Process and Performance: a Study of Solo and Collaborative Performance and Their Compositional Methods

In this Independent Study, I explore the similarities, the differences, and the relationship between the compositional processes of solo and collaborative performance art. I pose and answer the following question: using the methods of La Pocha Nostra, how can the solo performance artist move into the collaborative process and as a result examine the similarities and differences in the compositional methods? I investigate the methods of solo artists Karen Finley and Annie Sprinkle and compare them to my own solo compositional process, and I also discuss the methodology of collaborative performance group La Pocha Nostra and how this group\u27s process can be adapted by others. I go on to explore my experiences collaborating with the performance collective Problem Child Theatre. Using the compositional theory of Peter Elbow, I analyzed each of these processes, and ultimately concluded that solo performance is ideally an internal compositional process while collaborative performance is by necessity an external one