Photos by Stephanie van Hoppe
The Pods
I turned my current obsession, reality dating shows, into an improvised format!
A lot of my ideas can stay rattling around in my head. It's sooo satisfying to watch an idea materialise, get shaped and molded by others and then turn into a living, breathing thing. Big shout out to the good people at ImproNation Constellations Festival for making this happen!
In The Pods, a group of marriage-hopefuls embark on a series of dates with the aim to propose. They date without ever having seen each other! The pods are equipped with a wall separating the daters so they can focus on what is said rather than what is seen. Borrowing from a popular dating show, this improvised format follows the lovebirds on their dating expedition. The audience plays matchmaker and chooses the characters they want to see date and ultimately get engaged.
This 12-hour workshop, geared toward experienced improvisers, culminates in an hour-long showcase where love will prevail!
Thank you Trista for coming up with this amazing format, and for coaching us thru it with so much space for experimentation and co-creation!
Kasia
I always wanted to do a love is blind related format, I’m such a fan, it was so much fun to try out different characters in the pods, to try and bond with people through a wall and make faces that don’t match what you say, to really become a character who is needing this opportunity for their life or else…Trista did a wonderful job helping us get into our character and ultimately getting us all dating and having fun.
Matilda
In 'The Pods', Trista let me be in a reality show for the weekend! All the drama, none of the trauma.
Trista is obviously a talented improviser and she directed us like she was our biggest fan. She had a clear vision for how the show should run but also wanted our instincts, vulnerabilities, and brain farts to feel at home. While the audience got one version of the story in the performance, we got to play with dozens of sweet, hilarious, shocking, repulsive, tender, chaotic, raucous, silly outcomes in the workshop.
It was so [fucking] fun and I'm awaiting my next chance to find improv love in 'The Pods' .
Claire
In The Pods, there is no additional character than the candidates, so I always asked myself: why could my character be attracted by the other candidate? This exercise really pushed me to develop complex and lovable characters!
Florent