Celebration Barn Day 11

Day 11.

This morning some folks went on a small hike. I stayed home and enjoyed the peace of an empty-ish (4 of us stayed back) barn.

Here is our apparent schedule for the day.

We worked on our pieces for the show tomorrow night. Here is the backstage area. Most of these costumes are from our act, 12th Night.

 In the afternoon, we played some fun games. "Pulling from the hat" improv was one done as duos, then groups of 4 and 6. Done in 2, 4 or 6 minutes. You get a paper that says something like, "enter and exit abruptly", "look only at the audience", "try to keep from crying", "move only along the walls". It makes for very interesting interactions and "stories", but mostly is just a blast.

The next game was exits and entrances with the idea that the stage should never be empty. Davis has us do this to music and suggests trying surprise entrances, and using props, whatever inspires us. He asks us after, "what makes 'this one' different that the last one?" It is this style of teaching that I admire so much. He gives suggestions to try things along the way, like "start by following a leader". When we did that, it felt more like a 'yes, and' game, which when performing or watching, create something much more enjoyable and natural.

In the evening, we had 2.5 hours to try out new material in any way we wanted. It was a breakthrough evening for me, and others, particularly Michela (she tried an exercise that brought her to revealing deeper things about herself in a most beautiful way).

I tried two improv seeds of ideas. One was for a reverse strip-tease (Sarah and I used to do that as the Gallus Gals, but very different). I had a suitcase and I was in my jogbra and boxer shorts, and put on stuff from the suitcase, having some hat tricks as the button for the act. I did another with a hat of money, and my idea changed abruptly upon picking it up so went with it.

It was the first time I felt I knew the "rules" of the game, and could then play within them. For me, these "rules" are: Have a conversation, listen, be interested and fully present, commit 110% to what you are doing, have or find your fun and share it. And wow, I am having so much fun here.