Today we’d like to introduce you to Derek Spencer.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Derek. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I started making theater later than most, in my 20’s. Before that, my main mode of artistic expression had been music – I played bass in punk bands and recorded some of my own experimental work. The minute I was introduced to “devised theater” (performance generated based on the collaborative ideas of the director, actors, and designers) I was absolutely hooked.
I acted for a bit, but I realized that (1) I wasn’t a very good actor, (2) acting made me feel like a crazy person, and (3) I am an aesthetic control-freak. I directed my first small workshop, a devised adaptation of a novel written by film director Harmony Korine, right as I graduated from the University of Chicago. Graduating as someone who wanted to work in theater, but had no degree and very little experience in theater, was challenging.
I was also very stubborn, to my detriment. I had very specific artistic ideas and no real desire to assistant director. I just wanted to jump in, but it was hard to find anyone who trusted me. I flailed for that first year and a half after graduation, picking up a few sound design and acting gigs. When I moved from Chicago to LA, I still hadn’t directed another show since my first.
As I met people though, I just started telling them I was a director and talking about my ideas (the classic LA move — introduce yourself as the thing you want to be). I got a few invites to produce small-scale work through other companies, and then eventually had the momentum to begin producing original work under Ceaseless Fun. Finding the “immersive theater” scene here in LA was also a big boost: I wasn’t really familiar with the term, but I was told that the work I was making fit the bill. Getting connected with that already burgeoning scene really helped me find an audience.
Now, my focus is on growing Ceaseless Fun as a company and continuing to push the boundaries of the performance work that we do. In addition to Ceaseless Fun, I’m also on the founding executive committee of a new non-profit, the League of Immersive and Experiential Artists (LEIA) and will be starting a monthly devising workshop/jam called “Soft Focus” in January 2019.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not. I feel a lot of self-consciousness being a largely self-taught director. Early on I had a lot of impostor complex issues with it all. I feel mostly better now, partly because I learned to lean into “knowing what I don’t know” if that makes sense. Because my collaborators and I try to push ourselves to try new immersive formats and devising techniques, I feel like each production adds a wealth of tools to my directing toolbox. I think my aesthetic vision has been really clear to me for a few years, but the methods I use to achieve that vision are always being refined. Even still, every production definitely includes moments of intense self-doubt.
Another struggle is selling myself. I believe that performance is its own form of communication and that it’s really hard to explain what my work is about without being reductive or saying something that I’ll regret the next day. Still, I have to talk about myself and my work if I want people to care. And don’t get me started on marketing.
Self-producing is a double-edged sword. It’s the reason I’m able to create work that is 100% my own, uncompromised vision, but it’s also a source of stress and a distraction from the artistic process. I’m lucky to have Meredith, my creative producer, and partner at Ceaseless Fun, but I still have to take on a lot of production responsibilities, from executive decision-making to menial admin work. As far as money, I am interested in finding new ways of funding the work but haven’t yet achieved a stable funding model.
Please tell us more about Ceaseless Fun.
I first used the name “Ceaseless Fun” as a music moniker, billing myself as Derek of the Ceaseless Fun (I’ve since scrubbed this music from the internet, so don’t bother). I liked the name a lot because to me, Ceaseless Fun captures this idea of mania or like, a feverish onslaught of fun – so much fun that it’s anything but fun. So I kept using the name. I used it as the name of a short-run literary magazine that I started in Chicago and then used it to bill any performance work I did starting in 2015.
Now, Ceaseless Fun is best known as an immersive theater company. It consists of me (the Artistic Director), our Creative Producer Meredith, and nine company members. 2018 was a big year for us. It included our biggest production to date, They Who Saw the Deep, a devised adaptation of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Basically, we tried to translate the basic plot and themes of this ancient text into a contemporary context, particularly the second half of the text where Gilgamesh is wandering through the woods, mourning the death of his friend and searching for immortality.
The forest, in our adaptation, becomes a deteriorating urban dreamscape, and every character in the show is a different iteration of Gilgamesh, mourning a different loss, searching for a different form of immortality. We staged the production in a 17,000 sq ft abandoned space in LA’s Koreatown, and it was live-scored by one of our company members. This was the type of immersive show where the audience is allowed to explore on their own, so we basically let the audience loose in this big, 2-story building, free to follow whatever character they wanted through the world we had built.
You could probably come three or four times to the show, and see a totally different set of scenes on each trip. I think we were all super proud of producing such a large, ambitious production while staying true to our DIY ethic and site-specific aesthetic. It was part of a larger, thematically related season entitled “The Outline of a Human,” which included two other smaller, 1-audience-at-a-time productions. I think a few things set us apart from other immersive companies. All of our work is devised – that means the actors always have input in their characters and lines, more or less depending on the project.
Every devising process starts with some source of inspiration – often it’s a collage of sources that I think are related to the project at hand. This “collage” is often clear in the final product – we use different styles of text, dance, music, physical theater techniques, everything but the kitchen sink basically. The end product often feels like a pastiche or mood board of related ideas. I’m more interested in creating worlds and all-encompassing “vibes” than telling stories.
Finally, I think the tone of our work takes on a certain frenzied, philosophical quality. I’m very interested in mania and more expressionistic modes of acting, and I think that comes through in our final product. I’ve been told that our work often distills complex philosophical ideas into emotionally-digestible chunks, and I think that’s right.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We just announced our company members for Ceaseless Fun, which is exciting. I’m also gearing up to lead this devising workshop on a monthly basis, “Soft Focus,” which I think will be great for trying new ideas and working with new performers. That starts in January.
A big goal for us as a company is sustainability – making our productions sustainable for longer runs, making the work financially sustainable for our actors and crew-members, and sustaining a diverse audience who can afford to see and engage with our work. I anticipate that we’ll continue to push the envelope in terms of scale and process, but I hope to do so with an eye toward a sustainable company model.
Contact Info:
- Website: ceaselessfun.com; derekaspencer.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @ceaselessfun (https://www.instagram.com/
ceaseless_fun/?hl=en); @ abstract_sentimentalism (https://www.instagram.com/ abstract_sentimentalism/) - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/CeaselessFun/
Image Credit:
Nerris Nassiri. Annie Lesser
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
