The Edit
1980s-present (codified at iO with the Harold)
Also known as Editing, Editing a Scene
The act of ending one scene and beginning the next, treated in longform as a performer responsibility rather than a director's cue.
Known for
- Close and the iO Harold made the edit an ensemble skill: any performer can call a scene's end by initiating an edit, so the show is steered collectively.
- Standard edit point is when the game has peaked, the scene has found its button, or a pattern is ready to jump forward; editing too early starves a scene, editing too late lets it die on stage.
- Edit types form a shared vocabulary (sweep, tag-out, French, rolling, split-screen), each carrying different information about how time and context shift.
- Clean, legible edits are a group-mind marker: the ensemble agrees on the cut without verbal coordination.
Connected to
Forms
Schools & Theaters
io
People