Saturday, October 13, 2007
Witness for the Prosecution
This week I got to serve as a witness for a mock trial program. This is something I enjoy because it involves messing with people's minds. While they're trying their best to abide by the rules of evidence and elicit testimony in a stylish and interesting way, I get to act like a jackass and pretend not to understand their carefully-crafted questions. I get to be cutely evasive with even the most straightforward inquiries. I get to cry on cue, if I feel like it. It's like community theater, but without all the semi-incestuous backstage romances.
The other thing that's kind of fun is that I always make up a ridiculously complicated and unnecessary backstory for my character. I like to pretend my witness lived in Guam for three years or married a motocross champion. Perhaps I'll throw in a hint of an accent (think Meryl Streep in Out of Africa) to add a hint of mystery. The only thing all my characters have in common is that they're hell on wheels for neophyte lawyers. And that's something we can all be proud of.
This week I got to serve as a witness for a mock trial program. This is something I enjoy because it involves messing with people's minds. While they're trying their best to abide by the rules of evidence and elicit testimony in a stylish and interesting way, I get to act like a jackass and pretend not to understand their carefully-crafted questions. I get to be cutely evasive with even the most straightforward inquiries. I get to cry on cue, if I feel like it. It's like community theater, but without all the semi-incestuous backstage romances.
The other thing that's kind of fun is that I always make up a ridiculously complicated and unnecessary backstory for my character. I like to pretend my witness lived in Guam for three years or married a motocross champion. Perhaps I'll throw in a hint of an accent (think Meryl Streep in Out of Africa) to add a hint of mystery. The only thing all my characters have in common is that they're hell on wheels for neophyte lawyers. And that's something we can all be proud of.
