Raw Shack
Raw Shack is a musical game piece for a large group of improvisers with one or more prompters. It consists of large black & white cards which a 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 has also been performed in the following ways:
- As an installation with cards distributed throughout a space. Players move throughout the space and perform the cards they encounter.
- Silently, with the players interpreting the cards through movement rather than sound.
- With audience members acting as the prompters.
The first set of cards was created in 2004, inspired by my experience with the Austin Cobra Players. In 2015, I created 22 more Raw Shack cards during my residency at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, for a total of 72.
Download: Raw Shack Instructions (pdf)
Download: Raw Shack Cards (PNG, 300dpi, 13MB)
Below is a performance of Raw Shack at the de Young Museum, 19 June 2015. Raw Shack has also 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.
Raw Shack performances in Austin, TX, Auckland, New Zealand, and New York City.
Raw Shack © 2004 by Shawn Feeney is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
