Marissa Lane

Marissa is from Macomb, Michigan, but loves to spend as much time as she can traveling. She has spent time with casts of nationally touring shows and cruise ships, which is where her interest in communication within the hierarchy of theatre and the violence of intimacy was solidified. Ultimately, this has led her to Intimacy Directing and Performance Studies here at NYU. Her drive to pursue this field of study stems from a desire to help make it easier for the artists she loves to maintain their mental, emotional, and physical health. Marissa also has experience volunteering at theaters in the Metro Detroit area including the Hilberry, Bonstelle, Slipstream Theatre Initiative, and Planet Ant.

Title of Project

The Colorful, Intimate Spaces Between

Description of Project

Intimate scenes portrayed in theatre have a long history of traumatizing and retraumatizing performers. Intimacy directing is a tool that protects the vulnerable from these possibilities by inserting care and consent. However, even as the practice of intimacy directing becomes more popular, it is still not the standard. By photographing and analyzing the aura, we are able to see the usually unseen liminal space between the actor and character, between actors, and between characters. This can help us to understand how intimacy direction's insertion of care and consent positively affects actors by allowing us to see how their energy changes. I propose how we could examine the aura of actors before and after an intimate scene that was choreographed using intimacy directing techniques. The aura helps us to understand what the actor is experiencing that they may not be able to put into words or may not be aware of. The comparison of the photographs allows us to see the changes that portraying an intimate scene has on the actors’ energy. This helps the theatre community to better understand the effect of intimate scenes and intimacy direction on performers so they can implement practices that will best care for them.

Areas of Academic Interest

Intimacy, Intimacy Direction, Liminal Spaces