Theater guest blog: Improv and pantomime

Guest blog by Braxton Perry, cast member for PCYT's production of Our Town

Hey, this is Braxton here. Glad to see you back (Well, of course, I can’t actually see you, but I’ll just have to pretend I can). This blog is about my second week going through the Our Town classes and rehearsals.

Last week we did a couple of new and fun things. We did a bunch of theater exercises – like leading people around the room in different ways without running into anyone. One of the theater exercises was where we split into two groups, and had 30 seconds to get an idea, and get into position while the other group had their eyes closed.

Everyone in my group decided that we should be in a plane, So we were all taking positions, and I whispered that I’d be the pilot. The problem was, when I went to go and sit down to be the pilot, I looked behind me and someone was standing behind me with their hands in the air. We were out of time, so I quickly scooted on the floor behind the rest of the passengers.

When it was asked what we were and why almost everyone was a passenger and where was the pilot, I was confused. Who was the person standing? Then I took a better look, and she was handing out invisible drinks! She was a stewardess! Oh well.

The next day we read the script as our casted parts (if you don’t remember, I’m Professor Willard and Constable Warren). The following two days we worked a lot on pantomiming.

Now, I’m not sure how much you now about Our Town, but if it isn’t a lot, here’s an interesting bit of information (shameless plug: what better way to find out than actually coming to see the performance?). It doesn’t have any scenery.

Well… I wouldn’t say it doesn’t have any, but it doesn’t have an awful lot. So when working with things that don’t actually exist, it can get hard… as you could imagine (heh). In that case, practicing pantomiming is essential.

On Monday of this week we worked on character bios. That means you come up with a back-story for your character(s) and sort of build them up. It’s kind of fun doing that. It’s sort of like meeting the person you’re acting.

Well, I think that’s about it. Thanks for reading! It wouldn’t really be blog with out you. There’s tons of other stuff I could write, but that’d take ages. Overall, I’m having a pretty great time. If you want to get notified next time I post a blog, you can “like” Patel Conservatory on Facebook. See you (metaphorically) next time! 

Things I like:

Trying to push pins back into place on a PS/2 computer mouse

Gustavo Dudamel (conductor…er… musical – not electrical)

Writing these blogs