Raw Shack is a musical game piece for a large group of improvisers with prompter. It consists of 51 large black & white cards which the prompter uses to cue the players. The title is a pun on the Rorschach inkblot test; instead of asking “what do you see in this image?”, this piece asks players “what do you hear in these words?”. Phrases and symbols are written on the cards, ranging from the musically specific (Waltz in E minor), to the evocative (hummingbird trapped in ice), to the absurd (You’re actually playing a banjo). The players interpret the cards in as literal, figurative, personal or dramatic a way as they wish. Raw Shack is “open source” in the sense that new cards can be created and added by anyone who wishes to perform it.

Raw Shack Instructions (pdf)

Raw Shack Cards (GIF format, 600dpi, 22MB)

On the right is an animation of the cards used at the premiere performance of Raw Shack by The Austin Cobra Players, 25 July 2004. Raw Shack has been performed in New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Auckland, New Zealand, and by Stars Like Fleas at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.