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Post by peter on Nov 18, 2007 6:34:21 GMT -5
Annoyance Level One - Week Five
&
iO Level One - Week Three
I sadly had to miss (and didn't get a chance to make up) thanks to pneumonia.
Though I did find out the next week what I missed from my Annoyance class (I'm going to sit in on Susan's third class next session). Apparently that entire class was devoted to Character work - with some individual feedback on the types of character choices you make. They did character monologues and then after everyone had done one the class did a series of scenes as those characters. Then repeated a couple times so they got to try one a few different characters. Near the end Dan challenged people into playing characters outside people's normal choices.
My personal notes on characters were that I had great specificity (added a lot of information in scenes a lot of details) - I should try out playing more oafish characters, and try a few characters who spoke only a single line at a time.
Edit: Booyah Page 2 - rocking.
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Post by peter on Nov 18, 2007 6:56:53 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two - Week Six
Open Warm-up scenes again to start the class (Is it weird that now every time I go to my annoyance class at the start I think of Pinky and the Brain - note if you don't know about this cartoon, go download some episodes you poor poor deprived people - "What are we going to do tonight Brain?" "The same thing we do every night Pinky.... open scenes to warm up.")
Next Dan challenged us to think of other improvisers you know or admire (or hate) – or if you’re not much into the scene pick a friend – and try to imitate the way they improvise (or would improvise). What sort of characters would they play – it’s not about doing impressions but think of the choices they might make. Vary it up each time. This actually lead to me making some very different character choices from what I normally use (and especially in class I'm all over the radar with my characters). It probably didn't even come near to how the few performers I picked play, but I just thought of one single trait of theirs I either liked, or at least recalled. One set of characters in particular that I really enjoyed were inspired from a good friend of mine at iO and came about imply because on stage he really takes his time with full deep breaths never rushing to speak, but patiently waiting and rarely jumping in with out a full breath in him.
Next Dan had us do a quick series of two person scenes and once everyone had been in one scene he asked us to keep the same character we had just done for a series of scenes. From this (after a number of scenes) we transitioned on the fly into a series of three person scenes (sometimes more) with these characters – focusing on entrances and exits into these scenes (sometimes director calls it sometimes it’s natural). As we got to see these characters interact with each other in the same environment in different capacities.
We then had our break.
When we came back we jumped into some open scenes just to get the juices flowing again and after a few Dan had us pause.
He told us we were going to do a series of Scene gauntlets – each person would be in 10 rapid fire 2 person scenes (few seconds usually) in a row. Each scene we must be a completely different character – if one character is too similar Dan will ask us to do another scene. This was great (though a few people had a little trouble at first, until they got a few scenes in) - I always enjoy challenges character wise like this - and what was awesome about this was that not only were you forced to do 10 characters back to back in scenic situations, each time you went in for another person you were doing yet another character (at least none of us decided to repeat any).
Then the last 10 or so minutes of class we just did open 2 person scenes where we were free to draw inspiration from any of the characters we did before or from anywhere in general.
A few things we took away from class: You Can Find Inspiration for a Character From Anywhere The only limit to how many characters you can play/create are limites you place on yourself Characters can fit into any scenario The longer you wait to do something in a scene [snap into character, pick up an object, name an object/activity, etc] the harder it becomes to do something
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Post by peter on Nov 18, 2007 7:36:14 GMT -5
iO Level Two - Week Four
We started off class again with the name game (we are getting better at it, however the hard part now is not so much remembering peoples names, but exactly what their motion was).
We then jumped right into some scene work. Susan had Nine of us hop up onstage while the rest sat down. She then told them they were going to do an exercise called 9 to 1, 1 to 9 (for those of you who've played it it's 5 in, 5 out - but with more people). Basically how it works, for those of you not in the know, is the players form a line (in this case two lines on either side of the stage) and Susan numbers them 1 - 9. Whoever is number 1 then steps out and starts a single person scene - as soon as we have an idea what's going on (so this shouldn't be an epic one man show) number 2 jumps out and starts a completely new scene with number 1 - then 3 jumps out and starts a new 3 person scene, then 4 starts a four person scene - and so on until you get to number 9 who initiates a 9 person scene, then it get interesting. After the 9 person scene goes on for a little bit and we get the idea (though this one should be a little longer than the previous ones) whoever is number 9 has to find a reason to leave the scene (or walk off stage/ out of the room / you know what I mean). As soon as 9 leaves the scene reverts back to the previous scene: scene number 8 (same scene that number 8 started just farther along: shouldn't start up right where they left off, should be a little bit of a time dash). Then you rinse and repeat with the people finding a reason to leave and the scenes regressing till you get back to number 1 and his single person scene.
Each group went with the second time around, whoever was number 1 became 9 and so the order of who went in reversed (and of course brand new scenes). When my group finally went (we were the second group) I ended up being number 1, which I have to say is a lot of fun and really shows you how terrible your memory can be - though I'm proud to say we got all our scenes in the order they occurred in - that's the beauty of ensemble work - if you don't know what the fuck is going on chances are one of the other 10 people on stage do.
After this exercise we then took our break.
Once we were back from break we were introduced to one of my favorite exercises that I have learned in Chicago so far: Suicide. Simple premise, one at a time everyone in class gets up on stage and has to act out either a suicide or an accident where they end up dead. The two caveats are take your time & make it real (no wacky Road Runner bull shit). Oh yes and one other little thing - every time someone steps on stage to do this the rest of the class must scream (with passion and enthusiasm) "DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE...." until the begin. Maybe it's a sign that I'm a little messed up but I loved this exercise - after I went I desperately wanted to go a few more times cause I kept thinking of more fucked up ways to do it. In my defense, I really love improv that goes to those fucked up places - that doesn't play it safe and takes risks and crosses boundaries - that invokes really strong emotions - It's why I love Harsh (improvised tragedy, NYC group used to run a lot at the PIT and UCB - really awesome look them up - and love the idea of the Horror, Early form invented by Del - took a tragic news story from the paper - like child died in fire, murder, school shooting, etc and then basically did a deconstruction based on it - also some of my joy were the ingenious ways of killing themselves people thought up). At one point Susan even mentioned I was clearly having the most fun watching this (heck I started passing out mime torches during the die, die, die rant).
This was also hilarious when people walked near the theater (as the other classes going on in back had their break as we started this, so they were walking pass the door to the theater as we were screaming DIE, DIE, DIE....).
Anyway there were some wonderfully impressive deaths - one that really stands out is one guy was staring at his watch for a while, kept looking out the window as if waiting for someone, all the while checking an oven (we thought he might put his head in it). Instead he finally took a cake out of the oven, put candles in it, lit them brought them over to the table. Started really depressingly singing Happy Birthday to himself while grabbing a shot gun from the way (really slowly singing it too.... say a line then sigh, load a shell, then another line, cock it sigh, check the window) - till finally he blew out the candles and put the barrel in his mouth. The reaction us was great - some of us laughed (this guy), some clapped, some visibly groaned, one girl burst into tears. All in all fun times.
We ended the class with these words of wisdom: Memory is the first thing to go when you're on a roll and it is the most important thing in improv Scenes are about people If you uses people's real names in scenes it can really limit them If you take your time and Make it real - it's so much more powerful (whether you're eating a bullet or getting cash from an ATM)
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Post by peter on Nov 18, 2007 8:15:01 GMT -5
Annoyance Level One - Week Seven
Try and guess how class started tonight....if you said with an interpretive dance session you're either a smarmy A-hole, or have not been reading this blog before today. If you said open scenes as a Warm-up to get us in the mood - you'd actually be wrong (I know shocker). We started off class today with a little pow wow with Dan, since it is the second to last class (a single tear drops on to my keyboard even as I type that) he wanted to know id there was anything in particular we really wanted to work on - anything from the earlier classes that really struck a chord with us, or we weren't quite sure about - or any expectations/questions that we had coming into the class about the Annoyance style or improv in general that we wanted to focus on.
We decided to go back over some of the object and environment work and then also focus more on prolonged character stuff - same characters in multiple scenes, and then snapping into different characters quickly (and really fleshing them out quickly).
We then jumped into some open warm up scenes to shake off the cob webs.
After that Dan had us each pick up a unique object that was either in the room or we had brought with us (preferably not pencils or papers, but something with some weight to it). We then stood in a circle and just took a little time feeling the object, seeing how we held it - then placing it down and miming that object in our hands (I chose my wallet - there sadly wasn't much to work wit in the room). After a bit we passed our objects to our right and began again - felling the new object, really paying attention to how we handled it. After we had done it with all the objects - Dan had us start doing two person scenes, at first actually using our physical objects. At random points Dan would walk into the scene and pluck the physical object out of our hands and tell us to keep going and keep using the object - just miming now. He'd watch how we were using it miming then randomly insert the object back into our hands - being very adamant that when he inserted it we were not to try and adjust our hand position. After a while it became pretty evident that some times a few people lost the feel of their object after it was taken out of the scene for a while - though after a few scenes everyone was doing amazingly.
We then put our objects down (or in my case back in my pocket) and continued on with more scenes where we focused on creating and using objects and using our environment - all the while Dan was keeping on eye on what we were doing - sometimes stepping in and just adjusting us slightly to give a little more space - or asking what happened to the table - it was never intrusive, or disruptive - and just kept people on their toes. After a while he really didn't have to do anything.
Next we did a number of scenes focusing on varying character between each of them. After a while this transitioned into before each scene Dan had one person step out and start a simple mono scene - sometimes he would give people a character (for example one of my suggestions was: You are the best mechanic in the world) and then you have about 30 seconds to just exist as that character in an environment. Then once it was clear you had a feel for the character another player would enter the scene - already in progress (again you weren't pretending to talk to someone who wasn't there you were just existing as that character - maybe talking to yourself, possibly silent - relying completely on physicality to embody that character - so the entrances were real entrances) and a scene would commence.
After doing a number of these we ended the class with a series of two person scenes where we were free to take inspiration from anywhere - be it stuff we had worked on in this class, previous classes - or our own personal challenges we had been given in week 5 (for me last week) - or again anything that we fancied.
A few bits of advice we took from this class: You can practice object work at home - and don't be afraid to take your time with it Finding a Character is as easy as taking a step or making a sound (it's all in how you take that step or make that sound) How you do what you do is who you are Always Challenge Yourself
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Post by peter on Nov 25, 2007 7:12:03 GMT -5
iO Level Two – Week Five
We started off the class with a rousing repeat of the name game that has become our staple. Alternating from passing the focus by saying someone’s name and making their sign (though now we don’t even repeat our own sign, we just immediately pass the focus along) – to just making their sign with out saying anything – and finally (a new version today) looking at one person while saying their name and making another person’s sign (the focus goes to whoever’s sign you made).
Next Susan had everyone hop up on stage and simply start walking around. She urged us that for this exercise we were to use as much of the space as possible – don’t just stay on the stage, run around the room, back stage, in the audience, by the bar, wherever. She then let us know that we were basically going to play a big old game of follow the leader – we would have to copy whatever movement, sounds, everything, the leader did – after a decent amount of time (at least a couple of minutes) whoever was the current leader could pass along leadership to someone else by making prolonged eye contact, until they took over. Susan then designated a leader and the shenanigans began.
We ended up running all over the Del Close theater – up in the chairs, behind the bar & stage. We ran, we jumped, we crawled, and we sat. I’m sure we probably looked & acted like an insane pre-school class during recess where the teacher had foolishly handed out foot long pixie sticks 15 minutes before. Still even though we all ended up completely out of breath & covered with sweat with our muscles burning by the end of it, we had a blast.
After everyone had a turn leading (and about half the class had passed) Susan had us grab a seat (well actually it was really more like Susan said enough and we collapsed on stage). She then asked us a simple question: (unlike most entries I’m going to be paraphrasing her, as I forgot my notebook): You like everyone else doing your shit didn’t you? And she was right we did. It brought up a wonderfully fundamental part of improvisation – every ridiculous little thing we did (be it howling like a dog while twirling like a ballerina across the space, picking lice out of people’s hair, frolicking about, or whatever) didn’t feel weird at all when everyone else was doing the same thing. Hell it felt great.
After this little pow wow we had (our much needed) break – where we all to recover some of our energy.
After the break Susan had us all grab a seat in the front row only to deliver a dire warning about the next exercise. She let us know that this was week five, and where things started to matter – she knew we knew in our heads what we “should” be doing on stage & in scenes to be “great”, our big problem was just getting to the place where we were doing it – so she warned us we’d better not fuck up this exercise (she was very adamant about that). Then with this bit of encouragement she let us know what we would be doing for the rest of the class: Two at a time we were to get up on stage and do a scene where the focus was to do the worst improv we possibly could – ever.
Oh it was fun – I ended up going second and continually denied as much of the reality my partner created as I could, ignored him half the time, and got to break the fourth wall – asking advice of Susan, and “not being comfortable with that offer” – though my partner as well plenty of vulgarity and ridiculous stereotypes came out as well ( a little bit afterwards I wished I had gotten the chance to go again as I would’ve simply walked in and shot my scene partner before taking my own life – which would’ve either lead to my partner having to do a one man scene – if he denied my shotgun blast to his chest – or two minutes of us just lying there). Other notable moments were when one person left the stage to go behind the bar and pour himself a glass of water mid conversation – one person leaving the building during a scene – a very white (pale, red hair) started off his scene with the line: “Where is that nigger…”, and a score of meh premises, denials, pimping, vulgarity, etc. etc.
Afterwards we all sat down and Susan dropped a bombshell on us. She said that we had all pretty much failed the exercise – every scene people the rest of us were laughing and enjoying it (some parts of it at least) – and what was the reason for that? Because we were in a way protected by the umbrella that we were doing bad improvisation. Again we were all doing the same thing – (although not all at once on stage – but all the scenes shared that theme). She even mentioned that I specifically in order to do “bad improv” had taken on a character of an insecure improviser, not been insecure myself – and cited other such examples.
Basically even though we were deliberately trying to sabotage ourselves it still worked because both people in each scene were on the exact same page and went with whatever was thrown at them, working together – even if what was thrown was terrible and in fact the idea of not working together. And that was merely reinforced by the whole class doing the same thing. We had protected each other by mirroring each other basically – if one group had done a slow patient really focused and great scene somewhere in there it wouldn’t have worked out as well.
In the end we left the class with these ideas: One person acting like an idiot on stage is just that - an entire group acting like idiots together is art. Treat everyone’s offers like they are brilliant and perfect in scenes & they will be – though be careful of abandoning your own offers for the sake of others. Beware of catching NIDS & FIDS: Nice Improvisers Disease & Frustrated Improvisers Disease
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Post by peter on Dec 3, 2007 5:51:50 GMT -5
Annoyance Week Eight – Level One
A little behind schedule (aren’t all my posts though nowadays – I blame the economy), but here it is – the recap of my last level one class at the Annoyance. I have to highly recommend my teacher for this one Dan Jessup – he rocks.
The Class
This being our last class of the session – Dan wanted us to make sure each of us got the chance to do as many different scenes in as possible (more room for us to stretch our muscles and experiment) and of course make sure we grasp some of the core idea behind the Annoyance philosophy (more on what these are later). However he also announced he planned to randomly pre-select a set time for certain scenes (anywhere from 5+ minutes to 5 seconds he told us) through out the class with out telling us before hand. So while some scenes would be un-timed and edited when he felt appropriate – he always kept his watch in his hand – and you never knew if you were in a timed scene (much less how much time you had) till it was over. Now what this little caveat did (especially after the first few scenes lasting mere seconds) was to quickly ingrain in our minds the necessity (and power) of not only initiating strongly but also the importance of having something that you can sustain indefinitely (or at least 5+ minutes). For me definitely it lead me toward immediately giving myself something the moment I stepped on stage: picking an emotion, physicality (how I walked or stood), or a few times even just making myself make a sounds as I stepped out (and once going out to grab/establish an object) and went from there. Now all those things very quickly lead to a character for me (which rocked) though at the moment I was stepping out I wasn’t ever really thinking in terms of choosing to e a specific character: I never thought “Oh I’m going to enter as the loud southern racist” or “Now I’ll play a Quasimodo/Igor rip off”, etc. Though I found characters like that from the way I walked (often the way I walked/stood in lead to a voice and an attitude or emotional response and thus to a character) and then armed with that little protection I would be in a great position to either initiate something with my partner (based on my character’s attitude, and whatever I might perceive off of them) or respond to any initiation my partner gave. And this, in a slightly convoluted nutshell, is the idea behind a lot of the Annoyance theory.
Through out the class it became very interesting to see how other people either coped with the possible time restraints that could at anytime occur. Some fell into the same thing I was doing, a few protected themselves by right off the bat endowing their partner as something (which in turn either defined themselves or quickly lead to it – for example right as we enter the stage someone saying to me “Mom I need..” sets up our basic relationship context).
I use the word context because in my mind Mother/ Child isn’t so much a real relationship (neither is, doctor/patient, husband/wife, etc in my mind) but a context in which to define and clarify your relationship. To me at least the relationship comes from basically just how the two characters feel about each other and then can be further defined by how they express that emotion and further by their context (for example: I might decide I love my partner’s character – they might decide to hate me. That’s our basic relationship. If I openly show my love for them, and they secretly seethe in hatred – that further defines our relationship – and then if my partner is my parent and I’m a child – bam there is our context, now we get to play in it). As you can see I still think the context is important as hell – but at the end of the day what I personally am most interested in finding is how I feel about the other character and vice versus (then, how we show it, then yada yada – though it rarely goes in such a nice concise order as that). The trick of course is the context is easy – call someone mom and bam there’s that layer … the emotions you have to show. This idea also touches on my own definition for the idea of what the “Game” is, but that’s another whole post topic and I’m already digressing enough.
Other people came out with their preconceived opening lines, characters, and even premises. A few came out occasionally with little more than energy and the expectation that their partner would do something and then they’d build off that. Still the majority of scenes were surprisingly entertaining. In the end though I know I preferred working with the other players who had decided to lay the groundwork for their characters when they stepped out.
After class had ended Dan again quickly went over a few of the core ideas we should hopefully take away from this class (they are below) – and told us we rocked and invited us out for drinks (first night he didn’t have rehearsal directly after our class).
So far after one level down I definitely like the Annoyance approach.
Advice we took away from Level One: How you do what you do is who you are Finding a Character is as easy as taking a step or making a sound - (it's all in How you take that step or make that sound) The best way to protect everyone on stage is to first protect your self - by finding a character/attitude/point of view to stick with. Playing in character is playing in power At the top of a scene do something, anything ASAP (no one cares what) then figure it out When you step off that back line enter like a shotgun blast*
And of course:
Always Challenge Yourself
*Enter like a shotgun blast doesn’t mean every scene has to start with you leaping on stage with incredibly high energy and play really intensely – but instead enter (and initiate) with that authority, that power. You can’t deny a shotgun blast – and no one’s going to miss it when it goes off in front of them.My little alteration to this is to think of your self as being a gun. When you’re in a scene every thing you do (every offer, every choice) is a bullet. Even when you first step on that stage your trigger is pulled and a bullet is fired – that’s your first shot… the shot that let’s you know what type of gun you are. What type you are in any given scene depends on how you do your thing – the important part is coming off that back line come out shooting – (and after you pull that trigger you’ll find out what type of gun you are).
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Post by peter on Dec 10, 2007 1:54:26 GMT -5
iO Level Two – Week SixToday our class ended being moved downstairs to the Cabaret theater – I have to say, you don’t really realize until you’re on it having to actually improvise how terrible the sight lines are for that stage (and how tiny it is) – you have to stay within about 2 feet from the back wall to prevent turning your back to any audience members on the sides. Anyway after ranting about the stage with Susan we started off the class with the now familiar name game – I think it’s fair to say now that we’ve finally mastered each other’s names and hand signs. After a quick round of this Susan let us in on what we’d be doing for the rest of the class: Story Theatre. Now for those of you not in the know Story Theatre was a concept brought into the improv world by Paul Sills back around 1969 in Chicago, which basically consists of the players narrating their own characters' actions. Circa 1970 Sills adapted it and created a musical named: Story Theater ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sill%27s_Story_Theatre ). With Susan we focused on the method behind story theatre – namely the narrating of improvised fantasies/stories with a major focus on using our bodies and environment to visualize and create the stories. The warm up to this (to give you an idea of what the hell “Using our bodies to visualize…yada yada” means) consisted of Susan asking us to do such things on stage as: be a school of fish (which lead to all of us swimming about the stage), create a thrown for a king and queen to sit on (which lead to us hoisting two players to our shoulders, while other players became their armrests & foot stools), depict Jesus walking on Water (two of us hoisted Jesus aloft and moved him forward as he made a walking motion over the rest of the group who started writhing like water), and my favorite Flying people around (I went first …. The entire group hoisted me up and flew me around the stage … incredibly fun and a great moment of trust… and probably most of the group's workout for the week). In the end one of the secrets she let us in on was the simpler the better: if it only takes three people to fly someone – then just use three (that frees the rest up to create more of an environment). All in all it was an incredible amount of fun (and probably the most actual improvising in a single class I’ve done so far at iO). We basically were told we could hop in and out of the pieces whenever we felt like it – as long as at least 8 or so players were on stage … so didn’t start out in a piece but feel like making a move from the audience – leap up and join in. It was great fuck ensemble work (I was up the entire time). Though right before she let us loose she gave us a few pearls of wisdom that not only apply to Story Theatre but actually to improv as a whole.: When you’re flying another player around on stage, don’t stand directly under them. Don’t try and be a Hero! Always support the neck and head & set them down feet first. “Lead with people instead of plot.” Plot will come after the people are established in a scene “You don’t know where the product is going to take you, so enjoy the fucking ride.” “Speak in sentences, not paragraphs.” It’s hard for your fellow player (especially in Story Theatre) to respond to long-winded paragraphs When in doubt, match your scene partner’s energy – a lot of improv (and especially story theatre – or any group work) is about mirroring and symmetry on stage With Heightening don’t think about “what we could do better” instead focus on thinking “what did we do” and what is needed. And at the end of Class – Susan left us with this little tidbit: “The only time you look shitty is when you hesitate while you’re wondering what is going on. Or when you make a choice only to change your mind half way through.” Act/be confident and you’ll look great
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Post by peter on Dec 10, 2007 2:26:51 GMT -5
Annoyance Level 2 – Week One
So a brand new session has started at the Annoyance (well started last week) – and I’m in a new class with a new teacher and a bunch of new faces. It’s crazy how many differing levels of experience we have in this class – there are people on current and former Harold teams at iO (One or two are from a great team that sadly just got cut from the roster), a bunch of people from other ensembles/theaters (second city, PH, CIC, etc) around the city, one or two people who direct at iO and other places as well as a few who’s only training have been Annoyance so far – or limited college experience. The teacher (is actually who my level on instructor had for level two when he went through) is Rich Sohn – and is incredibly Snarky (can I use that word?), but in a fun way.
Class started off with brief introductions – quick overview of people’s experience and names then we were all asked to hop up on the back wall to get things started. Rich let us know we’d be doing a series of quick two person scenes where he would call one person’s name and that individual would have to quickly jump out and start a scene and anyone on the back line could hop out to support them.
After only a few of these Rich had us pause since he noticed that sometimes people were hanging back just a little bit in starting their scenes (or jumping out) kind of like they were waiting for something. So he added a few things to the exercise. The instant he called someone’s name they had to start a scene (basically from the back wall) – id there was hesitation he’d call scene right there (before any words had been spoken) and call out the hesitation. Next if there was too much exposition at the top of a scene (as though someone was setting up a planned premise) – he’d call the scene – and again call it out. Everyone was encouraged to leap out there ASAP in order to support the person who’s name is called – as soon as they here someone’s name.
And thus with these additions the scenes started up again – overall it lead to much more interesting offers and tighter scenes for the most part, however the one difficulty was it became very easy to let scenes pass you by (and a few people only got out when their name was called): with everyone leaping to get out there and support you had to really be on your toes if you wanted to get out there at all (though overall that’s a good thing in a lot of ways).
After a number of these scenes – Rich sat us down and we talked briefly about how they went. During this he left us a few pieces of advice for when we were up there:
“It’s hard to turn your brain off, just cause you’re on the back line – so if you have to think, think more of what sort of energy you might bring instead of a premise”
Your best chance for success is to bring “something” at the top of a scene
Just make a choice at the top – then take a second to recognize that choice and heighten it
The “Rules” of improv were basically diagnosing symptoms instead of causes for bad scenes ~ The Annoyance POV
After this and a short break he introduced the next phase of the class to us. He had everyone keep there seats for this and asked two people to hop up on stage. For the rest of the class we just did super short two person scenes (just the initiation – maybe 3 seconds each) and then stopped and talked about the choices we as a class saw the pair make at the top of a scene (and what they might heighten from there) – and then asking the pair (what choices they made and where they might take it). It was very interesting to see the types of choices people made and how they were perceived – though it did come at one or two points come somewhat close (though thankfully never all the way there) to choice coaching: where a teacher basically uses the phrase “you should have…” (Which I hate for oh so many reasons). Though again thankfully it did not go there.
As the class ended he left us with this thought from Mick Napier: Fuck Your Fear
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Post by peter on Dec 15, 2007 18:49:54 GMT -5
iO Level Two – Week Seven
Short entry about this class – as it was mostly geared towards discussion of each other.
So due to some untimely circumstances – this ended up being our last class with Susan (she had to head back home for family matters) – who led to us shaking up the schedule a bit.
This class was all about celebrating ourselves as performers – so one at a time each of us went to sit up on stage while the rest of the class took turns telling us what they enjoyed about watching us and working with us on stage. Susan of course added her two cents to the whole process – and then after the love fest – she gave each person a specific challenge in order to get them to play a character/energy/etc that was squarely outside their comfort zone – or at least far different than anything she’d seen them do as of yet (I was asked to play a James Bond type with a focus on his subtle sexiness and mystery).
It was an incredibly fun class, and a bit sad – as most of us will end up split up for the following levels at iO – and we will all miss Susan.
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Post by peter on Dec 15, 2007 18:51:46 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two – Week Two
So class started off today with all of us hopping up and performing some completely open two-person scenes to warm-up.
After we had all gotten a few scenes under our belts, Rich paused us and gave us only one caveat for the next round of two person scenes: Everyone had to play different types of Assholes. This was a lot of fun (cause all too often people’s characters on stage default to being overtly nice because of the idea of yes and, you can still follow that idea though and be a dick about it) though there were a few scenes that simply devolved into arguments. However over all the scenes went fairly well, because since we were all focused on experimenting with as many different types of Assholes as we could think of – it lead to us finding more subtle ways of being a dick as opposed to being confrontational.
After a number of these scenes Rich paused us again and told us we were making a change: now instead of Assholes everyone had to play different types of Retarded people in scenes – again as many different variations of retarded as we could think of. At first glance of course that might seem like an odd request – it almost sounds like someone might do if they were parodying a terrible improv troupe – though again with everyone doing it we had some great scenes (though some less than stellar scenes definitely surfaced).
After we had run the retarded character gambit in a number of scenes – Rich sat us all down and asked: “Why did we do this?” (Besides it being hilarious for him to watch).
He ended up answering his own question: First off he wanted to get in our heads that we should be free to take on ugly characters (characters who are impolite, mean, cruel racist, offensive, etc.)
We played Assholes because he knew as Assholes we’d be less likely to drop our shit/POV.
We played retards because “Those people need to be taken down.” Seriously though it allowed us to play much more with physicality and more opportunities to find very simple patterns in our scenes and exchanges.
Over all the exercise forced us to concentrate on creating characters instead of premises.
Next Rich had everyone stay seated and asked for two people to ho up on stage. We started doing two person scenes like this with the focus on starting immediately and snapping into characters from the get go.
To do this – he had the two players up start a scene and then he’d yell switch (usually right after the initiation) – when that happens the actors must instantly start a new scene (snapping into new characters). Eventually he would let one of these run for a minute or so and then the next pair would go. This was a great exercise and I love anything like this that forces you to snap into multiple characters fast as it always leads me to finding some of my most unique choices and really altering my physicality.
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Post by peter on Dec 15, 2007 18:53:07 GMT -5
iO Level Two – Week Eight
So this was our last class for Level Two at iO and for it we had a kick-ass guest teacher: Miss Rachel Mason, Director of the Training center at the theater.
Today’s class was all about mirroring and symmetry – mostly using dance ideas. We started off with the traditional name game. After this Rachel had us for two rows on stage, one line behind the other – facing the audience (staggered so you could see the people in the back row standing in between those in front). Next each person took turns (after Rachel initiated it) hopping out in front as a drill instructor and would give a command (sound and motion to copy) for the group to perform ten times in unison. This was to get us in the mindset of mirroring each other and finding a rhythm.
Next Rachel had us all get in a straight line according to height forming a single column in the center of the stage facing the audience. She then asked the person in front of us to make a simple hand gesture (and the rest of us were to watch and make complimentary gesture to the person in front of us): if the person in front lifted their hands up pointing at the ceiling – the next person might put his hands out pointing at the floor, then the person behind them might point to the right, and the person behind them to the left….etc.
She had us do a number of these and then moved us onto to motion and sounds. By the end we’d start in the line and then after some patterns were set, we’d peel off to either side of the stage organically complimenting and mirroring each other until we were basically improvising dance routines.
After a number of these Rachel divided us up into two group and told us we had five minutes to come up with a bit: anything we wanted to do. Our first bits were very premise heavy – lot’s of dialog, however Rachel kept us at it until slowly we were planning less and less, talking less and less, and doing more. In the end we had two perfectly silent scenes – my group started two at a time slowly walking out and setting a table, then sitting behind it – only to end with the final person walking in, blessing all of us, and sitting in the center as Jesus creating a tableau of the last supper. The other group did a fun piece as mimes (one of who sneezed, causing others to gasp …. And so on – causing the sounds to build and the miming to break down).
In the end she let us know that what we were basically doing the entire time was creating organic openings and even group games – which we’ll be using in later classes as we start performing actual Harolds.
From the class we took these ideas: Creating characters inspires our dialog What we say is very important, what we do is twice as important Judgment is the enemy of improv Silence can speak volumes Go all the way for it – your imagination is your only limit in this art form Try shit on (especially in class) Everywhere you look: there’s your inspiration
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Post by peter on Dec 16, 2007 2:57:09 GMT -5
Auditions – Chemically Imbalanced ComedyLast week I came across a notice announcing an audition for a brand new sponsored long form troupe to be part Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC). www.cicomedy.comNow for those of you not in the know, “Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC) is an organization of artists from the Chicago area and beyond, dedicated to providing performance opportunities for comedic artists.” The group is around 7 years old I believe – they sponsor and create sketch, stand-up, & improvisation in weekly shows and also performs and produces comedic plays (some original works, some not). They also are the producers behind the kick ass Snubfest improv festival ( snubfest.com ) Recently (like in November) the group signed a lease on a brand new theater space - roughly four blocks north of my apartment. So considering the fact that I’ve been itching to start performing regularly again, the theater’s amazingly convenient location, and the chance to get some audition reps in – I quickly signed up. The auditions were Earlier this afternoon – Sat, Dec. 15th, from 1-4pm. It was to be all improvised so there was nothing to prepare (yay) and we were asked to bring a headshot (or at least a current picture) and resume. Anyway I got to the theater early to sign in – the place is a very nice black box theater, with a small entryway that doubles as the lobby/concession area. The place has around a 50 seat capacity (maybe a smidge more) set up in stadium style seating - along with a back stage area (behind a large curtain, big enough for small set storage) and a kitchen area in the very back. All in all certainly no iO or Annoyance – but a nicer space than the Playground theater. When I got there – already a number of hopefuls were sitting down – probably around 30 people. It turns out I knew the Director from interning at iO – great guy named Jorin, performs with the Improvised Movie: OFP, and is on a Harold team along with the Producer (who I also knew from interning) at iO. I got into the space and started filling out the paper work (standard audition fair – contact info, conflicts, etc) and a card with my physical description on it – and I ran into three other people I know who were trying out. One guy was from my level 2 class at iO, another is currently in my level 2 class at the Annoyance, and then one girl I know from college improv festivals – she was part of the host troupe to Whistler’s very first festival ever (complete tangent warning – there are around six people from the troupe: Absolunacy currently in Chicago involved in the scene, all of whom rock and met at that festival). Anyway by the time things finally got started a little after 1pm – there were a little over 50 people hopeful for one of up to ten spots on the new team (around 1-5, pretty good odds for Chicago). All the people were of varying experience levels – some had graduated places like iO or Second City but had never (or been cut) from a team – others this was their first audition ever. The director quickly had us count off by five dividing us into (you guessed it) five different groups (I was in group four… along with my friend from Absolunacy and my iO level two class – how fortuitous). Due to the number of people and the limited amount of space – groups 4 & 5 chilled in the audience and the other three groups separated and got warmed up. After they got warm – group one was asked to stay on the stage and my group (#4) went into the back kitchen area to warm-up. Before this however the Director clued us in to what he was looking for: not necessarily funny – but people who listened, supported each other, and built off what their partners gave them. The warm-ups were very relaxed actually – especially since I already knew two people in my group (makes a huge difference) – and lead by one of the theater staff. We warmed up till group one was done with their audition and then snuck back in to find seats. We got to sit and watch groups 2 & 3 audition. The format was as such: the group got up on stage and formed a back line – the producer would call out the name of one person from the group who would hop out and start a scene, and then one other person (didn’t matter who) was to hop out and support them – the producer called scene – and that was it. The focus was on two person scenes (but if multiple people stepped out, no big deal). In other words basically like almost every class I’d had at the Annoyance so far – rocking. I never got to see group 1 go through the paces – however there were a lot of really entertaining moments from both group 2 & 3 and a lot of very talented people (One of the reasons as someone who’s run improv auditions before part of me doesn’t like the idea of having the other groups sit and watch, it can get people in their heads – or psych them out … especially if they are in the last group and have been waiting for a while – that said at the time I didn’t care since I was enjoying watching the other people*). There was however a slant toward the talking head scene - and very few characters appeared (especially concerning actors varying their physicality … voices might change a bit, but often it was the actor up there playing a verbal ping pong match – which a lot of performers get away with up here, but isn’t my favorite type of improv to do). Finally my group got up – before we started I gave myself two goals: first start right away, the moment my name was called, or my foot stepped out to enter a scene I was to snap into something (emotion or physicality etc) – and second vary up my physicality* It was a ton of fun playing up there – I felt very laid back the entire time (basically just like I was in class – which btw all my time doing this sort of thing at the Annoyance, I’m sure helped). Our group had some good scenes, some meh scenes, probably a great/terrible scene or two – I wasn’t really paying attention to the quality – just watching the other players play and have fun doing it. Afterwards I stuck around to watch the final group go – they were a little bigger than the other groups as a few latecomers got tacked on to them. I think all the waiting and watching must’ve gotten to a few of them – as there were a few rough moments (one or two instances of people judging their scene before it was even over … one poor girl was basically silent her first time out – just mime writing – and you could see on her face she wasn’t happy with that choice). My favorite initiation of the audition was from this group though: “Yeah, so I’m a Satanist, let’s just get on with our exploration of the Mars Surface.” After it was all over – the Director thanked those of us still around for making it such a touch decision for them. As I headed to grab some food (the whole process lasted about 2 hours) I really had no idea what my chances were (well 1 out of 5, but besides that) or exactly when I would hear back (I figured sometime in the next 24 hrs). It’s usually a good sign when you can’t recall your performance (unless you were black out drunk), but I had laughed a lot in that audition. Though I had fun, which is always a huge plus at an audition* though I have a number of evening conflicts. Anyway I grabbed some food and afterwards went home to my apartment – as I was walking in the door, my phone started ringing. Long story short it was the Director telling me I was in (this was a little over an hour after it had ended) – booyah. So I am now officially a member of a CIC sponsored team – we start rehearsing in Jan, and performing either late Jan, early Feb – the new year is already looking up. * Really I think the reason I did well in this audition and felt so relaxed was because I really focused on the idea that I was just there for fun going in. I mean sure I definitely wanted to make the team, and get a chance to start performing, but I continually reminded myself – that if I didn’t make it, there were other auditions (in fact I’m already signed up for Second City general auditions come Jan – I can’t possibly get it, though I’m looking forward to the experience – and just yesterday I found out about another theater holding auditions which I would’ve signed up for the moment I found out this didn’t work out – hell if I had more time I’d do it anyway, but already my plate is getting rather full) or worst case I start up a practice group come Jan. and perhaps start performing with them (this I might still do). But I went in to this with the goal of it being for the experience and for fun – and it was … bonus was I got it.
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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 5:58:09 GMT -5
Hey everyone sorry for dropping off the face of the earth the past few weeks. Over the Holidays Classes took a break and I headed back home for a bit.
Anyway I've been ridiculously busy since I got back to Chicago - and hopefully I can get this thing back up to date post haste.
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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 5:58:24 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two - Week Three
We started off class today as per usual wit a series of open warm-up scenes to get the juices flowing. After a number of these Rich had us pause on the Back line and posed a question to us:
What is Heightening?
And: How can you Heighten your Character?
The three answers we came up with for the latter questions were to focus investing more in our Physicality and Emotions or to focus on the idea of Repetition (finding patterns our characters had established and keeping them alive: be it a certain phrase or sound, nervous ticks, reactions, etc)
The rest of the class focused on heightening.
Rich had us all stay in a line on the back wall and picked one person to start off. They were to say a simple line dialogue: “I’m here to stay.” Then the person next to them has to repeat the line while heightening it in some way: “I’m here to stay, mom and there’s nothing you can do about it.” This then continues down the line till everyone has gone – each person adding on to the line heightening it in some way.
After everyone had gotten to start off a line in the above exercise Rich had us grab a seat and asked for one person to get on stage. That individual was then asked to say a line of dialogue and then repeat it five times (each time heightening it in some way). After this had happened another player joins her on stage and a scene starts where the first person has to use those five lines as their first five lines of dialogue. The player joining them can respond however they want – but is encouraged not to tailor their choices to the lines they know are coming.
After everyone had completed this exercise we had run out of time.
We left class thinking about these ideas:
There are a lot of different ways to heighten in a scene Often reinvesting emotionally in something can breathe new life into a scene It’s not what you say it’s how you say it Calling people crazy (on drugs, etc) can be a weak move if done out of fear or confusion – However played strongly & deliberately on both ends it can be a powerful choice and a fun scene
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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 6:03:46 GMT -5
Non Improv related story... and it's long ... you have been warned
Something Funny happened on the way back to Chicago...
So as I mentioned above somewhere (two above I think) I spent a few weeks off the frid and out of Chicago over the Holidays. Anyway on the way back (I drove - from KY ... nice little 5 hour jaunt) I got a phone call that really was too good to be true. A good friend of mine who I've known since college works for a very large Ad agency up here in Chicago (I won't name drop ... because knowing my luck some exec over there searches the companies name on google every day just hoping to find something like this). He called me up as I was an hour or so into the journey and asked if I was going to be in Chicago the next day (Sunday) and if I was busy. I of course said yes and no (in that order) and so he laid out what I thought was a dream opportunity.
An Executive VP at his firm was in desperate need of a Cameraman/Editor to film a short ad for him on Sunday and then edit it together ASAP - presumably by Monday morning and apparently my friend had suggested me.
I tell him I'm absolutely interested and he let's me know he's passing along my number to the head guy. At this point I probably should have been more skeptical - as really a VP of this company would have access to tons of far more proven people than myself to film something like this - but I blame the hypnotic nature of interstate driving and the fact that the turn around time was so super fast.
Anyway The VP called me asked a bit about my credentials, equipment I had, editing software, etc - asked my availability for Sunday - and then told me he'd get back to me in a couple hours to let me know. This all increased my assumption that this was going to rock - hell there was some sort of screening process - it had to be legit right?
He calls me back and tells me that if I'm interested the shoot starts at 10am and he'll shoot me an e-mail with his ideas for the ad, a few more details, and the address. So I'm super pumped when I hang up the phone - I have what could be a very lucrative job waiting for me when I get back to the city and also something that might provide me with a great in with this company and even something cool to add to my reel (win win right?).
The rest of the drive seems to fly by and when I get home the first thing I do is check my e-mail. There it is: He give me a break down of what we'll be shooting: One or Two 30 second ad spots on Cyber bullying and lists two detailed ideas of the direction the ads might go - as well as the warning there will be a lot of ad-libbing (which is doubly great, and makes more sense as ad libbing is my speciality and I have a lot of experience filming improvised pieces).
Here are the descriptions:
A. Faceless. Maybe we dial out the color and go for Black and White.
In an idea world, you pan a bus -- faces. An old woman... a tattooed goth chick... a scruffy unshaven badman... a kid with his father... person after person... until there a guy who has a pixelated face. (IF WE CAN'T PIXELATE THE FACE IN EDIT... I will get a little post house help...)
The pixelated face dude walks out of the bus. Maybe we do this in a market place or where ever but you get the idea of "clear faces" and a pixelated one. Hopefully it looks weird (and arresting). We follow the kid walking to his house. He goes inside. He sits at a computer and types the word: Hate.
We cut to a girl at her computer. She reads the note on it BUT it's actually supers directing her on where to get help.
AVO: (During these visuals) Cyberbullying is a faceless crime. But now, you can help put a face on it. Dial 1-800-No-Bully. Now. And see what you can do.
Sounds cool enough for what it is - and I'll get to mess around with using the Cops effect (hooray motion tracking and key frames). So far so good nothing I can't handle.
B. Yelling Kid. Infinitely "brighter tone" but could also be black and white. A kid yells in the same parking lot. I hate you. You are bad. You are an idiot. You are stupid. (Maybe, gimme your lunch money.) To passerbys. Very simple and rough and Jackass meets the Man Show.
In the end, he follows a lady to her car yelling.
(Now we probably cut to the pixelated dude from above and then to the girl from the above spot).
AVO: You can see most bullies coming. The problem with cyber bully-ing is it's a faceless crime. But you can put a face on it -- and help put a stop to it by calling 800-No Bully. Today.
Ok a lot simpler to edit - and probably shoot, but in the end it kind of sounds like we'd be doing both. Fair enough just means that once it'll be a bit of a sleepless night as I edit these to get them ready by the next day.
Anyway Sunday rolls around - I hop up at 8am (the location is out in the burbs and I want to make sure I'm on time) - pack up my equipment, cameras, laptop, mics, and head out the door.
I follow the directions to this nice suburb - pull up in front of a very nice house ... a little confused - I don;t see any other crew yet ... maybe it's just me and the talent .. though I expected more cars for the talent (of course this might just be the staging area ... a lot of possibilities). I walk up to the front door, juggling my equipment, ready to rock. The door slowly opens to reveal the VP in a robe and slippers, with a mug of coffee in hand. He invites me in and breaks down exactly what we;ll be shooting.
A 30 second ad......for his kid's high school film class.
I inquire about the Bus full of kids .... oh just and idea ...besides he has a better idea. He leads me into the kitchen where an incredibly old mac is set up on the kitchen table and sitting in front of it is.......his dog. I spend the morning filming his dog sitting at a computer looking at the word HATE on screen. Positioning his paw to make it look like he's moving the mouse, and to spice things up - convincing his daughter to sit in front of the computer just in case we want to juxtapose it.
But it gets better. The VP also wants me to edit the ad there - on my lap top while he watches...awesome.
So six hours later (we got a lot of different angles on the dog, he wanted extra coverage) I hand him a 30 second ad spot (with multiple back up copies on DVD & Mini-DV tapes ... along with the raw footage in case his son wants to re cut things for his class) starring his dog, and head back to my apartment.... my ego riding shotgun in a tiny box of woe.
However I got paid baby. Booyah - though I doubt I'll be adding this to my reel.
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