TITLE: Catch What You're Thrown
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: December 05, 2007  2:42 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<STRONG>Context</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  You are in an
<EM>Interactive Performance</EM>, perhaps a play, using
<EM>Scripted Dialogue</EM>.

<STRONG>Problem</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  The performer
speaking before you delivers a line incorrectly.  The new
line does not change the substance of the play, but it
interrupts the linguistic flow.

<STRONG>Example</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  Instead of
saying "until the first of the year", the performer says as
"for the rest of the year".

<STRONG>Forces</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  You know your
lines and want to deliver them correctly.

The author wrote the dialogue with a purpose in mind.

Delivering the line as you memorized it is the safest way
for you to proceed, and also the safest route back on track.

<EM>BUT...</EM>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  Delivering the scripted
line will call attention to the error.  This may disconcert
your partner.  It will also break the mood for the audience.

<STRONG>So:</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  Adapt your line to
the set up.  Respond in a way that is seamless to the audience,
retains the key message of the story, and gets the dialogue
back on track.

That is, catch what you are thrown.

<STRONG>Example</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  Change your line
to say "for the <EM>rest</EM> of the year?" instead of "until
the <EM>first</EM> of the year?"

<STRONG>Related Patterns</STRONG>  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;  If the
performer speaking before you misses a line entirely, or gets
off the track of the <EM>Scripted Dialogue</EM>, deliver a
<EM>Redirecting Line</EM>.

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<STRONG>Postscript</STRONG>:  This category of my blog is
intended for software patterns and discussion thereof, but
this is a pattern I just learned and felt a strong desire
to right.  I may well try to write <EM>Redirecting Line</EM>
and maybe even the higher-level <EM>Scripted Dialogue</EM>
and <EM>Interactive Performance</EM> patterns, if the mood
strikes me and the time is available.  I never thought of
pattern language of performance when I signed on for
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-11.html#e2007-11-23T09_09_50.htm">
   this gig</A>...
And just so you know, I was the performer who mis-delivered
his line in the example given above, where I first encountered
Catch What You're Thrown.
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