Books: Interactive Acting by Jeff Wirth
Anytime I get into a conversation about the possibilities of taking improv in new directions this book always comes up.
I love this book. It describes different ways that audiences can participate in a theatrical experience, to quote the improv encyclopedia it includes;
* Environmental theater, in which the audience become characters in a semi-scripted role-play, together with actors
* Playback theater, in which actors `replay` scenes from the audience`s experience
* Forum Theater, or Theater of the Oppressed
* Theatrical Freestyle, developed by Wirth himself, in which audience members join actors on stage to play full-length performances.
It’s also loaded with techniques for working with audience volunteers.
A friend was telling me about a performance he saw of Cinderella;
Cinderella: I don’t know how I’m going to get all this cleaning done in time.
Little girl: *jumping out of the audience* I’ll help you! And so will everyone else.
I think the actress was a bit thrown by this, but it’s exactly the sort of situation that I think Jeff Wirth would relish.
January 20th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
I remember Keith mentionning something they tried to do at Loose Moose or maybe is it something he always wanted to do but didn’t? Anyways, he talked about making theatre for one person only.
You take a person on stage, ask her what her dream was, put her in a comfortable chair and then the whole group tries to recreate the dream for that person. It’s not like the “dream” game where they reenact the dream. In this one, they try to make the person experience the dream. For example, if the dream is live under the ocean, the group, along with lighting person, musician and scenographers tries to recreate the ocean experience.
I’d like to try that someday.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:53 am
Sounds like fun.
Could have been a precursor to the Life Game?