Laughing and Crying

In my training as an actress I have learned many "theatre games," which often resemble children's games. But don't be fooled, our games are to be taken very seriously and are for the trained actor only... eh hem. Lately I have been thinking of the simple yet complex improv game entitled "Laughing and Crying."

L & C is a game where the scene partners, often 2 people, begin to laugh. It becomes an infectious, uncontrollable laughter, and at the peak of hilarity the actors begin to cry. The crying turns to wails and as we hit yelps and sobs... you guessed it, laughter again. This is usually a successful game because this is a typical life occurrence that most people can relate to.

I mention this because of my current situation. Let's set it up as a scene shall we?

Interior scene: (day)

The young mid-twenty something female stands in front of the mirror. She leans forward and plucks a white hair from her hairline. She begins to laugh. As she laughs we see the glint of silver in her mouth. This twenty-something has BRACES. The laughter escalates as the sun catches on the metal in her mouth and shines into her eye. Suddenly (cue room tone) it sounds as if she is crying. Her eyes no longer shine, but well into sadness. We see in her eyes a sense of disappointment, fear of failure, and lack of hope. The tears tumble into her mouth and suddenly her eye catches on something. A piece of food lodged in the gaping whole between her teeth. She laughs, at the irony of being an adult with braces and digs in to dislodge the rice from last night's Indian food. Her laughter escalates as she pulls out her trusty rubber bands, all four of them, and hooks them on to her teeth. Immediately the laughter turns into sobs and wails. The rubber bands on the side of the extraction cause excruciating pain that was unexpected by this mid-twenty-something brunette with braces and a few gray hairs.

Laughing and Crying. Very little laughing actually.

Because of the seriously excruciating pain while I wear the bands I went to my ortho to check in and make sure everything was ok. There was no way it could hurt this bad if nothing was wrong. Well... I was wrong. In fact he didn't understand why I had pain at all. Except for the fact that my teeth were now rapidly moving through torn flesh... So he bargained with me and gave me lighter bands to "work my way up." And while I was there he tweaked my braces a little.

End result: Chain on top AND on BOTTOM, 4 rubber bands, and a constant state of being on the verge of tears.

and laughter.

but mainly tears.

Next week I'll compare my life to the classic improve game "difficulty with small objects."