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March 1999
Monotone Mobs, Clueless Crowds and Frozen Flops!
By Janet Beasley
We are quickly approaching one of the most popular times within a church to produce a theatrical/drama production....Easter!
With as excited as we all tend to get over celebrating the Easter season, sometimes the intensity and "realness" of the presentation doesn't pack the punch we are wanting to portray.
Many times the solo parts are great! They are very dramatic, and give the audience a feeling of actually being in the action. But when it comes time to have an angry mob, a clashing crowd, or a group of frozen actors during a scene, the presentation takes that drastic turn down "hokey" lane!
Following will be some helpful hints that may help cure your blah-zay crowd scenes. These tips and hints come from our personal experiences in getting a crowd to cooperate, and a mob to motivate!
Recipe for "One Angry Mob"
· 10 or more living human beings
· 2 shepherd staffs
· 2 small bongos
· 2 tambourines
Separate 10 living human beings into 5 groups of 2. (If you are using more than 10, separate the number of living human beings into 3 groups of 2, and the remaining folks into equal groups. Example: 20 people for a mob could be separated as 3 groups of 2, 2 groups of 5, and 1 group of 4.) Mix well.
-Distribute the next 3 ingredients (shepherd staffs, bongos, and tambourines) to the first 3 groups of 2. Set all groups aside to chill.
-Designate a coach for each group. The coach should be encouraging, creative, and a leader. Explain to each coach heading up the props groups they need to use their imagination, and create one single motion for those with a prop along with one angry vocal sound to repeat as they use their prop.
-Send them all to different rooms.
Explain to remaining coaches of groups without props to take their group to another spot and come up with one creative single hand and arm movement to continually repeat. They should also develop an angry vocal sound to go along with the arm movement. Allow several minutes of rehearsal for best results.
-Bring back all living human beings to same room. Mix well.
-Ask on the count of 3 for everyone to begin with their motions and noises. Continue mixing until smooth. Make sure that people standing next to each other are doing different actions.
-A crowd of 10 or more will serve an audience of any size.
Since each person is only responsible to "perfect" one movement and noise, it makes it easier to keep "the flow" going. It may look and sound monotonous to the actors participating, but to an audience, it looks like a realistic angry mob!
Next on the agenda would be those ever annoying clueless crowds! So many times, we watch the crowd take off across the stage as if they have a plan and a purpose. But much to our surprise, they soon look like a herd of lemmings- clueless to the fact that they are headed for a long fall!
Here are some ways we have found to eliminate the clueless crowd scene.
-Start by assigning the crowd members into groups of 2's or 3's. (Avoid a single line formation when attempting to move a crowd.) By having groups of 2's or 3's, they will know who they need to be "talking" to or interacting with while moving across the stage.
-Next, assign one of these groups to be the first to "move." This helps the rest of the crowd to know who to watch, for the moving cues.
-Assign the next small group that will follow the leading group and so on. You may wish to stagger the other groups moving on a 2-3-or 4 second count. Sometimes the scenes call for an entire crowd to move at once, while other scenes need to have continual movement all about the stage.
A really neat appearance to an audience is a slow motion crowd. An example would be during a drama that has a scene of intense magnitude like a shooting, or robbery being done to music. Go back to the recipe for an angry mob, minus the props, and have the participants slow the movements way down, highly exaggerate the movements, and have no vocal sounds.
Lighting can play a big part in a slow motion stage scene. Depending on the mood you are looking to portray, very dim overhead lighting will help create wonderful shadows. Haze or ground covering fog, will also enhance the overall appearance of the slow motion movements.
Last but not least....the frozen crowd attempt during a solo part. This looks really cool, and is a great effect when done with determination, and a little bit of special lighting.
First off, we suggest that if you are a stickler for "perfection" do not try a freeze scene with children. Kids are great crowd members, but even some of us big kids have a hard time standing still if you know what we mean!?
Each crowd member that will be frozen, should know the cue inside and out. A freeze can be done either gradually, or suddenly.
When using the gradual method, simply set the crowd or scene lighting on about a 5-7 second fade to about 1/3 level. Once the lights start dimming the movements should begin to slow, and be completed to the frozen position right on cue. Once the freeze is in action, the soloist should be enhanced using a spot light, or a stationary light if they will not be moving about the stage.
When the solo is over, bring the crowd lights back up at the same 5-7 second rate to full power for the scene, with the crowd movements building at the rate they froze.
If you choose to use the method of a sudden freeze, make sure the cue is rehearsed over and over. Crowd members must eat, sleep, and drink that cue. If everyone stops at different times, it can give that "non-polished" look.
Sometimes difficult, yet very effective is the lighting with the sudden stop. By programming a scene that is at 1/3 power, and setting the fade rate time at 0, it can be done. The key here is your lighting person must also eat, sleep, and drink the cue.
Something we have found to make it easier on our crowd members is to assign the freeze positions. Very similar to the angry mob theory, assign different poses, and stage positions to your crowd. Do not assign a position with hands and arms held high if the freeze scene has any length at all.
Keep the crowd's focus on the soloist. If the soloist must move across the stage, keep the crowd's eyes in their starting position. The hardest combination of things to do is stand still, keep your eyes from roaming, and not laugh. You may want to drill your crowd at rehearsal by having several appointed 'hecklers' cruise through the crowd making jokes, getting in faces, and making sudden noises out in the audience area.
The keys to a good freeze are the motionless, statue like appearances with proper lighting cues and effects. As always, keep it fun, and not a drudgery!
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