A Short Narrative by M. Taylor

The inspiration behind A Story Narrative by M. Taylor was built upon a combination of character development, humor, and the contrast between confessions and lying.  While I’ve been exploring the function of internal and external perceptions, I intended to focus on the flow of consciousness versus its confliction in a given environment. 

An interesting idea I found while researching other artists’ is the idea of adapting to your studio environment and allowing that to influence the creation of your work.  Margaret Crane and Jon Winet, a collaborative pair, commented upon their acceptance into a residency with Xerox’s PARC Program that they didn’t need to rearrange their studio space, because it would be like going to a foreign country and only experiencing their own culture.  Therefore, I want to give into the characteristics of our classroom environment, such as the dimming lights, the movement of sound, and adapting to the awareness of other’s works that have entered and left the space. 

For character development, I created the structure of their behavior, reactions, and speaking patterns.  Within the environment I wanted to influence and adapt to the character’s behavior by setting up props.  Then, the character was free to act out.  An aspect of their behavior that wasn’t strongly seen was how the character was consciously taking from other’s projects.  I intended for the audience to recognize the references to other’s work, such as combing the hair, emphasizing on “living,” and quoting pop culture with “the pickles.”

Following the development, there is a specific process I find that I go through.  After I know the language of the character, I begin listening to them as I imagine the character talking to me.  After thinking about the possible conversation that we would have, I force myself to only think in their character voice.  Next, I let myself begin to "think out loud" and talk to myself.  I allow my voice to adjust to the characters'.  I don't begin to interact with others until I feel comfortable with the character's voice and it has begun to sound like the voice I imagined.  I feel that the behavior and body language of the character will become natural only after the thought process and voice of the character is achieved.

Overall, the humor and props were the most helpful in the development and performance of the piece.  I would like to explore the use of props more and going further into character development, such as exaggerated facial expressions.