The Process Series shows that art is never truly finished

On Friday, Sept. 13 the Process Series returned for its 2024-2025 season with an improv and sketch comedy show at the CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio.

The Process Series is a way for artists with works in progress to workshop and showcase their performances in front of an audience,  Joseph Megel, the series’ founding artistic director, said. Megel is also the artist in residence and a teaching professor in UNC’s Department of Communication. 

He said the Process Series invites audiences to see how different types of performances, from plays to rock banjo operas, are made. Thus, every day, audiences might see something a bit different from the same show, as the artists and performers fine-tune their work. 

“It allows [artists] a space to work on new work, which sometimes is a challenge,” Megel said. “And it allows audiences to see how artists at the top of their game use their own process to create work.”

Megel has been involved with the Process Series since its conception 17 years ago. He thought of the idea of creating a space for up-and-coming artists because he found it important for UNC to have a space for new ideas and acts.

“We thought that was really important, not only to the actual finished work, as we can see at Carolina Performing Arts or at Playmakers, but to actually get to see process and on its highest level,” Megel said.

He also said the crossover between different art mediums has been fun for him to see, especially because the performances range widely from year to year. 

One of the past performances was created by Anabelle Scarborough, who graduated from UNC in 2022. She and her twin sister drafted many performance ideas for dance over the pandemic years, she said, and their work "Dear Life Traveler"was selected for the Process Series.

“It was a piece that expresses personal tragedy,” Scarborough said. “Set against the backdrop of collective grieving in a world of change and chaos during disruptive circumstances, when one loses everything and understands nothing.”

She said that she appreciates the Process Series because she believes workshopping art throughout the creative process is important alongside the final product. 

As a graduate of UNC, Scarborough said the Process Series set her up to keep making meaningful work beyond college. She said it is a really special program, and people need space for live performances in the theater and dance world.

The event held on Friday, “Live From Chapel Hill! A Night of Sketch & Improv Comedy,” was co-produced by Michelle Robinson, an associate professor of American studies at UNC. 

Robinson’s connection with Bryan Tucker, a "Saturday Night Live" senior writer, snowballed into creating this comedy sketch. This was her first collaboration with Megel and the Process Series. 

“There’s a lot of grunt work, and there’s a lot of trying to create a situation where the artist can achieve their vision and put together a kind of production that they hope to have, and then getting the audience in there,” she said.

Asian AF, a premier Asian-American comedy troupe, performed on Friday as well. Robinson said that granting students the opportunity to see professional improv is exciting. She also said that it is awesome to have Asian-American representation in comedy spaces at UNC. 

Stephanie Linas, a performer in the show, said that Tucker reached out to her and some other UNC alumni about doing this performance. She said the past few weeks they have all been workshopping different drafts and creating new material together.

Linas said that working with Tucker is a dream come true, and that she is also grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the other performers.

“The bonus is that I get to do it and play with some of my oldest friends and collaborators, some of my first friends that I made at UNC performing,” she said. “I’m now able to come back so many years later, and we can return to our old stomping grounds and get to play and just crack each other up in the process.”

As the founding artistic director, Megel got emotional speaking about the future of the program, and he hopes that the Process Series continues to do what it always has done: be open to what performance can be.

“It’s a different way of experiencing information and knowledge, and has its own power,” he said. “So I just want that power to continue, and I would like to see an openness to that happening and an accessibility for our students to the work. And as always, I’d love to continue to feature faculty and student work in the process.”