Lola Wilcox · 2024 · DT:FC Legacy Archive
About this essay
This essay by Lola Wilcox recounts the story of how the Colorado Caravan came to be — and why its aesthetic emerged the way it did. Written in 2024, it identifies the theatrical traditions (Asian theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Poor Theatre, Mr. Rogers, mythology, and Theatre Games) that combined when Dr. Richard Knaub, Chuck Wilcox, Lola Wilcox, Dr. Daniel S.P. Yang, and others founded the Caravan at the University of Colorado in the early 1970s. A summary comparison chart of these traditions and their influence on DT:FC is included.
Full text
Once upon a time, in the 1970’s, the University of Colorado (CU) Theatre Department and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival created a touring theatre called the Colorado Caravan. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival (CSF) traditionally produced three Shakespeare plays in the summer outdoors at the Mary Rippon Theatre, which is near both the Theatre and English Department buildings. The theatre’s tiered house hosted around 25,000 people each summer season. Originally there was a main playing space with two benches, two alcoves, and multiple exits/entrances. Faculty from the University served as directors of both the CSF and the Colorado Caravan (CC). During the summer both the CSF actors and the Theatre Department students shared the Theatre Building, especially the scene shop and rehearsal spaces.
The first hero of this story is Dr. Richard Knaub who applied for and received a National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities grant to tour theatre, especially William Shakespeare, to schools in Colorado. The University of Colorado provided one touring van and gasoline to support the effort, giving back to local people throughout the state who paid taxes for the University. One of Dr. Knaub’s motivators for the Colorado Caravan was to provide winter work for CSF actors.
The second hero of this story was Chuck Wilcox, a CSF actor who had experience touring theater productions to schools in Wyoming. The van seated six people plus each actor’s suitcase. There was no room for sets, props, spectacular costumes, etc. What to do?
Chuck was taking classes in Asian theatre from Dr. Daniel S.P. Yang. In Asian Theatre there is a similarity of theatrical forms and conventions, which includes Sanskrit drama in India, Beijing Opera in China; Kabuki and Noh drama in Japan, traditional puppet theatres (Bunraku being a traditional Japanese example) and Wayang Kulit in Indonesia. These forms minimize sets, props, and even costumes. The movement and voice of the actor creates the experience for the audience.
Chuck Wilcox realized these theatrical forms and conventions also existed in Shakespeare’s theatre. Shakespeare’s Globe theatre was outdoors with covered tiers of seats. The playing stage was empty most of the time, with the actors providing any necessary descriptions of where the scene was taking place. The excellence of the acting helped shape the content of the plays, and the same plays were performed more than once and people attended over and over again.
Also, at the time of the Colorado Caravan’s invention, similar influences came from the Poor Theatre movement (Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook and others). Bertolt Brecht’s theatre conventions helped shape the Colorado Caravan Shakespeare Theme Based performances.
The first tours were successful, and school districts asked for plays for the lower grades. Chuck Wilcox and Lola Wilcox researched children’s plays and found a focus on noise, action, big sets, lots of props. At the time Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood was a very successful children’s show on TV. Mr. Rogers would take his audience into the Land of Make Believe. Mr. Rogers encouraged imagination and self-worth (“I love you just the way you are.”) Lola was an expert in mythology and fairy tales, and the couple also drew on those traditions to create a series of plays that were almost completely mimed action, no sets, essential only props.
Lola was the first heroine of this story. Besides writing the children’s plays she was the person who learned to cold-call the schools and sell the Colorado Caravan. The CU Theatre Department provided a desk, phone and mailbox in the main office.
Dr. Martin Cobin of the CU Theatre Department followed Dr. Richard Knaub in managing the Colorado Caravan and its relationship to the CSF and CU. During his tenure the schools’ requests for classroom workshops to follow the performances became a major focus. J.R. Moreno (Psychodrama, Sociodrama, Playback Theatre) was responsible for a parallel movement in psychology; his primary work on Group Creativity and Spontaneity fostered Theatre Games. Those taught by Viola Spolin and Brian Way were very important to the workshops the Colorado Caravan actors provided for schools. The Colorado Caravan’s next two heroines were Laurie O’Brien and Cherie Karo (Schwartz) who were responsible for the Theatre Games. Laurie’s training manual is available for you on this website as is Cherie Karo’s assembly of Theatre Games — an extensive section of this site.
After people graduated from the CU Theatre Department or moved on in their careers from the CSF, they took these ideas, scripts, and tools with them into their work in the world. Now some of these heroes and heroines are creating Developmental Theater: Fearless Creativity (DT:FC) for you. You are the next heroes and heroines to continue this legacy.
Summary chart: Theatre traditions that shaped Developmental Theatre
| Theatre Convention | Asian (U of Colo.) | Shakespeare (CSF/Globe) | Poor Theatre (Children’s) | Theatre Games | DT:FC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | Aesthetic distance between performers and audience | Raised stage then groundlings, then balconies | Bare stage | Group of Players | Audience |
| Audience Participation | Vocal commentary | Vocal commentary | Physical, vocal “roles” possible | Actors/observers | Audience |
| Stage | Bare — location suggested by dialogue or facial expressions | Bare — location suggested by dialogue or facial expressions | Bare — location suggested by dialogue or facial expressions | Bare — location suggested by dialogue or facial expressions | Bare — location suggested by dialogue or facial expressions |
| Stage Access | Hanamichi (runway), significant entry/exit aisles, processions, dance | Significant entry/exit aisles, processions, dance | Hanamichi (runway), significant entry/exit, processions, dance | Significant entry/exit aisles, processions, dance | |
| Movement | Highly stylized — mime, dance, clowning, acrobatics | Highly stylized — mime, dance, clowning, acrobatics | Highly stylized — mime, dance, clowning, acrobatics | Highly stylized | Physical Expression, Context Awareness |
| Props | None to ingenious use of minimal props | None to ingenious use of minimal props | None to ingenious use of minimal props | None to ingenious use of minimal props | None to ingenious use of minimal props |
| Speech | Dialogue, soliloquies, recitatives | Dialogue, soliloquies, recitatives | Dialogue, soliloquies, recitatives | Vocal expression | Vocal expression |
| Music | Instrumental, singing, 3 drums and a flute | Instrumental, singing, 3 drums and a flute | Instrumental, singing, 3 drums and a flute | Drum, rhythm | Singing, drums, other instruments |
| Themes | Love, friendship, family, ruling, societal issues | Love, friendship, family, ruling, societal issues | Love, friendship, family, ruling, societal issues | Love, friendship, family, ruling, societal issues | Archetypes — Themes |
| Plots | Classical situations with character development | Classical situations with character development | Classical situations with character development and traditional storytelling | Classical situations, focus on developing skills | Archetypes — Plots |
| Role Types / Characters | Often masked, traditional, principal characters, archetypes | Traditional stories, archetypal characters and character development | Traditional stories, archetype characters and character development | Traditional stories, archetype characters and character development | Archetypes: Roles/Characters and Character Development |