Dawn Glover is a dynamic creative force. She is founding director of ‘the Navi Collaborative’, a multimedia production company currently in production on their first theater piece, The Dummy, which played this week as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival.
“I [feel as though] Photo: Supplied
Originally from the United States, Dawn found life in her home town in Texas stifling. As soon as she was able, Dawn moved across country for the bustle of Los Angeles. She loved LA, particularly for its colorful multiculturalism. When an opportunity to come to New Zealand presented itself, Dawn jumped at the opportunity to see more of the world.
Upon her arrival in New Zealand she immersed herself in the Auckland Theater scene. She started blogging for the Basement Theater, finding kindred spirits in the Basement’s staff, who she admired particularly for their giving people “permission to be and to create”. Dawn was inspired and wanted to be a part of the process.
Dawn started The Navi Collaborative in early 2014, “The idea was to start something where we have someone who’s a film person, and we have someone who’s a sculptor, and we have someone who’s a musician, and we have all of these different artists, working together on their projects and supporting each other. We’re really getting out of the box of our own art forms.”
Navi’s latest project ‘The Dummy’, exemplifies this ethos by mixing different mediums within the same theater piece. Dawn describes the show as, ”really more of a performance instillation than a play. So when people see ‘The Dummy’ they’re not going to see a traditional play with a clear begging middle and end or with even two characters having a conversation with each other.”
“The show is largely told through voice overs, and reactions from one actress to those voice overs, there are three short films within the production as well as a live violinist who I call the soul of the character. We also do a lot of audience interaction.”
Dawn hopes the show will explore the psychological experience of suicidal thoughts and its relationship with “this culture of positivity” that has arisen through social media. “I [feel as though] Facebook is this oppressively positive place. I started doing some reading, because I though with all this positivity in the world, why is it that suicide rates have just gone higher and higher.”
Dawn wanted to challenge people’s thinking about suicide, “People always describe suicide as a selfish act… and I wanted to [interrogate that thought] in a medium that people would be able to access.”
The Navi Collaborative also runs a social initiative called The Schools Project in an effort to encourage education through the arts. This project couples year thirteen students from lower decile schools with performing arts practitioners vital in Auckland Theater community.
“I feel like [through] theater or drama we can learn a lot about empathy and intuition, and that’s what I think makes the world a better place, more than just knowledge. And so being able to go out to kids and show them a way to take a walk in someone else’s shoes, by studying someone different from themselves, or gaining an understanding outside of what they have experienced before is a the power of art for young people.”
You can hear more from Dawn Glover in this week’s On The Dial.