contort

Performing under the name Mary Caryl, Serritella contorts her body into positions called “The Chopstick,” “The Jade Split” and “The Black Sun Split,” whirling around a silver pole as disco music plays.

But it’s also how she presents in the world of modeling, hooked up to wires, contorting her body to emulate a snake and sprawled across a hospital bed.

With the limited time frame, participating theater crews have to quickly establish a place and a sense of purpose, lending the audience, which must immediately contort to their role as actors, a call to action.

An actor differs: “One contorts oneself thousands of times, but dies only once … It’s simply not worth it.”

He has the preternatural ability to contort his facial expressions ever so slightly, going from innocent to cold and malevolent and back again in a split second.