welcome to post 100...

I know some of the posts don't actually count. I don't care. 100 posts. Yay for me!

Post 100 will be about my current scene study class.
Class last night was interesting. We did some warm up games that involved active listening and improvisation as well as utilizing honest reactions.
In the first game, two people sit facing each other. One person starts with an observational comment about the other. The other person must echo the comment back, only changing the person.
For example, person 1 says, "You have blue eyes." Person 2 responds, "I have blue eyes." Then person 1 says again, "You have blue eyes." This goes back and forth until a change naturally occurs. Someone's inflection changes and the comment goes from observational to confrontational, or someone changes bodily positions. It's a bit like watching paint dry on growing grass to start with, but if you hang with it and stay open, interesting things can happen.
I was paired with a woman who opened with, "You're bald." I had to echo back, "I'm bald."
I've pretty much embraced my own lack of hair, but hearing it back and forth 15 times or so started to make me a little angry. When it was my turn to open, I had to restrain myself from saying, "You're an old hag with pancake breasts and Emo Phillips' haircut."


The next game was a favorite of mine, because I cheat. In this game, one person is seated on a park bench. They like where they are sitting and are not in a hurry to leave. The second person enters the scene and attempts to make the first person stand up. They are not allowed to touch the first person, but can do anything else.
This is an exercise in honest reactions. The problem with the game is that we are all pretty competitive and don't want to be perceived as losing, so will sit for much longer than if these situations were happening in real life.
One woman sat near the person on the bench coughing and wiping her nose and sneezing and talking about her trip to China and what the other person thought the symptoms of SARS or the avian flu were. But the first person did not get off the bench.
Come on.
I have played before and I walked around the back of the bench making ka-plonk, ka-plonk, ka-plonk noises while miming the squeezing of some container. Then I mimed lighting a match and throwing it onto the bench.
I set the bench on fire with lighter fluid. That person got off the bench.
Last night, old 100 SuperBalls in a blender was on the bench. Now, 100 Balls tried an interesting tactic when he was trying to get someone off the bench. He asked the person if they liked hairy guys. The woman said she didn't care one way or the other.
He said, "I'm really hairy." and took off his shirt.
100 Balls is a skinny, blonde dude with blue eyes. I could never have guessed that he had a Ted Nugent wig for a back. Yikes. He was not able to get the woman off the bench. Again, I don't know if that was honest or not. I think she would have run from the bench.
In any case, he was on the bench when it was my turn. I again kinda cheated. I slowly got onto the bench, standing, staring down at him. I then slowly began to crouch lower and lower, just staring at him while he tried to say some funny lines.
Eventually, he called me a creep and ran from the bench. I win.
Then, when I was on the bench, the chick who I am acting in the scene with, walked up and asked me nicely if I would help her move a table.
Damn it. I jumped right up to help. Because I am an excellent nice guy and would do so naturally.
I HATE that.