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canoodle loops

When a scene requires actors to be kissing, cuddling, or "canoodling" for a long period of time, you can create a "canoodle loop"--a series of 3-5 actions that are done repeatedly. The audience doesn't notice that there's a loop and it gives actors a strong way to tell the story without needing to improvise for long periods of time.

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Here are several options to choose from when creating a canoodle loop, with varying degrees of heat--feel free to add your own! 

low heat (cute, innocent, flirty)

  • Play with hand

  • Play with a prop in someone’s hand/play keep away

  • Show off muscles

  • Touch muscles​

low or high heat (depending on tone)

  • Whisper secret

  • Tuck hair behind ear

  • Play with hair

  • Kiss on cheek

  • Kiss on neck

  • Kiss on lips

  • Kiss hand

  • Play with part of a costume (your own or scene partner’s)

  • Draw shapes on leg with fingers

  • Draw shapes on hands with fingers

  • Draw shapes on forearm with fingers

  • Draw shapes on chest with fingers

  • Rub noses

  • Fingers on lips

  • Trap scene partner against wall

  • Trap scene partner in arms

  • Trap scene partner in chair/sofa

  • Pull scene partner into lap

  • Put one arm around scene partner

  • Put both arms around scene partner

  • Move hair out of the way

high heat

  • Kiss inner wrist

  • Run nose between ear and shoulder

  • Run nose across collarbones

  • Run hand along thigh

  • Run hand along leg

  • Bite fingers

  • Suck on fingers

  • Bite earlobe

  • Bite shoulder

  • Bit neck

  • Run hand from throat to waist

  • Straddle scene partner

  • Roll over each other (if laying down)

EXAMPLE:

  1. Johnny tucks Sarah's hair behind her ear

  2. Sarah plays with Johnny's shirt buttons

  3. Johnny takes Sarah's hand and kisses her inner wrist

  4. Sarah kisses Johnny's neck

Repeat.​​

While I work in various areas throughout Utah, much of my work takes place on the traditional lands of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Goshute, and Eastern Shoshone peoples. White settlers seized the lands colonially known as the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys through the unratified and unfulfilled Treaty of Spanish Fork in 1865, in exchange for basic needs and rights, under the direction of Brigham Young. 

To learn some of the ways you can support members of these native peoples today (including land restoration and preservation), visit and/or donate to the following resources: 

Ute Land Trust

Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake

Utah Diné Bikéyah

Landback

Indigenous Action 

The Red Nation

 

I also recognize the stolen lives of the enslaved Africans brought to Utah by early white settlers, and acknowledge that their subjugation and forced labor helped to establish the cities that exist in this area today. 

To learn about direct action you can take for racial justice, visit and/or donate to the following resources:

The Black Menaces

The National African-American Reparations Commission

The Center for Anti-Racist Research

Resmaa Menakem and Somatic Abolitionism

 

These acknowledgments are only one step in anti-racist theater, film, and television. I strive to de-colonize my work through careful project selection, meaningful collaboration, ongoing conversation, self education, and uplifting the voices who have been marginalized by white supremacy.

© Liz Whittaker

lizwhittakeremail@gmail.com

208.709.8945

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