Design

Half the characters are Performers. These are people with a key role in the production (any part with over 100 lines, as well as the two co-directors and the stage manager.) Each of them has the ability to make or break the production, and they will use this power to project their own dreams, desires, and insecurities into the play. This in turn makes them unwitting targets for the conflicting magical influences that are taking over the rehearsals. 

You might play a Performer if you want:

• Themes of ambition, art, creativity, humanity

• Immense power on-stage, but little elsewhere

• Play on stagecraft, rehearsal, and interpreting a text (but you won't be expected to act "well" or learn lines)

• A more structured experience

The other half of the characters are Vessels. These people have a more minor role in the production, but are possessed by the spirit of one of the play’s key characters. These spirits have designs upon the fate of the production and the personal lives of their hosts, which their Vessel may try to embrace or reject. How this spirit’s influence manifests is up to the player, effectively playing two characters at once. 

You might play a Vessel if you want:

• Themes of identity, control, chaos, magic

• Great influence everywhere, except while on stage

• Play on personality, inner conflict, and influencing others

• A more freeform experience

Three Act Structure

The game is made up of three 2-hour Acts each taking place at different points throughout the play’s rehearsal period, around a month of in-game time apart.

Act 1 - The first rehearsal - the first time embodying the roles for many of the characters

Act 2 - The mid-way point - the troupe beginning to feel more familiar with the text

Act 3 - The dress rehearsal - a full run-through with no (planned) interruptions

In each Act the magical influences upon the troupe will grow stronger, the possessing spirits more wilful, and the stakes higher for both the play and its performers. There will be a short out-of-character break between each Act, to give an opportunity to talk about how your game is going and what you might want more of. 

Each character will be provided with short summaries of the significant changes in their life between each Act - depending on your preferences around transparent/opaque play you are welcome to read these in advance, or wait until the appropriate time on the day.

Acts 1 and 2 will have a relatively loose structure, with a “call sheet” that schedules rehearsals and other scenes, leaving plenty of space for interpersonal play and exploration. 

Act 3 will have everyone focused on the dress rehearsal as magical forces send things increasingly off the rails, and personal conflicts come to a head. By this point the fate of the production will be depending on a successful run-through, but this won't keep people from sneaking in their own additions and alterations...
(There is no expectation to have learned your character's lines at any point in the game. Even the final dress rehearsal will be "on book.")

Blackboxes

A “blackbox” in Larp is a dedicated space for playing out scenes which sit somewhat outside the reality of the game. For A Play Toward our blackbox is “The Woods” - a place of magic and chaos, in which characters have a chance to interact directly with the “spirits” of the play. A member of crew will pull you aside at certain pre-established points to take you to one of the blackbox spaces. You’re not obliged to answer the call when it comes, but it will be difficult-to-impossible to reschedule or meaningfully delay these scenes. We can provide timings in advance to anyone who would prefer that.

Every Performer will have two such scenes, one in Act 1 and another in Act 2, in which they may be convinced to meddle with the play's final rehearsal in various ways.

Each Vessel will have a scene during Act 3, in which they can decide whether to permanently accept or reject the influence of the spirit that has been possessing them.