Show, Don't Tell

For this project, I have positioned myself primarily as a writer. Because my partner is a performer, I find that I naturally adhere to a dichotomy between us. I produce the internal, Phi produces the external. Actor performs the writer's work. But in our case, I find that this isn’t necessarily true. Because I am drawing the narrative from Phi’s life story, in a way I become the external, and Phi through performance returns to the internal. It can be complicated like that!

Which brings us to the question of the how. How are we going to externalize this experience?

A screenshot of me doing a Song Exercise. I obviously look bad, but I also sounded bad!

Phi and I have experimented with different types of workshops and experiments. I created meta-text to comment on our existing performance drafts. It was interesting, but I felt like it impeded on the narrative we wanted to explore (and I personally found it very gimmicky). Phi learned to sing a Taiwanese song to express himself in a purely physical way, without understanding the language of expression. It was an exercise that inspired me to attempt writing lyrics to songs: something I have not tried as an adult.

While we have learned a lot from these exercises (and they do shape what the performance will become), we are still trying to explore how to tell Phi's story while showing people the things we've discovered. This is more than just trying to put something out for everything to see: the point of our story is to understand and connect with other people.

But what is the best way of doing this? How does one negotiate one story with a community? With an environment?

Phi Palmos doing the same Song Exercise. He looks AND sounds more beautiful than me!! Even his video quality is better!!!

This week, we begin more rigorous rehearsal for the presentation. Our facilitator, SU PinWen, is a dancer and has often recommended that we engage more with our bodies for this project. I'll be trying to employ a number of simple acting exercises that engage with the actor's physicality. Through senses or through the environment...I hope we push against our many many challenges on this project.

I'm excited for this week because it means we will be forced to be put into action. Drama, after all, means "to act".