Story Songs - Blank Show request for players
Posted: November 1st, 2006, 2:18 pm
Needs:
4-6 players
1 good lighter
Idea:
I will pre-select a 45-50 minute playlist of heavily story-based songs. Players will then play out the story of the song onstage. Play will most likely be mostly silent due to the music. I do not know how much active direction I will do in the show. Songs will cover a range of pace and emotional tone.
Goal:
To free up players from having to think about some things so that they may focus on others.
They won't have to think about what to say (since there will be little talking) and they don't have to think about story arc because that will already be contained in the song. This will hopefully free them up to hyperfocus on the story's imagery: the emotional expressions, body movements, and actions that work with the song to make the song even more powerful. Players will take a story from one medium and breathe life into it via another...on the fly.
Example:
Think of a classic story-based song like "Cat's in the Cradle."
We all know the story: a boy who's father is too busy for him grows up to be too busy for the father.
The song is very powerful, but how much more so to see it? Imagine the last line where the father says "And as I hung up the phone it occured to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me."
Now imagine hearing that while the players on stage do a split screen phone call. The father hangs up the phone and you see that realization wash over him. Understanding of essentially what he has done to his kid dawns on him and overtakes him as he slowly begins to breakdown and sob into his hands. On the other side of the stage, the son hangs up the phone as his own son enters with a ball and glove (in reference to the previous verse). You see what the song only implies...and what you fear. The circle is continued as the son shoos the grandson away because he is too busy.
Wow! What a powerful stage scene! It's all in the song, too, but not directly stated. We'd take the subtext and add layers and visuals to make the punch twice as powerful.
Other:
We would be doing the theatrical stories of the songs, not a literal word interpretation. And we will be doing songs on the fly that you may never have heard before (though I'll make sure they all have clear, easy to understand lyrics for audience and players). So it may be a little more challenging than it sounds like on the surface.
I want to do this toward the end of January and hold at least two rehearsals (probably one in late December and one in January).
Anyone interested?
4-6 players
1 good lighter
Idea:
I will pre-select a 45-50 minute playlist of heavily story-based songs. Players will then play out the story of the song onstage. Play will most likely be mostly silent due to the music. I do not know how much active direction I will do in the show. Songs will cover a range of pace and emotional tone.
Goal:
To free up players from having to think about some things so that they may focus on others.
They won't have to think about what to say (since there will be little talking) and they don't have to think about story arc because that will already be contained in the song. This will hopefully free them up to hyperfocus on the story's imagery: the emotional expressions, body movements, and actions that work with the song to make the song even more powerful. Players will take a story from one medium and breathe life into it via another...on the fly.
Example:
Think of a classic story-based song like "Cat's in the Cradle."
We all know the story: a boy who's father is too busy for him grows up to be too busy for the father.
The song is very powerful, but how much more so to see it? Imagine the last line where the father says "And as I hung up the phone it occured to me, he'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me."
Now imagine hearing that while the players on stage do a split screen phone call. The father hangs up the phone and you see that realization wash over him. Understanding of essentially what he has done to his kid dawns on him and overtakes him as he slowly begins to breakdown and sob into his hands. On the other side of the stage, the son hangs up the phone as his own son enters with a ball and glove (in reference to the previous verse). You see what the song only implies...and what you fear. The circle is continued as the son shoos the grandson away because he is too busy.
Wow! What a powerful stage scene! It's all in the song, too, but not directly stated. We'd take the subtext and add layers and visuals to make the punch twice as powerful.
Other:
We would be doing the theatrical stories of the songs, not a literal word interpretation. And we will be doing songs on the fly that you may never have heard before (though I'll make sure they all have clear, easy to understand lyrics for audience and players). So it may be a little more challenging than it sounds like on the surface.
I want to do this toward the end of January and hold at least two rehearsals (probably one in late December and one in January).
Anyone interested?