“Paris, Texas” is a duet primarily focused on play, and how the games that bring feelings of nostalgia bring out our inner childlike behavior through competition. The two characters in this dance-theater piece start off with two players competing in a classic game of thumb war. They’re interrupted by a beeping interval timer of 30 seconds of elevator jazz. The elevator jazz segments are filled with showtime broadway style “jazz” as the two scramble to put on their attire and perform, striving to hide their true feelings of dread behind their steps. This method repeats in several rounds of 1-minute segments of thumb war and 30 seconds of elevator jazz as a mold for the characters to lash out off character through theme and variation of steps by the use of contemporary and gestural movements. The finale ends with a “Final Showdown” between the two as the music turns sour. The two resolve and go their own ways as the lights dim. This piece is an exciting and goofy experimental work that takes an audience on a journey full of confusion, recalling memories, and laughter. There is a brother-sister dynamic between the two dancers that brings a liveliness to the piece. Western, play, childhood, American Boyhood, relationship dynamics, conflict, games, and recreational sports are concepts/themes that were touched on in the creative process.