July 5

Recent email from Andrea. Talking about the woods which are behind the mill where we will be staying. I am enticed by the possibility of our final presentation being situated in the woods.

The woods are a narrative goldmine. All the best legends and fairy tales are set in the woods. Mysterious animals, strange rituals, misfits and more lurk there. "If you go out to the woods tonight..." I am drawn to the possibilities.

In Toronto a performance troop is preparing a series of plays for performing on the subway. I was thinking about that this morning. I guess in the subway you have the advantage of people -- people as unwilling (or unwitting) audience. Audience by default. It would be interesting to see people watching the performance, so much about public transit is about being forced to witness or attempting to avoid witnessing drama in transit (or at least not being seen bearing witness).

The forest will be different. How do you draw people into the woods? Bits of crumbs, warnings not to enter the woods, enticing calls, a stray rabbit or other sport leading you to the woods... Traditional sources for drawing the townsfolk into the woods.