October 6, 2008: Notes

Dear Friend,

A.R.T. Fusion had their second rehearsal tonight. Iris invited me to give some notes I made during the previous rehearsal and then to lead the group in some warm-ups. I started by explaining the idea that the script of a play is the main and final authority of a character. In films and television, an actor or director can fuss about a line and get it changed, but in theatre the script stays the way it is for all eternity. That being said, an actor must draw from the given circumstances within the script in order to start building the character. This was difficult to explain as the group doesn’t have a written script, they’re doing improv. I therefore extrapolated by saying that the more the team rehearses, the more solidified their lines become, or at least the idea of the lines. They can then begin to flesh out their characters from that. It was a kind of shot-in-the-dark extrapolation, but I think it worked.

The first warm-up I showed them was “Backpack of Objects” (I’m not sure what the actual title is, but titles for warm-ups change all the time.) I told everyone in the circle that I was wearing a backpack filled with objects that I would extract and hand out. With each object, I had to say to the person I was handing it to what it was, to which they would say “Thank you.” So, for example, I pulled something out of my backpack, walked up to someone in the circle, said, “This is a rubber ducky,” and handed it to her. She then took the rubber ducky I offered and said, “Thank you, rubber ducky.” She was then supposed to go to someone else in the circle and repeat the same exchange with someone else, saying “This is a rubber ducky,” and the receiver saying, “Thank you, rubber ducky.” As this was happening, I went to someone else, took something out of my backpack, and while handing it to the receiver said, “This is a brick.” The receiver took the brick and said, “Thank you, brick,” then went to give it to someone else.

The objective of this game is twofold, as I understand it. At least, this was my intent with introducing this game and how the game was introduced to me. The first part of the objective is for the person holding the object to act as if he is actually holding the object, though he’s physically holding nothing. When I’m holding the rubber ducky I need to, in a way, project the rubber ducky into my hand. What does the rubber ducky in my hand look like? What are its dimensions? What is its weight? Is it alive? How do I communicate that I’m holding a rubber ducky? This last question is very important, as the second part of the objective is to communicate to the receiver what is being handed off. So, I need to let my receiver know what the dimensions of the rubber ducky are, how heavy it is, and whether it’s alive or not. The hope is that the receiver will interact with the object in a similar or at least active way. For example, I pulled a kitten out of my backpack, which I had intended to be a live kitten not an artificial stuffed animal. I needed to communicate this somehow to the receiver, who would then have to communicate it to another receiver.

It’s this second part of the objective that gets tricky. I can imagine a cute, cuddly, calico kitten, contentedly purring in the palm of my hand as I stroke its fur. How active is this conjuring of the kitten, though? Yes, I’m interacting with it (it’s all in my mind, after all) but is my interaction helpful in communicating to the receiver what I’m handing off? In some regards, as I discovered in part during warm-ups, future interaction between receivers and objects can be directly dependant on the interaction between the object and those handing it off. Many of my friends have a lot of fun with this game, as it gives them the opportunity to interact with their “kittens” and let their “kittens” interact with them as much as they wish. Sometimes my friends can’t control their “kittens,” or whatever other object they may have. Their “kittens” are climbing around all over their shoulders and whatnot. With people not experienced with improv, the person handing off the kitten could directly influence the receiver as to how to interact with the kitten. In short, the kitten runs the risk of being rather lethargic, which could be the conscious intent of everyone involved in the game, but not necessarily if everyone in the game doesn’t completely understand the overall objective of the game.

I felt, though, the introduction of the game was good, because even if it turned out to be a drastic failure (which it wasn’t) it allowed opportunity for correction. A member of the group considerably well trained in acting made some comments towards the objective I explained earlier. I had been encouraging them throughout the run of the game to “create” the object in their hands. The member of the group making comments was interested in knowing if anyone had “felt” the claws of the kitten, knew what “color” the kitten was, or could “notice” the wood the baseball bat I had handed out was made of. All very good questions for personal visualization and interaction with an object, but some characteristics to an invisible object can become burdensome. The key, I explained to them, was being able to communicate traits of the object the receiver could interact with.

This is where I began emphasizing unification within the ensemble. If I only accomplish one thing in my time here, it is the idea of ensemble I hope to impress upon this group. Improv as we do it at Northwestern, I explained, is not a chance for someone to trick the others onstage in order to put himself in the spotlight. Improv is about communicating as equals equally investing in a given scene. Communicating well between giver and receiver was key to the greater “success” of the game (I use success loosely, as the success is generally relative.) I can communicate that the kitten is alive, is tiny, is relatively weightless, and is also quite fragile. I’m not swinging the kitten, although if I did it would add an interesting and ironic dynamic to the game. I can’t communicate color because I can’t interact with color. I can imagine or envision or “see” color, but I can’t interact with it. I can, however, interact with size, shape, weight, activity, and delicateness, which I’m also able to communicate to the receiver.

As “Backpack of Objects” is a game focusing more on exercising the mind (this could be argued, but I’ll maintain my opinion) I introduced the “Shakedown,” which would help with energy. “Shakedown” is kind of like the “Hokey-Pokey,” but without the ceremonial song. Starting from a number (ten, in this case) everyone in the circle places, in this order, their right arm, their left arm, their right foot, their left foot, and their behind into the center of the circle and shakes each to the count of the number the group is on. So, starting at ten, shake each body part ten times in the order mentioned, then shake each nine times, then eight, seven, and so on until you reach one. As you progress, as a team you speed up your counting, which in turn speeds up your shaking. You’re supposed to speed up together as a team. As I neglected to mention this, some members were speeding up faster than others. You’re all supposed to count together, as well, in a collective chant of, “One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten!”

Next was a couple runthroughs of the play. I took some more notes, which I may or may not be able to share. I’m not the director, just an observer, and I feel in some regard there can be an overabundance of “educated theatre jargon” in these circumstances. I’m just hoping everyone feels ready for when they perform in Cluj.

Iris and I were both pretty tired by the time we returned home. It was around midnight when we finally entered the flat. To greet us were Iris’ mother and Paolo, Iris’ boyfriend who had just arrived today from Italy. He looked different than I had imagined. I was expecting, for some reason, an Armani model or someone you’d see in a Dolce & Gabbana add. Instead, I was looking at someone who looked a lot nicer than any of those guys. He turned out to be that way, too, if not disoriented from finally seeing his girlfriend for the first time in who knows how long. He actually said to me at one point during our late supper, “You get to see her everyday. I could kill you for that,” to which I said, “There’s a knife over there,” and nodded in the direction of the kitchen sink. He started laughing good-naturedly.

Iris’ mother’s love language, I think, has a lot to do with food. She loves to cook, because she does it a lot. I know I’m not the best judge of food (I’ll eat just about anything) but she is a good cook. The supper we had was quite large. She served Iris, Paolo, and I and busied herself around the kitchen making more food. At one point she said something to the effect of not liking Romanians anymore, but instead liking foreigners and smiled and Paolo and me. As we went off to bed, she kissed Paolo on the cheeks and me on the forehead. She actually sent us to bed, we didn’t go voluntarily, but we certainly weren’t going to argue.

It’s nice to have a “kind of” mom. It helps to make my homestay much more enjoyable, knowing the mother of the house loves her guests. I’m sure Paolo feels the same way, especially as he’s dating the mother’s daughter. I’m hoping I can get a good night’s sleep, as tomorrow is going to be a busy, busy day.

Blessings.
Kailen