Adventure to you...
Lots of work being done behind the scenes here, lately. Lots of prep for this Friday - a new song set to release and a Lancaster gig to help kick it off.
I've been thinking, though. About adventure. I traveled to Erie last week to run a theater improvisation workshop for students at Collegiate Academy High School. Two groups. Three 70 minute sessions each. The grant committee sought proposals for projects that would integrate emerging technology. Without getting too specific, my pitch was to somehow integrate ChatGPT into improv. The week prior to the workshop I set up some writing prompts to ask participants for ideas, to which the bulk of the responses I received suggested we ask the AI for suggested scenarios and challenges that the improvisors might respond to. Not super sophisticated, but it seemed like it would fit the bill. On the drive up, I remembered an acting exercise I'd been guided through in graduate school in which my class and I were asked to log down a bunch of details about a character that we were to play. Height, weight, body type, posture, age, attire, personality traits, thought patterns, mood, background, desires, fears, agendas, relationships, etc. We would then walk out into the studio space and imagine our characters, present in real life, standing right in front of us, in as much detail as we could summon. We looked them in the eyes, read their thoughts, heard their breath, saw their pinky finger twitch, imagined what they had for lunch, where they were just before this moment, where they were headed... Then, before we could think too much about it, we were instructed to walk behind our characters, and step into their bodies. With some active imagination, we felt their bodies become ours. We saw through their eyes, thought their thoughts, felt their heartbeats as our own. And then, we began to act as them, exploring our environments, speaking their words, interacting with the world (studio) around us, getting to know ourselves as different individuals. It was rich and productive. And as I recall, a lot of fun. So, that's what I planned for our final session, but with ChatGPT calling the shots after my students would take that new and fateful step into their alternate identities.
The Monday and Wednesday sessions were par for the course. Some reticence, some daring, some discovery, skill acquisition and growth. All in the process. It became apparent to me however, what was to make or break the fullest worth of the project would be how the students would handle themselves through ChatGPT's suggested settings and events in improvisation. Here's what it suggested:
A sudden power outage in a waiting room, leading to chaos and confusion among the characters.
An elevator getting stuck between floors, forcing the characters to work together to find a solution.
A storm brewing while they're on the boat, creating rough seas and challenging conditions.
Discovering a hidden treasure map in the cave, sparking a quest for adventure.
Arriving at the party only to find it's been taken over by unexpected guests, such as aliens or time travelers.
We didn't have time for the treasure map or the aliens, but the improvised characters did live through all of the other events (there were actually a couple of deaths, too). Mostly though, they saved each other's lives, made lifelong friends and foes, fell in love, became brave and became cowardly, annoying, charismatic, awestruck, collaborative, inventive, angry, sad, joyous, contemplative and seductive. All in less than an hour. The characters also came out of the adventure with million-dollar prizes. Each! And told the IRTV (Imaginary Reality Television) Network what they were going to spend it on. Each! And the improvisors came out of the adventure with, well, an adventure.
I'm also back from the adventure, wishing you the same. I’m thinking it's extremely hard not to fall into our day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year concerned lives. It’s extremely hard not to miss out on the adventure. Sometimes we need a trip, a workshop, a challenge, or maybe just a reminder, to bring us to a place of seeking. What do you think? I hereby invite you to tell me about your adventure. Honest, I'd love to hear about it.
And, if you've got it in you this Friday to either dial up our new song Hold My Heart on your streaming platform of choice, or to come see us play the An Sibin Room at Tellus 360 with our fantastic musician friends Strays & Misfits, we would love for you to take part. The song and the the night are/will be adventurous and full of passionate music.
Thanks again, see you soon, and much light!