This past weekend, a post on facebook led to me to the site of Acting Stranger. Having married a stranger, I am always curious as to what brings strangers together and what causes them to transition into friends or acquaintances. In Acting Stranger, a prerequisite was that we would remain strangers and have no interaction other than in the scene.

I selected a scene called Body of Water. This involved conversing briefly with a stranger, and being carried into the Hudson at 100th Street and Hudson River Greenway. Had I been more diligent in my study of the material, and viewed previous versions of this scene, I would have realized that it ended with both characters completely submerged. Instead, this dawned on me when Character A continued walking until his head disappeared under water. I ducked under, remaining there only briefly. Upon emerging, I broke the rules by going off script, and saying, "It's pretty nice in here."

After we both swam out, I stood there, dripping with river water, my legs and feet scratched from scrambling out on suspiciously slimy rocks, wondering what the proper etiquette was for this situation. Again, had I been more diligent in my preparation, I would have read the clause that said there would be no goodbyes and no thank yous. I said thank you and walked off to drip quietly on the subway ride home.

Acting Stranger, the exhibition will be on view at Mass Live Arts from July 8-13.