A couple storefronts from Canter’s Deli is a little comedy theater called Bang! It’s a usual staple to see theaters like these converted from loosely plastered storefronts. The writers and performers of Los Angeles
Warming up before a show, all the student-performers were taking part in physical exercises. Everyone was moving around in broad strokes, and touching very tentatively. We were all strangers to each others for the most part, and everyone was doing their best to hold some semblance of personal space to each other.
I stretched my body out to its full extension while on one foot. My arms reached towards the door and my uplifted leg raised itself to make as much a horizontal line as possible. I wasn’t going to hold this position for very long, but I held it for as long as I could. Just for my own amusement.
All of a sudden, Ezra, a teacher @ Bang, grabbed my leg and started pointing to people to start distributing my weight to lift me up. They pushed me up in staggered jolts, like a paper boat rocking side to side in the rising tide. None of the hands felt invasive or uncomfortable. And my weight must have been evenly distributed because I was up there for close to ten or fifteen minutes.
They walked me around the room in my superman pose. Other actors who couldn’t hold me were filling out the scenery. A husband and wife stopped farming to wave hi. Three or four joined together to become schoolchildren who stopped hopscotch to shout with joy. This was a town, and I was there.
And after a while, time was running short. We would be performing soon. Slowly I was lowered to shoulder level while those beneath my waist and legs gently crept away. As my feet touched the ground the people holding my chest steadied me. The last to let go were the hands. Two hands and then they were away.
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