In Place and Process

This chapter explores a workshop conducted at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) in Boorloo (Perth), as part of the 2024 S Word conference. Drawing inspiration from Konstantin Stanislavsky’s belief that connection with nature fosters deeper human relationships and collaboration, the workshop examined place and time through walking and engagement with the surrounding parklands. The workshop was informed by two key frameworks. These included the significance of WAAPA’s location on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar Nation and Stanislavsky’s principles of creating unison through natural communion. Acknowledging the deep connection of Australian First Nations peoples to Country, the workshop integrated Indigenous understandings of place, particularly through walking and storytelling, as well as contemporary performance practices, notably those of Sally Mackey. Participants were encouraged to engage with the land tacitly—through walking, sitting, and physically experiencing place—drawing parallels to Stanislavsky’s exercises in sense memory. By blending Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives on place, the workshop aimed to enrich the participants’ understanding of Country (Boodjar), connecting them to both the land and each other. The chapter further explores how place-informed activities can deepen an actor’s connection to the fusion of physical, social, and historical contexts, which can all influence performance-making. Ultimately, the workshop sought not to create a performance piece, but to foster a shared unison among participants, illustrating the transformative power of nature in both individual and collective experience.