The first Animal Transform scene of the night with Jim (hamster), Li-At (woodpecker), Melissa (bull), Sol (cat), and David (giraffe). It became a fun scene at the company picnic with some great characters.
This workshop was a bit different, starting with not doing a 1-Word Scene, but instead practicing with Firing Line. The rest of the night, we focussed on some basic character work. Because there were a lot of single character pieces through the night, there were a lot more pictures. 261 photos were on the memory card from this night. I was able to whittle that down to 125, but I felt that was OK this time since so many were of individual players. You can see them in the album.
The first scene work of the night was Video Dating, using a couple of bins of hats which I'd brought. Everyone got in at least 4 different characters and many of those were fabulous.
Next, we did Trouble With A Small Object. This was the chance to show off work from our first homework assignment. Basically, I asked folks to pay attention to their physical actions over the week, and practice miming those actions. In class, I wanted to see a demonstration of using some small object, then running into a problem with the object, and finally solving the problem. If you didn't work on the assignment it was OK, I just asked that you demonstrate something.
Next we did a series of Animal Transforms. Those turned out really well. The characters were very different and yet clearly human. A nice stretch for everyone.
We still did an Irish Drinking Song with 3 groups of 5.
Finally, we did a set of 3-Line Drills, only this time I had everyone complete their open scenes after telling me their wants. That was interesting, and I think everyone got a chance to try 'what comes next' after the first three lines. There were a lot of great scenes. Next, we'll go back to some simple long from structures.
Finally, I gave out a new homework assignment. Look at your friends, co-workers, and acquaintances and try to identify what makes them a 'character'. In the next week, pick out one character and develop it. At the next workshop I'll give you a chance to introduce the character, and then interact with some other characters.
And that was the night.