Like most people, my involvement with theater has been pretty passive, so I’m not ashamed to admit I was intimidated to be a part of the Open Training Session the Hinterlands Ensemble held on Sunday, May 6, in the stunning Jam Handy Building. The fact that I drove to the training session and walked my clammy self into the building represents the kind of character-building effort that happens when I do something I am basically terrified of but secretly want to be a part of. Of course, there was nothing at all to fear, as I was greeted only by friendly faces, very patient encouragement, and enthusiasm for my participation.

I am wildly impressed with nearly everything the Hinterlands Ensemble does — including performances at the Puppet Theater and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (a Knight Arts grantee) — so I was not at all surprised by the smoothly-run nature of the open training. I had not considered that such artistic excellence comes at the cost of extremely rigorous training; the session itself involved nearly three hours of continuous movement. Quickly overcoming the initial fear of being outside of my comfort zone, I realized the thrill and fun of putting my body through the paces of a world-class theater ensemble. We performed a long series of maneuvers that keyed into new ways of syncing movements with music, following the physical lead of Liza Bielby and the vocal direction of Richard Newman, the ensemble’s co-directors, respectively. The afternoon was well worth the effort — after it was over I felt giddy from exhaustion and realized that my imagination had been introduced to entirely new creative possibilities.

With their talent and reputation, the Hinterlands Ensemble could be based just about anywhere in the world, but they’re in Detroit because they love this city and want to be an active contributor to the unique dialogue happening here. If you want to get in on the action — and I very highly recommend it — they are putting on their next Open Training on June 24 at the MOCAD (also a Knight Arts grantee), where they will be officially in-residence from June 11 to July 21. The residency will include a wide array of excellent offerings, highlights of which are a two-week, fully-public daily rehearsal and devising process from June 11-June 23 — throughout which audience interaction is strongly encouraged — and a two-week youth program for ages 12-16 focused on creating and performing original work (which will culminate in a vaudeville-inspired performance) June 25-July 7. They will also be doing a two-week performance period featuring shows at MOCAD on July 21 and around the city July 8-July 21, as well as a drop-in multi-generational, vaudeville-focused workshop on July 15 for families.

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Ave, Detroit; 313-832-6622, mocadetroit.org