Its experimental process might have a few traditionalists scratching their heads, but Turnip Ensemble Theater hopes that San Antonio will soon fall in love with devised theater. The fledgling local troupe is launching a new season in the fall that pursues the challenges and joys of a nontraditional form of stagecraft, which relies on group input rather than a single playwright.
Turnip Theater’s origins go back to 2023 when the troupe staged an original piece hatched by the company’s founder, Ruthie Buescher, called We Sail On In Darkness. She says the performance was months in the making, and the audience’s response was encouraging.
“The show saw over 600 audience members and sold out nearly every performance. It really energized me and reinforced to me that San Antonio audiences are interested in experimental theater,” Buescher says.
Through the production, Buescher got better acquainted with cast and crew members who wanted to continue working together on devised and physical theater, the latter of which tells stories via non-textual methods, such as movement, visuals, or puppetry.
“Those artists and myself share a similar style, training, and way of working, and we formed a core group of collaborators who have since become ensemble members…,” Buescher says. “We met, talked, dreamed, and planned together for about a year and a half, and then in the fall of 2024, we officially launched Turnip.”
The company has since organized a murder-mystery performance and fundraising bash, and intensive devised theater workshops. But Turnip Theater has long-term goals, including inviting collaborative efforts with other local and out-of-town artists, offering theater training to school-aged students, telling local stories, and identifying the creative artistic needs of San Antonians.
Ultimately, Buescher said, the troupe seeks to help offer educational opportunities to performers, theater-makers, educators, and non-actors, and advance the arts of devised and physical theater within San Antonio’s arts ecosystem.
“As we continue to build the ensemble and figure out exactly what Turnip is and how it operates, we continually go back to our values of being community-focused, joy-filled, humble and playful, and patient as we wait for the right collaborators and our best work to emerge,” she adds.
The centerpiece of Turnip Theater’s fall programming will be a performance based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale The Wild Swans, held at SAY Si’s headquarters.
Alex Grubbs, codirector of the devised staging, describes the tale as a classic good-versus-evil story, with love, sacrifice, sibling relationships, magic, toads, nettles, ghosts, and wild swans.
“That’s all we can say for now because we are still in the middle of our devising journey,” Grubbs says in a statement. “But we’re working with what Elisa, the heroine, calls ‘bare feet and a burning heart,’ the courage to be vulnerable, the curiosity to explore the unknown, and the fire of inspiration to guide us forward.”
Turnip has an online signup sheet for anyone wishing to snag early bird tickets to The Wild Swans. Until the premiere, the troupe will be busy helping locals with their avant-garde theatrical methods. The ensemble is hosting a free workshop at 4:30 pm on September 7 at Bright Coffee, where participants will use improv, games, and storytelling to create an original production, then perform the completed work on the spot.