The Johnsons hosted a BBQ and everyone came.  But they spaced out their arrival to allow time to heighten the sequence between new entries.  Check it out.

To clarify: That last line out of Jonathan is “I brought the hounds of hell.”

The Johnsons are: Scott Beckett, Shawn Hambright, Townsend Hart, John Hilowitz, Joe Mack, Jonathan Nelson, Jessi Schmale, Lauren Serpa and Alan Vollmer.

Too often in a Walk-On based game like this one, the new arrivals would start rushing on as soon as the game was apparent – coming in with a new object with which to intensify the fire.  But The Johnsons patiently allow the game to play out according to its pattern and milk all the pieces of the sequence.

Pattern Sequence –

• Player 1, in a grumbly voice, establishes object he is using to intensify fire
• Player 2 exclaims, “This is some next level shit,” and “goes get a beer”
• Player 3, in a grumbly voice, enters with another object with which to intensify the fire
• Player 1 has a chance to react to Player 3
• Then Player 2 has his line: “This is some _____ shit; I’m going to get ______.”
• Player 4, in a grumbly voice, enters with another object with which to intensify the fire
• Player 1 and Player 2 have a chance to react to Player 4
• Then Player 2 has his line: “This is some _____ shit; I’m going to get ______.”
• REPEAT and HEIGHTEN

As they repeat not just the game but the pattern, they also heighten along a progression.  Obviously the intensity of the objects builds – from hair dryer to napalm to the hounds of hell.  But Shawn – truly the game’s reactor – heightens his own “This is some _____ shit; I’m going to get ______” game in relation to the objects being offered.  In reaction to “napalm,” Shawn’s “That’s some Vietnam shit; I’m going to get some heroin” is a terrific pay-off.

In fact, the game clearly could have ended right there with Shawn’s “heroin.”  It didn’t.  But “missing an edit” is never a problem for a group that plays patterns as well as The Johnsons.  When playing patterns, your next chance to edit is right around the corner; a group just needs to remain committed to the pattern and await their next editting opportunity.

I love me some Johnsons.

This whole show was pretty great, featuring all nine Johnsons, scenes that build pacing and a thematic edit.  Check it out!