Posted: September 24th, 2006, 1:43 pm
so what was the mystery form?
I basically reset the theatre so that it was more of a theatre in the round sorta thing.
The stage are was the smaller righthand risers and floor and the seats for the audience went around, onto the stage, and faced inward. Some regulars who came in before the show even started stated "What's going on? My mind is already blown." Which is great for an experimental slot.
I didn't know who the players were so I was trapped in the theatre, which worked great becuase I got to talk to and prep the audience all during open house which is something we don't normally do (attempt to connect with the audience before the show). I tried to reset lights, but couldn't without doing some major rearranging, so the whole show was with house lights up which also had an interesting effect.
Anyway, the format was basically a show of status. Using the four levels of floor and risers, players began by playing some scenes using status (master/servant disater, scene to music, a status race, and a beautiful unselfish status-raising scene by Phil and Kacey). Then they played a 30 minute long form using the same thing. It was awesome to see and think about how status worked in all the scenes. Status became a very visual element of the story and you expected people to act according to where they were standing or else move to another level. It also made the stage "flow" with the actors and action in the scene which was neat.
For example, in one a charcter's mother was a status 3 and he was always below her--he'd get up to her level occasionally, but never above her. In another a character would rise above his friends to a 4, but then be in a scene with Caesar (it was a gladatorial story) and be a 1 again. It showed status to be relative. And it was great because you knew the protagonist had to eventually rise to 4. That was the clear story arc. He was to overcome Ceasar and rise from a 1 to a 4 and the great one had to fall from 4 to 1. And there were so many wonderful status moments like when the son thought himself a disappointment to his mother and she said "Son, you haven't disappointed me" and he stepped up as she continued "but you're close" causing him to immediately step down again.
The more I think back ont he show the more and more I loved it.