Hold choices like a feather.
-Rob Adler
The Tuesday before last, we worked moment to moment for each scene in AdlerImprov’s Scene Study class (make well prepared scenes look improvised), including the scene I’ve been working on, “Death of a Salesman.” I saw/experienced how easily you can get locked into rehearsal choices and the power of games/focus in creating new, inspired and spontaneous choices for each take. Some takeaways:
- A pair of first time lovers in David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” The game – touch your scene partner in a different way each time you say a line of dialogue. The result – a post-sex-for-the-first-time-couple acting completely awkward, yet intimate, with each other. And completely honest and real.
- Two brothers in Sam Shepard’s “True West.” The game – make fart noises after each line. The result – two guys who were both annoyed and amused with each other. Just like two estranged brothers would be toward each other.
- And my scene – two brothers in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” The game – wrestle. And we did. Not play wrestling, but full on take downs and escapes. And then pass a roll of duct tape back and forth between each line. The result – a brotherly bond, an untapped and released anger and an increased energy pushing through my monologue.
Can’t wait to see what this Tuesday brings.