We parked in the center of town and decided which piece we would do first, and where. We decided on our bus stop piece. We split up, pretending not to know one another. Then we all gathered at the bus stop at the top of the road, just on the Common.
The piece involved gathering together but appearing not to know each other. We pretended we were waiting for a bus to arrive. Ellen, stationed nearby, would signal to us every few seconds. On the first signal we would all go into Suzuki statues and hold them. After a brief pause she would signal us again and we would go on as though nothing unusual had happened. We were all dressed in everyday clothes and carrying props like a lunch bag, a sweatshirt, or a handbag. We attracted quite a bit of notice from the cars driving by. Quite a bit. The pedestrians, however, avoided us almost completely. I'm not sure what they thought might happen to them, but they would take a wide detour around us so as not to get too close.
We moved along and did the same piece further down the street, at the bus stop outside the post office. It's hard to see what's going on around you when you're holding a statue position. If you're lucky you end up in a position where you can see what's going on out of the corner of your eye. But just as often you're frozen, facing a crack in a wall or staring at a tree. But outside the post office, even holding a statue, I could see all sorts of reactions. One bus driver gaped at us from across the street.
We did a similar piece, while seated on a bench, and were approached by some fascinated tourists. That put us in a bit of a fix. We'd discussed what to do if examined by people, or poked, or photographed. It didn't occur to us that curious people might ask us questions directly. It's always the thing you don't think of.
Then we were done for the afternoon. We gathered on the Common and talked about people's reactions, what worked, what didn't work, etc. Then we drove back to North Star.
Next morning we met early. We reviewed our pieces and planned what we'd do that afternoon. The morning was spent rehearsing our costumed piece: A Tragedy in White. Ellen walked Sophie and John through their mock sword fight, and general blocking. I took pictures, and worked on my juggling in preparation for my upcoming role: Person Practicing Juggling.
In the afternoon we met up in Northampton to prepare for our afternoon happenings. We did reactive statues, our bench statues, and our bus stop piece. Using Space/Negative Space, we narrated Stories About Dogs: Take 1, followed by A Tragedy in White. We met a street musician who happened to be playing on the sidewalk as we performed, and we talked with him about doing Space/Negative Space around his music. He seemed interested and intrigued.
I really enjoyed this workshop. Not only was it amazingly fun and surprising, but street performing is also something I've wanted to learn about for a long time.
It was a cozy group. I've known John and Ellen for a couple of years now, but it was still a new experience working with them on this project. Sophie had only just met us all for the first time on Monday, and was a little shy at first, but by Wednesday we were all chatting and laughing together.
I love group activities like this -- you get to know people so quickly that you forget you haven't known them forever.
I'll try to post some video clips soon. And perhaps prod Ellen to add an entry about this workshop as well. I'm curious what her thoughts are on the workshop, now that it's over. And also what new ideas she got from it, that she wants to use on us -- I mean 'share with us' -- in the fall.
*ahem*
