Circle Mirror Transformation at Road Less Traveled Theater

Five small-town strangers leave their comfort zones and come together in Marty’s “Adult Creative Drama” community education course. Instructor Marty is boundless in her invention and enthusiasm, though she has never taught a Theatre class before. Newly minted divorcee Schultz seeks adventure and validation (or maybe just wants to be around people). Lauren is a rudderless teenager who half-heartedly participates, despite her claims that she wants to do some “real acting”. Theresa is a “real actress” – or at least has been trying to be a real actress in New York City – but now has returned to rural Vermont, stinging from rejection and romantic disaster. And James is present… well… mostly in a display of moral support (Marty is his wife).
Novice Acting Coach Marty offers this motley crew no end of exercises, games, and self-reflective assignments to sink their teeth into: they pose as trees, beds, and baseball gloves; they perform emotional scenes using only words like “goulash” and “ak-mak”; they pretend to be one another, telling each other life stories (or as best as they’re able to discern). They write deep, dark secrets (anonymously) on scraps of paper and listen, sitting in a circle on the floor, as the confessions are drawn at random and read aloud.
“I’m so excited to get to know all of you,” Marty tells her four students at their first meeting. Eight weeks later, there has been laughter and conflict… discoveries have been made… alliances and flirtations are formed and discarded, and new ones evolve in their place… and each of these five strangers has, indeed, come to know one another – and themselves – much more profoundly and intimately than they ever would have suspected.