Austin Improv

The other night in a solo scene during Maestro, I made a mistake.

I played a woman who was sewing a bikini (who later turned out to be Sara Palin wearing a bikini as she took the oath). Instead of using "space scissors," I used my fingers as scissors. I actually mentally chastised myself as I did it...then moved on with the scene.

Anybody else ever have "space work" mishaps? Like using your hand as a gun or holding a hot pie fresh out of the oven without an oven mitt? Does it throw you?

Do you ever walk through cars or tables?

Within the last couple weeks, I remember being in a scene and realizing I had forgotten about the space object I had previously been holding. I was tempted to look behind me and see where I dropped it.

Yeah, it's an on-the-job hazard, faulty space work.

In the PGraph show last Thursday I was at the trunk of a car and mimed handing a person in the backseat a drink through the trunk. Then I realized our show was set in around..1955, I'd say (based on a historical reference Val made to "our boys in Korea"), and I had a panic moment trying to think if cars back then were ever made for that sort of thing to be able to happen. We had this in the moment decision that it was a hatch-back. Jump and justify (so much fun).

I have particular problems miming/talking about what doctors/medical people do. Also, I can't do accurate math onstage. Those are interesting challenges to have though.

Cool....

OR...

You might have cool space work stories too.

Kristin...I often walk off stage holding an object and put it somewhere safely. In a scene, I put an egg in my pocket that Dario gave me--quite visible to the audience. Later in the show, Dario asked me if I had the egg. I said, "Yes, it's still in my pocket."

I once space pet a space stray in a show and he followed me home. He's since shown up, same stray, in several shows and he still costs me about 60 space dollars a month to space feed and space shelter. Plus, I have to space walk him and clean up his space mess like three times a day. For the single, quick laugh it got, it wasn't worth it.

Personally, I have no concept of low hanging ceilings, light fixtures, and stalactites on stage. I'm pretty good at avoiding tables and sleeping dogs on the ground, but I am not as good remembering where things are in the air. Also, related to this, the height of counters may rise and sink by a few inches each time I leave and revisit them.

HerrHerr wrote: Kristin...I often walk off stage holding an object and put it somewhere safely.

Man, I do that all the time. Those things last a lot longer than you'd think they would.

I often have a ritual of disposing of the object as I am leaving the stage. Kicking into the distance, tossing it into an imaginary trash can, etc. It is as if I am saying, That was fun, what is next?

I have a sporadic tendency to hold onto some space objects for an inordinately long amount of time. Especially if I have one I particularly like in my first scene of a show/rehearsal, I may continue to hold on to and utilize it through the rest of the show. I have even put down space objects on the side of the stage, gone and participated in a scene and come back to the side of the stage and picked up the object again.

I once had a viking helmet created in the initial scene of the show that I really liked. I decided to hold on to it and don it again right before I came into any subsequent scenes. I didn't reference it at all, but every character I played that show was wearing a viking helmet. I think Asaf's tendency to eject them from the stage at the end of the scene is probably better for keeping engaged in the moment.

Also, I feel like any time one has an impulse to pick up or engage a space object they dropped earlier in a scene and just remembered, they should go with it. The audience seems to always appreciate those little moments when
you reinforce your commitment to the reality you are asking them to believe in on stage.

Lotsa times my space objects keep changing right before my "eyes," as if I have this Other brain who just wants to fuck with me. It's a metal pail, it's a plastic pail, it's not a pail, it's a tray. It's a rotary phone, it's a trimline phone. It's a switchblade, it's a Swiss Army knife. Ack!

I'd like to see "best object work" as one of the AIC awards...
I would award it to my dog

Wesley wrote:I once space pet a space stray in a show and he followed me home. He's since shown up, same stray, in several shows and he still costs me about 60 space dollars a month to space feed and space shelter. Plus, I have to space walk him and clean up his space mess like three times a day. For the single, quick laugh it got, it wasn't worth it.

Did he have a red collar? Was is name Scooter!!!???

HerrHerr wrote:The other night in a solo scene during Maestro, I made a mistake.
....
Instead of using "space scissors," I used my fingers as scissors. I actually mentally chastised myself as I did it...then moved on with the scene.

Charna Helpern, Del Close, Kim 'Howard' Johnson wrote: Whenever someone makes what appears to be a mistake on stage, the others will immediately justify it and weave it into the pattern of the entire work. More often than not those 'mistakes' become valuable contributions to the piece.

I guess what I am saying is that you should be supporting yourself in your solo scenes.

Zach wrote:

HerrHerr wrote:The other night in a solo scene during Maestro, I made a mistake.
....
Instead of using "space scissors," I used my fingers as scissors. I actually mentally chastised myself as I did it...then moved on with the scene.

Charna Helpern, Del Close, Kim 'Howard' Johnson wrote: Whenever someone makes what appears to be a mistake on stage, the others will immediately justify it and weave it into the pattern of the entire work. More often than not those 'mistakes' become valuable contributions to the piece.

I guess what I am saying is that you should be supporting yourself in your solo scenes.

Word.

Zach wrote:

HerrHerr wrote:The other night in a solo scene during Maestro, I made a mistake.
....
Instead of using "space scissors," I used my fingers as scissors. I actually mentally chastised myself as I did it...then moved on with the scene.

Charna Helpern, Del Close, Kim 'Howard' Johnson wrote: Whenever someone makes what appears to be a mistake on stage, the others will immediately justify it and weave it into the pattern of the entire work. More often than not those 'mistakes' become valuable contributions to the piece.

I guess what I am saying is that you should be supporting yourself in your solo scenes.

It often feels like I'm playing two people in a solo scene anyway.

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES

only unopened gifts