A Flower For Mara–initial playtest thoughts
2007-12-04Last night we playtested A Flower for Mara, my new game/play/improv thing. After reading about avant garde theater, I’m seriously considering giving it a subtitle “A Play in Four Acts” to help get people in the right frame of mind for it. Also, I’m hoping to approach some dramatically-minded folk in my church to see if they are willing to give it a whirl. That sort of feedback would be helpful.
Is it a game? Well, you know, I’m not really planning on getting into those sort of semantic arguments. I think that it’s a worthwhile activity, regardless of its formal status as a “game”. It has a dramatic structure with rules to guide the players. That’s good enough for me.
So, onto the actual report.
Raquel, Gabrielle, Crystal and I gathered to play. We set up shop in my front room by moving the coffee table out of the room and then setting up a card table (with tablecloth) to be the dinner table for the various group scenes. Also, the game is intended to be thought of as a play. In other words, there’s a “front” of the stage area and an “audience” area where the Director and any off-stage players sit to observe.
We also designated a “grave site” area, which is where all monologues are given. For those of you who know our house, it was in the archway between the front room and the dining room. We put a low piano bench there to be the actual grave, which worked out pretty well.
Earlier I had purchased the necessary flowers, which symbolize the griefs that the characters and players are carrying. As part of setup, each participant writes down one grief that he is carrying. Not the character, mind you; the player. Then he attaches that paper to the flower that he carries. In order for the character to lay down his grief, the player must give a brief monologue about the grief that he wrote down. Then he lays the flower at the grave site. It’s very powerful in play.
The actual story came out well, I thought. In particular, it seemed like the players were able to use the experience of playing the characters to interact with some of their own memories and burdens, which was a good thing. There was one scene where Crystal started off just playing her character, but in the end, she was saying things that I know she has wanted to say for a while.
I think that the game procedures work so far, although we definitely need to try it with more people. Currently, for characters, I have Caleb (Mara’s husband), Zoe (Mara’s daughter), and then Mara’s parents. I’d like to have one or two more characters available for play. I was going to have Caleb’s parents, but I don’t think that’s right. Each character needs to be defined by their relationship to Mara, and “daughter-in-law” doesn’t usually have the same connection as “daughter”. I’m open to hearing otherwise, though.
Crystal is already plotting out book sizes and layout. I think that this one will be on the fast track to publication.
Uh, questions? I think that I’ll do better answering queries than trying to describe what actually happened last night.
How well do you think siblings would work as characters? I guess it depends on what you mean when you say that the characters need to be defined by their relationship to Mara. Certainly, siblings would be powerfully affected by Mara’s death.
That sound you just heard is my hand hitting my head. Siblings! Duh!
Seeing as everyone was crying during the playtest it sounds like it was a success. Do the personal griefs actually work into the story or are they spoken more for the connection and involvement they bring?
I think having Mara’s siblings as characters is a good idea. I also like the idea of the subtitle, “A Play in Four Acts.” I’ve been having a tough time getting my mind around what “A Flower for Mara” actually is and that phrase helps clarify it a little and changes the mindset.
I’m really glad that I get to be a (small) part of this project. It means a lot to me.
I’m sure I’ll have more questions for you, but I’ll have to ask them later.
“Seeing as everyone was crying during the playtest it sounds like it was a success. ”
It would seem that we have similar standards of success.
“Do the personal griefs actually work into the story or are they spoken more for the connection and involvement they bring?”
More for the connection and involvement. Also, it’s therapeutic.
I was thinking about this on the way into work, actually. I wonder if the process of mentally sorting through your griefs to select one helps bring to mind a number of situations and things that you want to work through, which then enters the game. If my fellow playtesters were to comment on this, that would be nice.
I do know that both Crystal and Gabrielle (playing Zoe and Caleb, respectively) brought various real-life issues and occurrences to the game. Of course, since I happen to know those occurrences, it had a strong impact on me. I’m wondering if this will be the case with other folks who we don’t know as well.
“I’ve been having a tough time getting my mind around what “A Flower for Mara” actually is and that phrase helps clarify it a little and changes the mindset.”
Hmm. Maybe I should videotape a performance to be able to show to others. That could be hard, but not without its own rewards.
“That sound you just heard is my hand hitting my head. Siblings! Duh!”
I had the same reaction.
“Do the personal griefs actually work into the story or are they spoken more for the connection and involvement they bring?”
As noted at the playtest, I have a slightly different perspective playing Mara–I knew I was going to be the last to lay my flower down so I was looking for connections to the game themes when I chose what to write. I made a mental note about the connection–and then promptly forgot as I went in character and focused on the story. So did it work into the story? Probably. Was I aware of it working into the story? Not so much.
I have no idea what this says about me, but as soon as I heard Seth’s idea for the griefs I knew what I wanted to say. And, unlike my fellow players, my grief had nothing whatsoever to do with someone dying. I didn’t feel that my grief had much to do with Caleb’s grief, but I so desperately wanted to lay it down I worked very hard to help Caleb grieve well.
I think Seth should include in the book a suggestion that the flowers be long stemmed. My flower was cumbersome to carry and got in my way. After I laid it down I felt free, like I wanted to start skipping or something. I had two hands again and a very real sense of having laid down something weighty that I hadn’t wanted to carry.
At the end we were all standing around the grave site while Seth, as the director, read from the Book of Common Prayer. I looked at the pile of flowers with our griefs attached to them. They looked pretty and a little ominous at the same time. The flowers had become so connected with our griefs that I looked at them and thought “I’m going to have to pick those up when we clean up” and I really didn’t want to.
And yes, we cried a lot. I’d say it was a success.