Extra! Extra!

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Unfortunately, at that point, my acting training told me that a cop in this position would be looking through the window for his backup. I became so focused on locating my imaginary fellow officers that I crashed into a part of Mass’s extensive camera rig and ruined the shot.

“Aw man, that was so good up to there,” Hutchison said. “Let’s do it again.”

I felt a little like a perp myself as I walked back to our starting mark.

Gruber and I performed our walk several more times after that. Sometimes Mass walked in front of us, shooting our faces; sometimes he was behind us, capturing the handcuffs. On about the fifth take, as we passed the trio of teachers, Gruber whispered, “I’m going to say something to them. You pull me. You can be kind of rough.”

Acting! I thought. I remember this.

As my perp and I passed the glowering teachers, Gruber dragged his feet for a second and said a few words. He was quite a bit smaller than I am, so I pulled him toward me and pushed open the heavy door, letting aggravation seep into my face.

Fully in the moment, as I steered “Robert” through the exit it occurred to me that my character, a seasoned cop, wouldn’t tolerate any crap from this creep. Inspired, I shouldered my charge roughly into the door, which made a gloriously gratifying clatter, then shoved him out into the sunlight.

As the doors slammed behind us, Gruber stumbled a few steps, then looked at me with genuine surprise. “That was great!” He said. “Let’s do that again.”

For another perspective on this story, read BHS student Natalia Barr’s interveiws with her peers elsewhere in liherald.com/Baldwin.

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