Tellus Theater 102

2nd Class--March 11th--Neutral Masks, Clowns, Red Light, Green Light
Toastmaster Piao Lin of Formosa Toastmasters Club spotted me on my scooter just when I turned to Alley 34 of Yuan-chou Street. "Where is the O Space?", Piao asked. "Just follow me," I responded.

Piao and I were the first two students at the second audition workshop at the O Space at 1PM sharp. In no time, a group of young and beautiful women led by Toastmaster Nate Murray Alvarez from Sunrise Toastmasters Club walked in. I saw a few familiar faces among them, including a couple of members from Legacy Toastmasters Club. It was a full house of 20 attendees this afternoon, March 11th.

We started with warm-up staging exercises with music, followed by the killers and victims games. Then we played Red Light, Green Light and learned to freeze. We played the French version by calling out "Un, deux, trois, Soleil" and waited for a few seconds to catch those in motion. It was also a popular children game "123木頭人" for Chinese.

Daniel divided us into two groups to play with masks (neutral white faces). It was challenging for me to act neutral and stand still with a fixed posture for more than 10 minutes. I was so impressed by some of the experienced young talents. They could act still life for an extra long period of time.

In theater training, the neutral masks are used to understand the balance of body and mind. Those who wear masks should relax the facial muscles, let the masks become eyes, and the bodies become faces. We could rediscover our bodies by wearing the masks and slow down everything around us. After we understand the balance of body and mind, we could act out the unbalance or conflict state of body and mind. 

After working on smart Bouffons at the first audition workshop, we worked on stupid Clowns at the second audition workshop. We were a group of three on stage each time, because Daniel had only three red noses. It was another challenge for SMART me to play a stupid and funny clown. I must learn to lie low to make people laugh at my ACT.

In the future, Daniel would add more workshops for those who are committed to act in his play. We would learn gender games, men play women, women play men. Two voice auditions are scheduled the next two Sunday afternoons for the roles to play in Daniel's new Italian play in May, followed by a series of intensive rehearsals from April the 8th.

After the workshop, Daniel led us to his favorite Hakka family restaurant in the neighborhood. He nicknamed the shop "NO SMILE", because nobody worked there wore smiles, from the chef to the busboy. The Hakka family members are Majime (真面目), therefore their food meant business, it was super delicious!

After dinner, Daniel led his clan to the Love Cafe' in Yungho, I called it a night, because of my running nose. On my way back to the O Space to fetch my scooter, I saw a big parade of deities with heavy makeup and colorful costumes. It's the 19th day of the 2nd month lunar calendar, the birthday of Guanshiyin "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World".

Bo Peep Bo Peep Púsà Bo Peep
Bo Peep I can play a bouffon
Bo Peep I can play a clown
Bo Peep I can be in a play