Week 2: Creatures Unknown...

This week our ensembles began imagining characters for our devised stories. For The Forms of Things Unknown, we are creating stories about mythical creatures. Of course our enchanted forest has fairies, nymphs, imps and sprites as a nod to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But we’re also meeting the Taniwha, Sphinx, Thunderbird, and other creaures from different traditions!

For check in this week, everyone shared their favorite mythical creature. We have some diverse interests! There are many Harry Potter fans in the ensembles so Phoenixes, Griffins, and Hippogriffs were mentioned. We also have lots of Dragon-lovers ranging from little green dragons (Peter) to pink dragons (Maggie) to fire breathing Polish dragons (Lucas), to scary dinosaurs (Mila) and Godzilla (Sam F). And, for the record, Emmett believes that Bigfoot exists and would to go on a quest to find him.

What’s your favorite mythical creature? Check out some of these books to learn more and let us know!

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures by Stephen Krensky

The Sea Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas by Marcia Garcia Esperon

Mythopedia: An Encyclopedia of Mythical Beasts and their Magical Tales By Good Wives and Warriors

Characters are an important story element - this is WHO our story is about. The bulk of our time in rehearsals this week was focused on devising our characters. Each ensemble will focus on 4 different creatures for their original stories. We started getting to know these unique characters by answering a few key questions including:

• What makes this creature different from others?

• What are 3 words to describe this creature?

• What makes them feel afraid?

• What makes them feel happy?

• What do they want more than anything in the world?

Working in small groups, each actor had a chance to answer 1 question about each character. This is a great way for each member of the ensemble to share their own imagination and creativity. But we also have to practice listening and saying “YES” to each other’s ideas. In that way, we get to build the characters together and they belong to all of us. 

For example, we know that Wendigos are hungry for humans. What makes the Tuesday ensemble’s Wendigo different is that they like to eat humans on pizza! BUT they are afraid of fire, so can’t cook their own pizzas. Instead they have to enlist a trusted helper who (spoiler alert) is a puppet! 

Take a sneak peek at some of our other character Jamboards here:

Sunday's Simurgh

The Simurgh is depicted as a winged creature in the shape of a bird. It appears as a peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. It is large enough to carry off an elephant! Iranian legends say the bird is so old that it has seen the destruction of the world three times over.

Sunday's Centaur

A Centaur is a creature from Greek mythology with the head, torso and arms of a person, but the body and legs of a horse.

Monday A's Kelpie

Kelpies come from Scottish mythology. They are shape-shifters and can take the form of a horse or a human. Kelpies haunt rivers and streams. They are dangerous spirits that lure people to their death by drowning

Monday A's Sphynx

A sphinx is a creature known in Egyptian lore. A sphinx has a human’s head, a lion’s body, and a falcon’s wings. Sphinxes are very strong. They protect the entrances to places by asking travelers to solve a riddle.

Tuesday's Griffin

A griffin, or, in Iranian mythology a “Shirdal” has a lion’s body and tail and the head and wings of a lion.  Griffins are loyal and powerful creatures. They are trusted to protect treasures

Next week, we’ll focus on the settings where these characters find themselves and continue watching our stories take shape one element at a time. Watch this space for updates and more special content from rehearsals!

A zoom meeting with 16 participants from the The Monday A Ensemble. Actors, teaching artists , and facilitators show off their campfire crafts which are made from brown construction paper and red, orange, and yellow tissue paper. Click here to learn how to make your own.

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This week’s theme was MOVIE SONGS! You can dance along with our Spotify playlist.