robinson laugh!