[performing a song]
- Line Breaks is a festival that First Wave holds every year
that includes shows by the incoming cohort,
as well as individuals artists
that have submitted their individual ideas
which could include plays or performances one-woman shows,
one-man shows a variety of artistic endeavors.
Sometimes, it's music as well.
- We sometimes bring in guest artists to perform who are
really seasoned and often making a living doing their craft.
But the base of line breaks are our students
creating their own performance art
and their own shows
and actually getting an opportunity
to kind of be at the helm
of their own vision.
- Line Breaks also came out
of the Marc Bamuthi Joseph residency.
Bamuthi's residency was a semester-long process
and for nine weeks during that semester
he invited special guests.
His friends.
Phenomenal artists in the field.
After the residency we kinda' took that model...
Line Breaks was mirrored that model
and invited professionals
in the field of Hip-Hop performance,
Hip-Hop theatre performance
to Madison to share and present work over a week-long,
over a two-week long period.
By about the third year,
we transitioned Line Breaks Hip-Hop theater festival
from a festival that from a space that
featured primarily national and international artists
creating this work to a space
that had one or two professional guest artists
and primarily featured the work
that our students were creating here.
- At the end of your freshman year,
the main thing that you have to really complete
is a Line Breaks performance with your cohort.
And that is all created by you and your cohort.
So the direction, the movement, the dance, the words,
"Who says what in what way?"
All of that is a group collaborative effort.
Because of the fact that you have a cohort that's
from all over the nation and now international students as well
who have applied and gotten to the scholarship.
You have a breadth of networks--at least thirteen.
- Last year, we had our student comedian.
He did a comic set which was great.
To watch First Wave students be the artists that they are
and to be on oftentimes the directing end
or just helping guide them
get their thoughts from the page to the stage.
It is definitely empowering for me.
It's something about looking at young powerhouses
doing their gift.
It's a wonderful process.
It's it's wonderful.
I've never seen or experienced writing like this.
In this program the writers are outstanding.
The singers are outstanding,
I mean, it's just--
It's wonderful to be a fly on the wall working with them.