Before They Were Night Vale: ding (Patreon)

It's perfectly fine for a story to be pointless. I think this is what is meant by the word "sketch," which is just a short metaphorical doodle of an idea. Working with the Neo-Futurists gave me a chance to play around and see what works. 

The play "ding" was just an attempt at repetitive physical comedy. It seemed to work okay. The audience laughed and participated. When you read it, you'll probably be like "huh, okay," but I'll give you some context here and tell you what I learned when I did this play. And hopefully your reaction will then be "well then. okay!"

First off, with the Neo-Futurists, you can't pretend anything. So when someone slaps you, it's not a stage slap, it's an actual slap. And one night my fellow performer, Ryan, slapped me so hard, I thought I dislocated my jaw because I heard a weird pop. Turns out, I was not damaged at all, but it hurt like a mofo. I don't know how things like Jackass ever got off the ground, because I have a low tolerance for physical pain. 

When I first did this play, the Neo who performed with me was tentative with their slaps. And eventually I asked them to slap me hard. Really let me have it. Hence Ryan hard-fouling my jaw. But also, the audience reaction to this play changed immediately. The audience can tell the difference between a casual slap and a hard slap. There were actually "ooohs" and "ooofs" every night we did this. 

This was important to know for me as I was just getting started in my performance career. Knowing what will get an audience reaction is vital. Because most audiences will politely listen to you speak, and it's hard to know if you're actually reaching them. So once you do have a breakthrough and see/hear/feel them viscerally react to what you're doing, that gives you new goals for yourself. Understanding what works and what doesn't is critical in all forms of artistic creation, from painting to writing to cooking. 

The other thing is that the Neo-Futurists' show is timed. We were trying to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes or fewer. Everytime the word "CURTAIN" is shouted that signals the end of a play and we have to move on to the next one. And this play was the first play I wrote for the company that did not have a scripted ending. No one in the cast shouts CURTAIN. It requires the audience to figure out that they have the power to end not just this play, but any play. And once CURTAIN was called on this play in any given evening, there was an increased likelihood that any play that followed could get cut short by an audience member who decided they'd had enough. 

Developing trust in your audience is important, and the only way to build that trust is to give them some power, to make yourself vulnerable. It's no different than any relationship. When you make a friend, over time you will tell that friend very personal things, even secrets, about yourself. Those secrets can be used against you, but you hope that they won't. And when your friend keeps those secrets locked away and gives you sympathy in response, you build trust which can become love. 

And "ding" was my first big step toward understanding how to trust an audience, an audience I eventually came to love, even if the faces were different each and every night.

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ding
© 2007, Jeffrey Cranor

1 & 2 are standing center, facing each other. Between them is a podium with a hotel desk bell on it. Long pause as 1 stares at 2.

1: Ding. 

looks around 

Ding. 

Ding. 

short pause

Dingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingding...

2: [ interrupting ] Here. Use that. 

points at bell

1: Okay. 

1 rings bell. 2 slaps 1.

1 rings bell. 2 slaps 1.

1 rings bell. 2 slaps 1.

1 rings bell. 2 slaps 1.

1: You're right. That seems to work.

2: Glad to be of service.

1 rings bell. 2 slaps 1. This pattern continues until someone in the audience shouts "Curtain"

CURTAIN