Objective: When we see, touch, smell and REACT to our environment, the audience can, too. If nothing else, be deliberate - your commitment to engaging the environment will enable the audience to accept any weird ass thing you do.
Objective: When we see, touch, smell and REACT to our environment, the audience can, too. If nothing else, be deliberate - your commitment to engaging the environment will enable the audience to accept any weird ass thing you do.
Mime: Weight, volume and tension are the key characteristics of a mimed object that help players and the audience “see” the object. If nothing else, be deliberate - your commitment to engaging the environment will enable the audience to accept any weird ass thing you do. Suggested Exercises: INVISIBLE TUG OF WAR - Everybody has […]
You Are Not What You Do: Let your miming inspire a scene but do not let it dictate the scene. When you and a friend engage an activity, how much dialogue goes to discussing that activity? Do you talk about doing the dishes while doing the dishes? Mime gives us something to do so we're […]
Beyond Objects: Environment is about more than objects. What sounds fill the space? Ambient noises? Loud music? A series of unexpected explosions? What about the atmosphere? Is it hot? Raining? Low gravity? Suggested Exercises: SOUNDSCAPE – Sit players in a circle, give them a location and have them build out the noises of that location. […]
BLIND SCENES – Player One starts engaged in the environment (with an action, object, atmosphere, etc.). Player Two, starting with his back to the stage, has the first line of dialogue. Lessons: • No justification necessary – If players’ initiations don’t align, they don’t have to make sense of why they’re together. They can just […]
Focusing Stage Picture: Staging an environment in a group game breeds potential complications as players abandon pattern for roles and over-prioritize explaining who they are and what they’re doing. But attention to the elements of stage picture can help focus a group scene and facilitate quick collaborative heightening. Suggested Exercises: STAGE PICTURE TABLEAUS – One […]
Scene Painting/ “We See” – we can come in from offstage to describe (and physicalize) a previously unseen “visual” aspect of the scene. For example, a pompous character is painted with a monocle, “#1 Boss” button, etc. For another example, a scene with a child bemoaning having to do his/her chores is painted with a window […]