This is the Sixty-Sixth article in a semipermanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American. The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
DAVID TIMMONS
Stroud Arts
The Cast of Stroud Arts upcoming Murder Mystery Event, ‘The VanDersloan Conundrum’ are busy assembling costumes, building or finding props and practicing accents. However, unlike preparing for a traditional play, the Actors are not learning lines.
This isn’t because they are lazy or putting it off as many actors do. Quite the contrary, it is because there are no lines to learn!
If you try to look online for a reference to the play ‘The VanDersloan Conundrum,’ you might be surprised to find that the image popping up directs you to the Stroud Arts Facebook Page.
That is because there is no written play and the performance will be written live, in front of the audience, as it is being performed!
For the Actors and Audience, this style of performance creates a unique artistic creation; one that exists only in this time and place, for only these people and once the final bows have been taken, will never be recreated exactly as it stands, again.
To me, that is the truest expression of artistic creation and the beauty of an interactive, live theatre production; one where the audience are as invested in the action that occurs as are the Actors.
To make this synergistic performance take place, the Actors must prepare to be flexible, attentive and willing to engage with both the Audience and their fellow performers. In most live shows, an Actor knows that their fellows have learned their lines and blocking and this knowledge creates trust.
For Interactive Theatre, trust comes when you direct an Improvised line of dialogue to an Actor and they immediately respond in a manner that reinforces your initial line while advancing the storyline toward a Dramatic Resolution.
For the Audience, trust in the cast and performance is earned in the same manner, except with the addition that makes a Stroud Arts Murder Mystery Event unique. For these performances, a table of Dinner Guests are paired with an Actor/Character and the objective of the Guests is to direct the Actor/Character in working toward story goals that prove their innocence and incriminate another table’s Actor/ Character as the culprit!
I will provide more details about how the mystery format is used next week and if you would like to reserve a place for Stroud Arts Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre, then please phone 405-836-1266.
Remember, there are only 75 seats available and proceeds support Stroud Arts and the Stroud Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you to Stroud Masonic Lodge #142 for their support of Stroud Arts!
Until next time… Make Art Happen!