imp table
storyboard

You place an object on the brightly lit table, or rest your hand on it for a moment.	Out of the shadow of your hand or cup or bag emerges a small man. He crawls out, shaking himself and rubbing his eyes as if he's been asleep or in the dark for a long time. He looks around cautiously. If you do nothing, he goes about exploring the table top, walking one way and then another.	If you reach out to him, your shadow moving close, he'll back away, startled. If you get close enough so he sits on your hand, he's amazed, realizing that you can see him. He's cautious, though, wondering what your motivations are.
If you leave an object on the table, or place another there, another imp will emerge from it. The first will call out to him, pointing at you. The second imp is less cautious and more excited by your presence. The longer you leave an object on the table, the more imps will emerge. At first they are more interested in exploring the world of the tabletop than in you.	You can observe the imps meet up with eachother and communicate in gestures. They also produce swirling animated shadow drawings that express their emotional state.	If you watch them long enough, you see that the imps are frightened. You have created them by creating shadows with your body or with objects on the table, but now they cannot escape the tabletop. When they reach the edge, they can go no further. They will begin to group together along the edges, trying to figure out ways to escape.
What they begin to learn is that you can help them. They can leave the table by traveling with you. When you put out your hand, they can crawl onto it, where they disappear between your fingers, or up your shirtsleeves. When this begins to happen, the others begin to approach you, begging to be picked up and carried away.	You can choose to help them, or leave some on the table, still searching around the edges, or looking up for other people to help them escape.	Thus the person interacting with the table is the creator and emprisoner of the imps, as well as their means of escape. If you enjoy watching the imps and so leave them alone, you're choosing not to save them, but if you save them, they disppear.

more on the development of the narrative >