Exquisite Corpse Festival

So Saturday night I went to see the Exquisite Corpse Festival that I had heard about when I was out looking for art on Friday.

The short version of the evening is that it was a series of performing arts pieces done with the Exquisite Corpse theme - based on an old surrealist parlor game.

For example, one playwright would start a play, the second would get the last three lines or so of the first script and have to write the next five pages off of just those three lines. The next playwright would get just the last three lines of that second script.... you get the idea.

Or you can listen to the founder, Jason Tyne-Zimmerman, one of the playwrights, Shalini Tripathi, and Actor Chris O'Neil give you a better explanation and their experiences in this 5+ minute interview segment I did with them...



Shorter versions of this are running on FM NEWS 101.9 today.

Ok, so my picks from the show?

#3
The first play - " Plus ca Change" - The animated couples scene, with the heads of the actors sticking out through the curtain and the animation taking place around them on it. It was really a fun way to play with the script.

#2
The Addler - it's improv but Exquisite Corpse Style - where the actors cannot hear each other but still have to try and interact for a long scene. See this picture -


Notice they have iPods on and headbands over them, keeping them from hearing each other.

It was quite the wild way to do improv! and from a spectator standpoint, very funny to see how they were interpreting the actions of others without being able to hear their words.

And of course, #1 - The birds scene in Au Revoir that was mentioned in the interview! Cate Bottiglione was an adorable Sparrow and Josh Hyman was the best Pigeon I've ever seen. And it didn't hurt that the script made me giggle, a lot!

The Exquisite Corpse Festival goes through the 22nd at the Richmond Sheppard Theater on 26th St with shows at 8pm Wednesday through Saturday. But get there early. There is pre-show live music starting at 7:30!