For this first project, I choreographed a set of simple, physical acting excercises that incorporate metaphoric elements of the gaze and reflective themes I began in the MakeAThon. The objective was to give audience members an opportunity to take the first steps toward creating original characters based on observations, provide excercises where they can extend their awareness, feel it grow and contract, and finally to give me more practice leading such excercises.

Because I was actively leading this excercise I do not have many still photos to share. Thanks to Dan for providing me with the photo in the top left above. Since I had no emotive photos to share, I created an assemblage to give you a feeling for the ideas we were working toward.

THE EXERCISES

These excercises were designed to offer yet another opportunity to explore the freedom to gaze at ourselves and feel our own power. This time I offered them the opportunity to see themselves in many ways using the reflective gazes of their fellow students. And once again, some took it more seriously than others.

Several students were nervous - giggling, talking, relying on props or poses - but almost everyone had a few moments of serious intent and focus. I hope that was enough to give them something to build on when and if they ever endeavor to create a fictional character.

Directions for the excercises are included below.

 

We used no soundtrack for this excercise.

• Form 2 paralell lines.
• Please close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Let them out slowly. Focus on the sound of the breath - the little wind.
• Designate one group to the be performers, and the other to be the audience.
• Help the audience with prompting questions to lead them to see in a new way:
  • Where does each performer hold their tension?
  • Which performer has the happier life?
  • Where is each performer balanced on their feet/hips/knees?
  • What does this actor feel in their stomach? How nervous are they?
• Reverse the fields - actors become audience, etc. Ask some of the same questions and some new ones:
  • What character is she/he?
  • What are they doing on the stage?
  • How do they relate to the person on the end?
  • What does their balance differences tell you about their intent or state-of-mind?

NOTE: I accidently skipped my first step (as seen on the notation) and thus the participants took longer to gain focus than I expected.

Soundtrack = Non-structured, environmental music

• At the end of the AUD/ACTOR excercise, close your eyes again and refocus. Spread your weight evenly between two feet - hips width apart. As you inhale reach for the cieling. As you exhale reach higher. Inhale again. As you exhale, roll down. Inhale roll up.
• When you open your eyes, lock them with someone across from you.
• Pair up with that person.
• The taller person leads the mirror excercise. Keep your eyes locked together and only use peripheral vision to imitate the gesture, attitude, and position of the leader. If they move their right hand, you'll move your left, just like a mirror.
• Change leaders but do not interrupt the action. Keep your eyes locked together.
• Switch leaders a few more times - using adjectives to describe who should lead.
• Finally, ask them to come to a resting place.

Final Thoughts:

These excercises come from my own exploration and personal adaptation of the things we have discussed in the Black Box class and my many theatrical projects. I do not claim they are intermodal expressive arts (IEA) excercises, yet they are a first attempt to go there. This project adapts some of the things I have learned about IEA: the excercises took the participants out of their normal space by bringing them into the action of this project, the music further took them out of the classroom, the dim lights gave it a different hue, we played with shifting senses by extending their physical awareness and focus out of themselves, we explored new ways for them to see each other while we allowed them to look, and I believe it brought forth subtle creative stirrings.

This project also allowed me an opportunity to practice (praxis) teaching some things I do know about: acting, casting awareness out from yourself, extending that awareness into space, bringing it back. I don't know many IEA excercises. I am anxious to learn more. I believe the IEA excercises use the senses to seek to divorce the participants' actions from their logical, mynah-bird minds in order to reach the more abstract and pure creative spirit. I'm fascinated by this.

However, my experiment here was to try to keep the logic engaged and to incorporate each person's own personalities and creativity, their own personal monologues, into the experience. By engaging the creative spirit with the mynah-bird mind still working, I hoped to activate their imagination by giving them permission to envision characters for our classmates - perhaps characters no one ever created before. I certainly expect them to create characters in their minds that the original actors did not imagine for themselves. This was a tiny step along these investigations...with non actors or writers for the most part. I did not capture the characters they created this first time, but in a longer class I would.

I also took an active leading role in these excercises that I do not think of when I think of the IEA excercises. There Sandy tends to set the ball rolling and step back. As I mentioned, I hope to learn more about that technique as I learn more of their philosophy.

Finally, my choreography within these excercises is a starting point for me to begin to feel comfortable leading such classses and an honest effort to give my audience a unique experience. While there were moments designed to disorient the participants, I expect the simplicity and familiarity of the excercises compensated. Some participants were clearly uncomfortable and felt compelled to distract from the personal aspect of the excercise with gadgets or noises, others seemed open to the experience. As usual, the comment section following the project did little to enlighten me. I definitely need to improve my skills here. I will say I learned more from this after-interview than the last one. Maybe I am improving a little.

For the audience/actors, I hope this glimpse into a non-"performing" acting method excercise was non-threatening enough for them to think well of themselves and to continue to explore the performing creative space in the future.

Thank you all for your help and attention on this project.

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