M. Heather Carver is framed by her clown shadow—a black mannequin head wearing a pink camouflage hat and red clown’s nose—as she joyfully begins to describe her place at MU. “I come from a background of performing,” the Associate Professor of Theatre offers. “As a means of studying something, we perform it.” As a way of studying autobiography, for example, Carver performs autobiography.

Miller discusses how he chooses a production and what audiences seem to like the most.

In her article, "Methodology of the Heart," Carver does several things to draw attention to writing itself as performance: “I was trying to expose the nature of the self in this writing. That’s really what it’s about – trying to make our experiences more raw, more real for the reader.” While this kind of writing takes a lot of courage, because it leaves the writer vulnerable and exposed, Carver adds that “it also takes a sense of play; play is such an important part of performance.”

Ruffin takes us backstage to watch actors prepare and warm up for the night’s performance of Holding Up The Sky.