Habit is set in a four-walled, fully furnished, ranch house, designed by Marsha Ginsberg, with room for audiences to circulate around the outside of the set. Actors inhabited the set from 12:00 – 6:00pm on May 1, 2010 in the Watermill Center studio space, performing the play on a loop, communicating only through the dialogue, improvising staging as it suits their needs: If they’re hungry, they cook; if they’re dirty, they wash—and the needs of the characters. Spectators circulated around the enclosure during these hours, observing the actors through the apartment’s windows, two-way mirrors, or in a separate room on a live, eight-camera video feed. The “privacy” of the house allowed the actors to employ a more “private” acting style—improvisatory, relaxed, filmic—even while they were in full public view. Sometimes the fight scene happened while someone was making a sandwich and someone else was taking a piss; sometimes it happens as one person tries to watch “Oprah” and the other is about take a shower—just like in real life. This film excerpt taken from the May 1st exhibition was shot and edited by Carlos Soto.