Devising, discomfort, and working with the unknown: making a show with music and theatre students at a regional university

In this article we reflect on our experiences as practitioners and educators leading an annual devising collaboration between Music and Theatre at the University of the Sunshine Coast, that results in a new one-hour long production. We discuss the complexities of devising, in particular how do we navigate the balance of wellbeing with encouraging students to work outside of their comfort zones in a devised theatre process full of uncertainty? In response to pedagogy and devising scholarship, and themes that emerged from our four case studies we propose a new approach, the Creative Collaboration SeeSaw. Our aim in writing this article is to articulate our experiences of being director, musical director, and teachers as we navigate with our cohorts the tensions between care, comfort, discomfort, learning and safety in a collaborative devising process full of doubt and the unknown.