(music)
Hello everyone, my name is Sean Scrutchins, 
I'm a teaching artist with
the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and
today we're gonna be focusing on animals,
specifically how animals can be
inspiration when we're approaching a character.
So we're gonna be looking at animals, 
we're gonna be talking like animals,
we're gonna be behaving like animals, 
but first we're gonna do some
warm-ups to warm up the body and the imagination.
I'm gonna count eight counts, alright?
And I'm gonna start with this left hand, 
and I'm gonna go, one two three
four five six seven eight, and we're
gonna be shaking, and then we're gonna go
this hand and we're gonna do this hand, 
and I'm gonna do that foot and then
we're gonna do this foot, and we're gonna
go eight eight eight eight and then
we're gonna go six six six six, four four four four, 
two two two two, one one one one,
and then we're gonna shake, alright?
So bear with me, you'll pick it up as we go,
but we're gonna start with this hand,
we're gonna do eight counts, ready and...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8,
Six: 1 2 3 4 5 6, 
1 2 3 4 5 6,
1 2 3 4 5 6, 
1 2 3 4 5 6,
Four: 1 2 3 4, 
1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 
1 2 3 4,
Two: 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1, 2
One: 1, 1, 1, 1,
and then shake it all about, very good.
Alright, so now the body's
all warmed up, alright.
Let's work on our face, and let's start to work 
on our imagination, alright? So this next one
is called Lion Face, Lemon Face, so what
we're doing is we're going really big
for the lion face, it's almost kind of
like a jumping jack, where you go out and in,
but for the lion, take up as much space,
and really exaggerate the face like you're
roaring like a lion, and lion face, roar!
Very good, then we go with lemon face, so
you're coming in and taking up very
little space, and you're scrunching up
the face like you just had a bite of a
very, very, sour lemon.
Alright so, lion face, roar! Lemon face.
Lion face, roar! Lemon face. 
Lion face, roar! Lemon face. 
Lion face, roar! Lemon face.
Very good, alright. 
I think the body is finally warmed up.
Now, imagination time. So, this
game is called pass the object.
Now, normally when I play this game, 
I have my students stand in a big circle,
and we pass an object around the circle. 
We don't have that, but it'll still work.
So what I'm going to be doing, 
is I'm going to be starting off with an object,
and I'm gonna be using my imagination to 
turn that object into something else,
and I'm gonna change it a couple of times, 
just so you know how the game works,
and then I'm gonna pass it to you, 
and I'm want to see if you can change that object.
So, bear with me, we'll figure it out as we go.
So first, my first object, 
I'm gonna start off with a basketball.
So I got to think, 
how can I use this basketball?
So basketballs, I can dribble them, right? 
So just dribbling the basketball, right?
Just dribble, maybe I switch hands, very good.
You shoot it, very good, 
and then I get it back,
and I'm bouncing and I'm bouncing, 
so I got to think,
how can I change what I'm doing
into something else, right?
and sometimes, if we want to change something, 
we got to play around with how we're using it.
Maybe I can slow it down.
Very good, slowing it down, 
almost like dribbling in slow motion.
Now I'm already starting to see something here,
I don't know if you are,
but if you notice my wrists, 
kind of changing with my wrist,
what does this look like? Ah! 
Kind of looks like a yo-yo, kind of like I'm yo-yoing right?
So there you go,
so the yo-yo goes down and then it comes up,
and they can do a trick...
and it comes back.
Very good, so I changed that basketball,
this action, slowing it down
into a yo-yo. So great!
Now, see if I can change that again.
What does this look like? 
Maybe I change around with the movement.
Maybe I work more on the wrist.
What does this look like?
Ooh, I know maybe, so I'm doing a flat hand,
maybe I can change the grip of the hand,
so maybe... 
I'm already starting to see something here.
It's kind of like, I got a bucket,
it's kind of like I'm painting.
It's like a paintbrush, right? Dip the paintbrush.
It's like I'm painting a big fence, very good.
I'm painting! So, I went from basketball, 
to yoyo, into painting. Very good!
Now it's your turn,
so what I'm gonna do,
so I'm gonna hand you this object, 
actually you know what?
I'm gonna change it one more time.
I want to see if I can change it one more
time before I hand it to you,
because I already have an idea about 
what I want to do with this now.
So now, I have this thing in my arm 
over here, it's like a basket,
and my hand...
I can change around with, the action of
putting my hand in the basket.
It's kind of like I'm grocery shopping and 
I'm looking at the item on the shelf and I'm
putting it in the basket, 
I'm walking along,
yeah, very good, yeah expiration date's good, 
put that in the basket there.
I'm shopping! So we went from basketball, 
to yo-yo, to painting, to shopping.
And now you're gonna change it, so I'm gonna take
my last item, I'm gonna put in my basket,
and I'm gonna hand my basket to you, 
so when I hand this basket to you,
continue shopping, 
continue shopping like I was just doing,
but I want to see if you can change it, all right? 
Now just know that you don't have to get the
answer right away, it can take awhile,
take your time with it.
So when I'm done talking and I hand this basket to you, 
I want you to pause the video,
and play around with it, 
see what you can change shopping into,
and, once you've changed it and you played with it, 
you can press pause again and I'll see you after.
So here is your basket, have fun.
Was that fun? 
Did you create a different object?
What's great about that game is 
it really gets the imagination going.
So now that we're all warmed up, 
let's talk a bit about animals.
You know animals are great, 
they have so much personality.
Now even though they don't talk like you and me, 
just the way they walk,
the way they sit, the way they eat, 
the way they look at other animals,
you can really pull some of what they do, 
and put it into a human character,
and actors, what we call this is creative inspiration. 
You are being inspired by that animal,
to make it human. Now I'm not saying that
I choose what an animal is,
I'm becoming that animal as a character, 
but really I'm just taking bits and pieces,
and putting them into a character.
A lot of times when I'm approaching a
Shakespearean character I'm thinking,
how does this person...
how can this person be like an animal? 
Or what can I find that's interesting?
And put that into a Shakespearean character. 
So I'm sure you will all have your favorite
animals, I'm sure you have animals in
your home that you would love to be
right now, but what we're just gonna be
doing is focusing on an animal,
that's one of my favorite animals, so
you're gonna be kind of putting on this
animal, and there's really three phases to it. 
First, you observe.
You observe the animal, you look at it, 
and you try to think, how does this animal move?
And once you've observed it, and you
kind of understand it, then you create it.
So you're taking those qualities and
you're putting them into your bodies.
That's the second phase. First phase,
observe. Second phase, create.
Third phase, now this is a little bit harder phrase. 
You adapt. You pick and choose, what can I
use, as a character? Because like I said,
you're not an animal the whole time,
but really you're picking it,
like kind of editing like which parts
you can use in your character. 
So observe, create and adapt.
So let's look at the first phase. 
We're first going to observe,
and we're gonna observe one of 
my favorite animals... the meerkat.
It's a funny animal, has a lot of personality,
and I'm sure you recognize it. 
There's been a lot of movies, Lion King, Timon,
but we're gonna just observe the meerkat.
First phase, observe.
So first, we're just gonna kind of observe the meerkats. 
We're gonna kind of look at how it
stands first. So looking at it right now,
what do you see in this picture?
So I see the arm. The first thing I see is
kind of the arms, how the arms kind of
are forward, kind of like, here I'll turn
to the side, they're kind of forward
they're not back, not like right to the
side, but they're kind of forward like
that, right? So the arms are kind of
forward right there like this.
And also, what else do I see? 
I see that the head's kind of forward.
Now this isn't a video, it's just a picture,
but a lot of times when you see meerkats,
this is kind of the Scout, 
so the Scout that's looking out for
predators, flying in the air. So you kind of 
see the head doing this a lot, right?
Kind of looking around, like that,
kind of observing. So, here are some
questions, let's do away with the image. 
I want to ask some questions.
So, when we observe I like to think of these
questions. I like to think about speed.
Is it fast or is it slow? So when I see the
meerkats, you know they're not like
slowly looking around, they're kind of
fast, they kind of swivel that head.
Kind of fast, and oftentimes in
the animal kingdom, the smaller the
animal you are, the faster you are,
the bigger the animal you are,
and the slower you are. So speed. 
Your cat is fast.
Weight. Weight would be the second thing.
Is it light or is it heavy? Similar to size,
a meerkat, it's light, it doesn't
have like weight to it, it's not like this, right? 
It's kind of light,
like up, light like that, very good, looking around.
So speed, weight, what else do we have?
We have focus. Focus, is it intense,
laser beam focus? 
Or is it kind of just, kind of
not really focused, kind of distant, right?
Their legs are being focused,
because they're looking for predators, right?
So that means kind of an intense, intensity right?
In the face, just kind of like this,
like that, very good. 
So that's kind of how they stand.
Let's look at a next image of them sitting. 
Here we go, them sitting.
It's very comical, and that actually
brings me to the next question.
Is this animal serious, or is it kind of funny?
Well some animals can be serious, right,
like say a lion. A lion can be serious, right? 
But a meerkat, um it's kind of a
silly animal, so I would think this would
be great for a comedic role if I was a
comedic character in Shakespeare. 
So that's kind of a funny way to sit, I'm
gonna try sitting like that. It kind of
has its legs kind of curled in like this,
kind of like this, alright.
Looking around kind of has,
remember the speed the lightness to it? 
Great, so those are some questions you can always ask
about an animal: what's the speed, what's
the weight, what its focus,
and also is it a comedic or is it a serious character? 
Great, so I think that's
good on observations... ooh one more thing.
Hands, right? So if you notice, let me
bring back that one picture, great. 
Look at the hands, you know the hands, are they
out like this? No, they're kind of in,
they're kind of curled like this right.
They're kind of in like the fingers are in. 
So that's great, I'm putting on the meerkat, right?
Let's do away with that image, great 
So this is the meerkat, right?
Arms forward, hands are kind of, the fingers
are in, and you kind of have the head on
a swivel, like that looking for predators.
Great, it's kind of a silly animal.
So, that's the observed portion. 
Next we did the create. I've put that into the body, right?
I'm creating this animal as I'm going, right? 
Very good.
That's create. So now comes the hard part, 
is the editing, is the adapting,
figuring out what can work for a character. 
Now normally when I'm doing
this work, I already have my character,
and I'm thinking, I know the character
I know what they want, I know kind of
what their status is, and where they are
in the world of the play. So then, once I
know my character, then I decide the animal.
I'm kind of doing it in reverse.
I'm looking at my animal and then
deciding what kind of character it would be. 
Now normally that's not how you do this,
but since I'm not really playing a
character right now, I'm trying to find
what this animal could be. And so,
naturally when I think about this,
when I think about this action, it's kind of
like I'm a guard, it's kind of like
I'm guarding because I'm looking for predators, right? 
I'm protecting the colony.
So if I was playing a guard, 
(there are plenty of guards in Shakespeare)
or a soldier, anybody, then that'd be
actually a pretty funny role to do, if I
was a soldier or a guard, 
guarding somebody in a play.
Now, Midsummer Night's Dream, that's the play
that you're familiar with and it
was the play that I'm cast in, 
in future seasons, and
I think that if I was going to use the meerkat in the play,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, it'd have to
be funny, right? It'd have to be silly, and
the one part that I can think of in
Midsummer Night's Dream is when Puck
puts the spell on the lovers,
Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, Helena, 
that there's that magic spell and actually
this kind of looks like I'm under a
magic spell. Like say I'm just normal,
and then Puck, you know, waves his wand 
or whatever, and puts them under a spell,
right? That I am now under a spell. 
And that's actually kind of how I would
adapt this character into moments like that.
So observe, create, and then adapt. 
That's what this work is, is taking bits
and pieces of animal work, and figuring
out how they can work for a character.
Now, you know there's hundreds of
different animals, and I just
focused on the meerkat, but you could
focus on any animals, any animals at home,
and that's actually what I want to
encourage you to do, is maybe you have a
pet at home, maybe you have a favorite animal, 
so what I'd like you to do is
I'd like you just take a little bit of time
and think about that animal if you have
a video like a YouTube video of your
favorite animal, or if you do have a pet,
just take a couple of minutes, 
take a couple minutes and ask these questions.
Ask like, are they silly or are they serious?
Is their speed fast or are they slower?
Is their weight light or is the weight heavy?
Is there focus or are they kind of distant 
than their focus, kind of wandering?
Or are they laser beam intensity focus, right? 
And think about that, think about other
things that you can pick up on, 
think about, how do they walk? See if you can
walk like them, but see if you can walk
like a human, you know. You don't want to
walk on all fours, but how would they
walk like a human?
That's the adapting part, so take a
little bit of time and think about that.
Think about what your favorite animal is,
think about what your pet at home is,
and see if you can put that into the body
for a couple of minutes, and have fun with it.
Once you've spent a little bit of time with that,
I'll put some questions up on the screen 
for you to look at.
Spend a little time and when you're done,
unpause it and I'll see you at the end.
So now that you became that animal, 
you know, the next phase would be to adapt it,
trying to figure out what qualities you
can use when you're approaching a
character in Shakespeare. This is great
work that I do in a lot of my
productions, I try to find qualities,
interesting things to create a character.
Now this isn't just limited to animals,
it could be anything that we find out in
the world as inspirational. That could be
music, that could be paintings, it could
be other people in the world, because so
much of what artists, what we do is we
try to observe the world around us, 
we try to observe and create and then
collaboratively with the other actors
and directors, we try to adapt that to a production.
So I encourage you, when
you're out in the world and if you're
people watching, if your animal watching,
if you're going to a museum and looking
at paintings, or if you're just listening
to music, try to really work on those
observation skills, and those questions
that I asked you. What's the speed,
what's the weight, what's the focus. 
Is it comedic, is it serious?
Because the more we can fine-tune our observation 
skills, the better we can create and the better we
can adapt. So I hope you had fun, 
I hope you learned some things.
I would have loved to see every single 
one of your animals.
Until next time have a great, wonderful day.
(applause)
