April 14 下北沢 Workshop - Go or Stop

A delightful mix of returning champions and new challengers at today's workshop. We started off by returning to a blank scene that might (or might not) really be about art. We explored different approaches. The characters and situations that are easiest and fit simply. The comedy version you would expect. And then we expanded to characters and situations that are not at all in the text - but which the text supports.

One of our clear guidelines was what your emotions make you feel like doing. Some emotions make you want to move - to take action - to GO. Other emotions make you want to freeze - to do nothing - to STOP. The tension of a character who wants to go but forces themselves to stop (or wants to stop but forces themselves to go) is exactly the tension that hooks the audience and helps them connect with you.

As always, the story doesn't really matter. It's the story inside each character that matters most. Then the story between characters. The story of the play or movie is mostly just background.

After the break we took on scenes from a series of sketches (Giovanni's Cafe), a documentary (10 Meter Tower), and a podcast (The Bright Sessions) that all had elements of tension between Go and Stop. Much fun was had and some good work came out. As many people as could sat down after to chat about future plans and current excitement.

Looking ahead already to May!