i am in this christian performing arts group at my college [VCU] called 'the fingerpainters' and today was our first group improv street theater piece. it went really well. i dont act so i didnt know exactly how it was going to go and i was a bit nervous but the fact that it was improv made it easier i think b/c we all had to trust and work off of what the others did to stay fluid. the theme was plastic surgery, dieting, boob jobs, etc. things having to do with trying to improve your image. so while zach played guitar, me, angelina and brandon used plastic wrap to symbolize the masking and transparent cover up of what so many think will bring satisfaction. and anna and katie read an amazing brainstorm one of my roomates,anne, thought up and wrote:

"appeal. be noticed. plastic surgery gone bad. beautiful quirks and 'flaws' and individuality. violent treatment of body. humorous huge boobs! take your butt and re-situate elsewhere! nonsensical implants: sexier earlobes! elbows! avoiding natural aging. artificial. airbrushed. unhappy models. back problems from rack. meat. objectivication and depersonalization and dehumanization and abuse and idolatry of women. men and muscle. messing with a fragile masterpiece of God. break it. only He can fix. unconditional love. quick fix. patience. fear. sin. lies! truth. perspective. priorities. imbalance. expectations. pride. bad habits. paradigm. comfort food."

after about 20 minutes we ended by all sitting together in a circle, taking the plastic off of eachother and gathering it up in the middle into a ball while we all said 'everyday we pray for a mircle' in unison and anna wrote it out in chalk on the ground, said 'its time' and we walked back to our house in character. when we got back we prayed and talked about what we thought. i loved it. it really showed me how God can call us out of our comfort zone but when we do it you see His grace and ability come through.

funny incounter ( not shocking for richmond): you might have noticed the scene change in the pictures. about 5 minutes into the piece a lady comes up and gets in our face pretty much asking us what we are doing. and us being that we are acting stay in character and pretend like she wasnt there and she keeps asking us and eventually gets in the middle of us and says 'you are going to have to move!' so we apologize, dont create a scene and walk down the street to the next block on campus. [later we found out that she was homeless and that was her stoop]