Like past obstacles, I like Princess Gwen’s challenges to include a bit of costuming and crafting fun:
Can you spot Jay Robinson?
Since we our #POOC has become a #POOOC, I had to pull out my trusty costume box (see above).
And, since the point of GEAR UP and GET DOWN is to gear up as many costumes as you can, and boogie as hard as you can, I then had to choose the perfect music. This is where Carly Rae Jepsen, the 21st Century’s Queen Of A Million Kingdoms, comes in!
(If you are in desperate need of a jam right now, take a listen, and I guarantee you’ll want to dance!)
Princess Gweia…
or Princess Gwen?
I really hope you all are having a good time engaging with our Obstacles — who doesn’t need a bit of fun right now?
Welcome to #POOOC2020 — the Peripatetic Players Particularly Obstinate Online Obstacle Course!
Seven Obstinate Obstacles await you for stay-at-home fun! They will test your merit, your mettle, your moxie, and even your manners.
Some tips:
Read through the Obstacles first so that you can collect everything you need and understand how the challenges work.
All the Obstacles can be done at home with common objects. Some obstacles require a partner, who can be someone in your household or someone you can call or video-chat with.
Each Obstacle can be modified for each participant’s ability, dexterity, and size.
Bonus Points are ways to add challenge to any Obstacle!
You can tackle one Obstacle at a time, or do all of them in a row! The Official Online Obstacle challenge lasts through April 5. Challenge yourself to complete your Obstacles by then if you like!
Be sure to ask permission to use the household items you’ll need for the challenge, and have an adult approve the safety of your course before you begin. (If you are an adult, it’s up to you how much permission and safety is required.)
If you wish, you can post photos or videos of your glorious Obstacle attempts with the hashtag #POOOC2020. The Peripatetic Players will be posting theirs, too. You can also tag @PeripateticPlayers on IG or TikTok, and @SamuelPeaches on Twitter!
Also optional: If you register as an Official Obstacler, you can donate or collect pledges to help the Peripatetic Players raise money for their summer production,A Lord Of A Ring: The Extend-ish Edition, a two-part trilogy inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous adventure saga. For more information, please visit https://go.rallyup.com/poooc2020
Gear up for your great quest! Every undertaking requires the proper attire and bomb moves. For obstacles of this obstinacy, the more layers and the more moves the better! Each member of the Fellowship had at least a few layers of cool cloaks and protective gear, even if they didn’t wear shoes. In your awesome attire, with your amazing moves, you will defeat any foe!
Get Ready…
Gather some clothes — as many as you can put on at once over whatever you are wearing now.
Finda music player.
Get Set…
Choose a song to play, and cue it up on your player… or just use the next song that comes on the radio.
Go!
Start the music!
Put on as many pieces of clothing as you possibly can! Remember, you’re preparing yourself for a great challenge!
NOW DANCE! Dance defiantly in the face of adversity! You have til the music stops to continue being amazing!
Bonus Points: Be wearing all of the costume pieces at the end of the dance that you started your dance with. More clothes and more vigorous dancing = more bonus points!
Princess Gwen, Some Strange Pink Monster, and Dr. Reindeer dancing in sync during P.O.O.C. 2017. Photo by Tim Guydish.
2. GALADRIEL’S MIRROR of “Things That Have Not Yet Come To Pass”
What are your predictions for things that have not yet come to pass, a.k.a. The Future? The elf queen Galadriel looks into her mirror (which looks an awful lot like Dumbledore’s Pensieve) to see the past, present, and future. Your mirror will help you give a hopeful prediction!
Get Ready…
Find a Mirror or other reflective object (like a window) in which to look for your predictions.
Get Set…
Sit or stand in front of your mirror.
Go!
Wave your hands mystically in front of your mirror while you speak your question aloud: “What is something good that can happen while we shelter in place?” or “How might the world change for the better after this quarantine?”
Close your eyes for 10 seconds while you summon all your visionary powers…
Now open your eyes, strike your most Powerful Pose…
And in your biggest voice, Speak Your Prediction! Try starting with “I hope that…” or “I’m glad that…” or “I predict that…” and fill in the rest. Examples: “I hope that I will be stronger and more resilient than before!”, “I’m glad that I can write messages to my friends!”, “I predict that we will all be happy to see each other again!”
Bonus Points: Sing your prediction, and keep singing all about it! Make it up as you go along… aim for 30 seconds and see how long you can keep your song going!
When Frodo started on his quest to destroy the One Ring, he had no idea what would happen… and sometimes, the obstacles he faced were challenges he created! Now it’s your turn to show everyone your best talents and qualities. You’re going to make an obstacle course in your own space, using items from the lists provided.
Get Ready…
Create five obstacles, one from each object in List A. Here’s how: Draw one line from each object in List A to match up with one task from List B (you can write in a couple others if you like). Then draw a line from each chosen task in List B to one way from list C. This is your guide to making your obstacle course… feel free to add your own embellishments and get creative!
List A: OBJECTS
A Chair
A Doorway
A Pillow
A Blanket
List B: TASKS
Go Under
Go Over
Go Around
Go Through
Go Inside
Balance On
Jump Over
Hide From
Travel Along
[Create Your Own!]
List C: WAYS
Stealthily
Quickly
Softly
Loudly
Strongly
Gracefully
Secretly
Invisibly
Pompously
[Create Your Own!]
Collect the objects in List A. For Bonus Points, also collect something to toss (like a pair of socks folded into a ball) and something to toss it into (like a bowl, basket, or other container.)
Find something to use for a starting line and a finish line. Long pieces of yarn, long scarves, or a piece of removable painter’s tape on the ground work nicely.
You may want some music for this challenge. Choose your soundtrack wisely.
Get Set…
Set up your obstacle course, using your objects, tasks and ways to create your own Unexpected Journey!
Bonus Points: Set up a Final Challenge to do when you’ve finished the others: like Frodo tossing the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom, you’ll toss your tossing-thing into your container!
Turn on your music.
Go!
Complete your Unexpected Obstacles!
Meekins as The Hare, ready to win all the races in Aesop Amuck, summer 2015.
4. THE TWO TOWERS: Messages To Faraway Friends
What happens when you need help, but your friends are far away? You send messages, of course! In this challenge, you represent a whole castle or city. You can be Gondor lighting the beacons to ask for help from Rohan, or (if you’re a villain) Sauron up in Orthanc commanding Saruman in Isengard, or (if you have no idea who or what we’re talking about) you could be San Francisco sending signals to New York City. Your goal is to get a message to your friend across a distance, without using words.
Get Ready…
Find a partner (virtually or online)
Find something to wear that represents your castle, city, or community. (If you are already wearing a costume, this should somehow fit on top!)
Get Set…
You and your partner should be in two different places. You could be in different houses (via video chat), different rooms of the same house, or just on opposite sides of one room.
Put on your costume!
Decide on a simple task for your partner to do. Each partner should come up with a task, but don’t tell each other what the task is! Examples of simple tasks: Do jumping jacks, Drink a glass of water, Sit down in a chair, Clap your hands.
Decide on a way to communicate. Remember – you must communicate without words, and without leaving your spot. Examples of ways to communicate: hand signals, Morse code, semaphore, gestures, sign language, or invent your own!
Bonus points: Don’t decide on the means of communication in advance, just wing it, and trust your partner to understand!
Go!
Communicate, without speaking, what you want your partner to do.
Once the first partner successfully completes their task, switch!
A small pirate, Meekins and Samuel Peaches with a punny obstacle at the 2018 P.O.O.C.
5. LEGOLAS & GIMLI’S Conquer-Clutter Competition!
Work with a partner to destroy the clutter around your house in a friendly competition, like Legolas and Gimli clearing Orcs out of the Battle of Helm’s Deep!
Get Ready…
Find a partner (online or in person)
Find a timer, or find a helper to keep an eye on the clock
Get Set…
Agree with your partner on how long the challenge will last, anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes.
Set your timer (or have your helper say when to “go”)
Go!
Pick up pieces of clutter in your house, like toys, socks, pencils, junk mail — anything that’s out of place — and put them where they belong!
Count your conquests: loudly call out a number each time you put something away so that your partner knows how awesome you are at this challenge.
Compete to be the partner with the most items of clutter vanquished when the time is up!
Bonus Points: Count your conquests in the voice of your favorite character.
This competition between two Veronese ruffians (played by Princess Gwen and Percival Perkins) in Shakespeare or Space Wars (2017) wasn’t so friendly.
6. The RIDICULOUS RINGWRAITH Drawing/Describing Challenge!
Those creepy Ringwraiths are always after our hero, Frodo Baggins… but they don’t know who he is, they can only talk in screeches and shrieks, and they can’t see so well under those heavy black cloaks! In this challenge, you’re a Ringwraith trying to find your favorite hero… but you have difficulties. Choose whichever challenge appeals to you: DRAWING or DESCRIBING!
Get Ready…
DRAWING: Grab a maker, some paper, and something to cover your eyes with, like a scarf you can tie into a blindfold or a hoodie you can wear backwards.
DESCRIBING and DRAWING: Decide who is your favorite hero. It could be yourself in your Obstacle Course costume, one of your Obstacle partners, Aragorn, Gandalf, Princess Leia, Wonder Woman, or any other hero.
Get Set…
DRAWING: Cover your eyes. Make sure you have your marker in your drawing hand and your paper on a table in front of you, under your other hand.
DESCRIBING: Take a deep breath!
Go!
DRAW a picture of your hero! No peeking! When you are done, show off your masterpiece — while still blindfolded.
DESCRIBE your hero using only gibberish! Be sure to use gestures or sounds that will help us get a sense of your hero’s awesomeness. Don’t leave out any details!
Bonus Points for DRAWING or DESCRIBING: you can only talk in screeches and shrieks!
7. The Most Obstinate of Obstinate Obstacles: SKARKLINE
Sometimes, you are called upon to Skarkline. What is Skarkline? Only you know.
Get Ready…
Prepare the Skarkline Arena.
Get Set…
Enter the Skarkline Arena.
Go!
Successfully Skarkline!
Bonus Points: Skarkline in the character of your favorite hero (like Eowyn), villain (like Saruman), or anti-hero (like Gollum).
We are not sure if anyone is Skarklining in this picture from Aesop Amuck. There do seem to be Players wearing frog feet, and toddlers throwing projectiles.
Have fun!
Please let us know about your Obstacle Attempts by posting them on social media with the hashtag #POOOC2020! You can also tag @PeripateticPlayers on IG or TikTok, and @SamuelPeaches on Twitter!
Rebecca and Joan — who when not embodying Mdme. Directrix and Thumper, respectively, are the SPPP’s producing organization, Idiot String — sat down after one of the final Aesop Amuck rehearsals with none other than Sam Bertken (a.k.a. Meekins) to talk about their inspirations for both Aesop Amuck and the Peripatetic Players’ debut adventure, O Best Beloved.* Sam writes for S.F. Theater Pub,** a great blog about theatre and the independent theatre scene in the Bay Area that is run by producer, playwright & director Stuart Bousel.
We talked about influences like Mercer Mayer & Maurice Sendak, the Muppets, and Medieval & Renaissance theatre, as well as why performing on FluxWagon and breaking the fourth wall are so important to us. Read the interview here!
*Please note there are a couple words bleeped out with asterisks in this article that, if unbleeped, would be inappropriate for young audiences!
**Please also note that the content of S.F. Theatre Pub in general is aimed at adult audiences, and some topics elsewhere on the site may not be appropriate for kiddos.
We have shows through August 23 — four more performances — but just a few days left to pledge your support for Aesop Amuck via Kickstarter.
As of this moment, we need just $555 to reach our goal, and we have until Monday night, August 17, to do it. Can you help?
Your support helps keep FluxWagon in her finery, transports her to each performance venue, ensures we’re insured at each location, provides pay for the Peripatetic Players — and keeps our performances *free* to the public.
There’s a searchable collection at www.aesopfables.com, which also includes fairy tales from Hans Christian Andersen and others. This is likely the most extensive collection, and you’ll find many fables that are nearly identical but with slight variations in the details.
Who was Aesop anyway? Wikipedia can tell you a little more about who he might have been. But no writings attributed directly to “Aesop” survive. We do know that many philosophers and poets, including Aristophanes and Sophocles, knew of Aesop’s stories; Sophocles composed some of them into verse poems. We also know Aesop didn’t write down any of the morals; the lesson of each story was thought to be clear without articulating it, but later authors have added them and today we recognize many familiar aphorisms in the morals of “Aesop’s Fables.”
And for more images, head to Wikimedia Commons for a wealth of public domain illustrations from historical editions of the fables.
Happy exploring!
A Wenceslas Hollar illustration found at Wikimedia Commons
The Peripatetic Players 