George's Blog about "Feel the Bend"

Great work, you two. Michael, you remain a smooth, unflappable master of ceremonies.

AFFIRMATION:
I think your sessions were well thought out and productive. I expect the sessions have given you a ton of info both into how the characters would act in certain situations as well as an impression of how we see them, which may be even more helpful. I would also like to applaud the rest of the class on this - everyone jumped into the improv sessions with both feet. Nice work to all of us!

I feel like I understand all of the characters better after the improv sessions - how Carol and Anna relate (and how they would relate if their friendship deepened) and how Jon and Betti relate even though they don't have scenes together. The concept of the "other person" in an affair existing to you even if you haven't met them is a fascinating one, along with who has more of a claim on Anna - her long-time companion who is occasionally cheated on, or her new lover.

I also found the concept that Betti's power comes from playing the victim an interesting one.

I love the line "we don't believe in divorce."

Again, like Soo-Jin and Carrie, you did a great job of using us as a resource.

QUESTIONS:
Why does Carol (who knows Anna is in a long-term relationship and in one herself) push Anna towards Jon?
Does Carol see as lesbian relationship as less worthy of preserving than a hetero one?
Would Carol really never have an affair?
What is Carol's job exactly? Receptionist for the floor or for Anna particularly?
Why does Anna apologize to Carol for being late if she's her superior?
Would Jon have had an affair with Carol if Anna wasn't around?

OPINIONS
While I enjoy the Carol scenes, I'm not sure they fit as they are now. They are so ultra-realistic right now that they don't quite seem to mesh for me with the rest of the play, with its poetic language and magic realism. Unless the main, overall concern of the play is that Anna's job is killing her and when she's away from it, she's allowed to be poetic, I think it might need to sytlistically approach the rest of the play a bit more.

I could also imagine the play with only Betti, Anna and Jon. Carol does allow us to get into Anna's head a bit, but since you've given Anna the option of direct address to the audience, I feel like we could get that information that way instead. It might be worth a shot.

I feel like the play could be streamlined a bit, overall. There's an awful lot going on - Anna is having an affair with two different sexes AND has the power to read her hair AND her lovers have always died AND she can speak in both realistic and poetic ways....I would be curious to see what would happen if you chose to focus on one or two of these and really dove in.

Okay, I shut up now. Again, great work to both of you - I look forward to Session 3!