& flexibility ,
✨ for @lgcxmiyeon, jiwoo’s versatility workshop.
jiwoo wonders if maybe she’s been too ambitious. for her first time running a workshop of any kind, she probably should have chosen something a little less theoretically intricate than the idea of actors as asset. that being said ... it’s been fun. she started the workshop by getting everyone to sit in a circle -- so typical -- and discuss their ideas of the body. she was met with a lot of silence, so she talked a bit about the concept of the neutral body, the way a body exits neutrality, and if that exit applies to the idea of character alone, when many plays and musicals utilize their choruses as stage elements, becoming a many armed tree, as their accompaniment, with instruments dotted around the stage for the cast to pick up and play, or as crew, in a sense, choreographing scene changes performed by the actors like the interim between beats is a dance itself. after their minds are thoroughly engaged, she leads them in a physical warm up. quick, embarrassment curing drama games to start, followed by a round of effects being thrown at them that she wanted to see them perform with their bodies, pushing them out of neutral.
now, as the attendees split off into groups, given prompts from her that are, admittedly, pretty vague, but are purposely made that way, jiwoo smiles. it’s more interesting to see what they scenes they can create with physicality alone -- extra actors standing in a line off to the side, arms up to hold onto an invisible loop create a bus or a train in a modern play. a clump of people together, ferally crouched with talon bent fingers, hissing at the action around them might create the atmosphere of a dangerous, enchanted forest suited to a shakespearean production. bare sets are trendier in straight plays more than they are in musicals, but there’s been musicals that utilize them too. working with the bare minimum of props is something that actors need, especially as devised theatre where the collective acts as director becomes more popular.
time to help out her students! they have twenty minutes to create their five minute scenes, which will be presented during the last fifteen minutes of class.
the first stray lamb she comes across is miyeon, who she happily swoops to, hands clasped together at chest height. “is there anything i can help you with? sorry, i know i dumped a lot of theory on you guys at the start of the workshop... but, i don’t mind helping out! this is probably different, right? i know most of the acting training here is focused on naturalism for television. this is pretty much the opposite to that.”