The Perception Project grew out of Amy Rider’s work with different youth communities, and external stimulus improvisation ideas I’d been exploring. Four teenagers from South Seattle exchanged letters, music, and experiences with four counterparts on Bainbridge Island.  They sent CDs of their favorite music, recorded audio letters, and planned field trips for each other, but did not see their counterparts until they met onstage at the first performance.  We rehearsed similar techniques with each group so that they had a shared performance vocabulary.  Part of each show had performers hearing and speaking their counterparts words for the first time.  In the four minute segment above, Claire speaks Jack’s description of how he spent his last birthday, followed by Jack voicing a recent day in Claire’s life. In “channeling” each others’ voices, I was impressed how these young actors created dynamic characters on the fly.   Counterparts Papa and Julianna are asked to teach each other a physical aspect of their lives without using words.  Our goal was to create a structure that allowed for spontaneous discovery as the performers verbally and physically experienced their counterparts’ perspectives.