Because it focuses on questions of communication, the experimental theatre of the 1970s, particularly that created by Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman, can be analyzed according to two distinct theories regarding the communication process. The first theory defines communication as a process in which the communicator selects and transmits messages to a receiver using both verbal and nonverbal channels and with the receiver providing the feedback; the second describes the communication process as the encoding and decoding of messages. To deepen his understanding of nonverbal channels, Wilson explored a wide range of body exercises and examined the atypical perceptual world of the deaf, brain damaged, and mentally ill; he also produced unique images from his own imagination. In his theatre pieces, Wilson uses pacing, lack of assigned meaning, and redundancy to present new understandings and perceptions to the spectator. In contrast, Foreman's vision turns inward and involves minute examination of the process that transforms the perceptual field into perception. Foreman's theatre pieces, which center on the manner in which perceptions are decoded, take the form of a series of tableaux that are continuously being composed, held, and recomposed for the viewer to decode. (MAI)