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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 6:05:07 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two - Week Four
So it has been right around three weeks since I last improvised (The theaters up here take a break for the holidays … and I went back to my home town to appease the family – so I didn’t even have the option of jams…sigh).
But classes are back – and it is very welcome. Rich realizing that we all had some extra cobwebs to shake off after the break – started us off with an extra long warm-up session this class. Just a lot of open two person scenes to get us back in the groove.
After a number of these (though I could’ve used even more honestly) he had us circle up in the middle of the room. IN a bid to get us back into the groove of finding characters quickly and organically (and get our energy up some more I’m sure) he had us start working some character transformations. One person would hop in the middle of the circle. They would then begin by making a random sound and motion that were encouraged to be disparate form each other (no easy way outs in this exercise). The rest of the circle would then repeat this sound and motion – over and over along with the person in the center, until….buhm..buhm…baaaaah – the player in the center locked eyes with someone in the circle who then switches spots – ending up in the middle. At this point everyone else fades off repeating the sound and motion leaving just the new middleman doing it. Slowly then the new person in the middle has to organically find a character from the repetitive sound and motion they were given – transforming it. After they get a clear character (physicality and voice) and saw a few words – they get to start a new sound and motion and the process repeats.
Once everyone had a turn we went ahead and took a quick break. Afterwards Rich had us circle up again – telling us that we were going to be doing the exact same exercise – with a twist…..buhm…buhm….baaaaaaah --- after we found a character he was going to have the class conduct a intense character interview. Sadly not everyone got a chance to participate in this round as the interviews ran long and we ran out of time.
All in all a nice low-pressure class to get us all back into the groove of things after the break.
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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 6:07:11 GMT -5
First CIC Rehearsal
So last night was the first rehearsal for the new improv troupe I’m in sponsored by Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC). Usually we would be meeting in CIC’s brand new theater (well 3 months old now) however there was a slight scheduling conflict with the dress rehearsal of a play they are currently putting up, so we met in Sheil Park (for those of you not in the know – this is basically one of the ubiquitous locales where random improv rehearsal are held a lot in the city, as they have rooms for rent and on the cheap).
Anyway the first rehearsal went great. There are 10 of us in the group and everyone seems like really great and talented people (though one person couldn’t make it as she’s currently in rehearsal for a play at another theater through Jan … so who knows perhaps she’ll be evil). We started off just basically chatting a bit to get to know each other and our Director (who also rocks btw … ok enough fanboying for the group) a little better. Jorin (our Director) then had us circle up and began with some warm-ups. An ubiquitous, first time we’re improvising together, learn names game – a sharing circle, where we all took turns sharing a story about something non-improv related that happened to s over the holidays - a fun new warm-up I’ve never seen before which is basically a rhythm based “would you Rather” game called That’s what I like, where you start a simple clap rhythm and then one person in the circle asks the rest of the group a questions with two possible outcomes (would you rather be able to fly or be invisible…etc) and then to the beat everyone in the circle takes turn answering one or the other …. After everyone goes the group says in rhythm, Cause that’s, that’s what I like, cause that’s that what I like .. and a new person asks a question.
We then ended up doing some quick free form montages basically just a chance to play with each other. Before each scenic exercise we would run about the stage high fiving people to get our energy up and connect with each other – then we’d just start from that. We played pretty fast and loose and had no problem with group scenes (which is both surprising and probably a great sign). Afterwards Jorin had us switch over to focusing on a little longer two person scenes and then pseudo Armando based on our previous stories from the sharing circle – with one person recounting the tale again and the rest of us picking out inspiration from it.
Finally we ended the practice focusing on something that I think went incredibly well – it started off with half of us just sitting on stage in chairs and just having a conversation about a random topic Jorin gave us. After both halves of the class had a chance to just have a normal conversation as such – Jorin then had us mix up into three person groups and told us we were basically going to the same thing (just have a simple conversation on stage) however this time instead of being ourselves, he was going to give us characters and then we were to simply have a conversation as those characters. It actually went very well (as I might have said before) and is perhaps one of the simplest methods and descriptions I’ve heard in a very long time that leads to really interesting and good improv: just characters having a conversation on stage.
Afterwards a bunch of us went out for drinks at a local tavern and managed to turn more than a few heads with the turns our conversation took. All in all I am very excited about this new troupe.
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Post by peter on Jan 14, 2008 6:08:30 GMT -5
iO Level Three - Week One
The new session at iO started for me last night (woohoo level three... Cue Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" as this level is the half way point in iO's classes).
Sadly our regular teacher - one Bill Arnett - couldn't make it to the inaugural class (he's teaching some sort of corporate improv thing this week at Duke University I believe) so we had a substitute. This particular level of classes focuses on scene work - two person scene work - and so with an 18 - 20 person class (we had a few sit ins so I'm not sure exactly who all will be staying the long hall in this particular section) that leads to a lot of down time: sitting and watching. The good thing is of course that a lot of the people in the class are actually very talented (at least so it seams... who knows as it was just the first class - I could be as mistaken as the Preliminary Polls were in New Hampshire ... *Rim Shot* ... sorry) so not only do you have the opportunity to learn from any notes that the players you are watching receive, but also you (at least I was) are kept entertained.
Class started off with a rather boring (and honestly way, way too long and redundant) recital of the what the class was going to cover and then the iO "regulations." I think our substitute was a great and talented guy - but there was no reason to spend 25 minutes going over basic information that A). we should already know by now (namely attendance policies, contact info for half the theater, etc) and B). is all readily available on the website. I mean some of the information was important (and it is conceivable that even by this level somehow a few of us might not know the basic policies concerning classes - but you can sum up that in a few minutes - you don't have to read from the policy packet during class).
After this we finally got to get up and begin warming up. Class started with fun (and fairly standard) name game. All of us stood in a circle and made a particular motion while saying our names and then proceeded to pass the focus around the circle by saying our name (with our motion) and then repeating someone else's name and motion.
Next our teacher had half of us sit down and the rest remain on stage. He asked the group on stage to just quickly run through a few short two person scenes - just to warm us up a bit and see where we were. After a couple of these he had the groups switch and then the process repeated.
Finally once everyone had a turn at the warm-up scenes he out lined the exercise we'd be doing for the rest of the class: longer two person scenes - with a focus on playing slower and stressing keeping it "real." The real key to this was the idea of playing "Real" since if our teacher didn't believe a choice or an offer or a reaction in a scene he's pause it and point it out, and then have the scene continue with a more appropriately "real" choice. I think that this brought up a very key point about improv - that making realistic choices and having genuine reactions and emotions in scenes makes everything you do far more powerful. However, I feel that a few times during this exercise it devolved into basically choice coaching which is really almost never helpful in improvisation and I think it could have been avoided if he had focused more on encouraging people to commit to the choices they did make (and possibly side coaching the players to explore those choices, or their reactions more) instead of stopping the scenes to express your disbelief in a choice and then start it up again in the same spot.
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 6:56:37 GMT -5
Hey all
Sorry for the lack of updates recently to this thing - but I've been super busy as of late. Below I finally catch this thing up to present day (actually I'm only like two weeks behind so that isn't too bad... it felt like more).
Thank you to everyone who reads this - and I hope it provides an interesting (dare I hope even entertaining at times) resource for all of you in St. Louis.
Also if anyone ever has any questions about anything I post (cause I bet I'm fairly incoherent at times), or anything about Chicago Improv in general - please feel free to message me and I'll do my best to answer them here.
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 6:59:28 GMT -5
Second City AuditionsSo last Tuesday were the general auditions for "various opportunities" at Second City - which I was lucky enough to be a part of. To give you a quick run down (in case you do not know) SC is to improvisers in Chicago what a flame is to moths - though improv people are drawn there because they are one of the very few games in town that actually pay (and pay relatively well). So these general auditions - which happen annually - take place over a three - four day span, where the directors will see literally hundreds (if not more) performers for about 2 minutes each (if they are lucky) - and of course this is all for a handful (if any) slots. Also to let people in on the big "secret" (in quotes because most everyone in Chicago knows it already) these open general auditions are only held because they have to (union rules or some such thing) - there are a special set of invite only auditions that happen a couple of months beforehand. I believe in the history of these general auditions - as far as I've heard - maybe (and this is a big maybe) one person has actually been hired as a first timer (and most people audition for years before even making callbacks). It is also interesting to note that by "various opportunities" they basically mean you are auditioning to be an understudy on one of the touring companies - which unless you're BoatCo, or BizCo - is a job with a lot of drawbacks (at least when compared with the pay). All of these factors combined to actually make this perhaps ironically one of the least stressful auditions I've ever been a part of. I say ironically by the way, because in years past it has not been uncommon for people to "lose their minds" during the SC auditions process. Horror stories abound involving people who get up on stage and don't stop talking, freeze up, start molesting/berating/yelling at/etc their scene partner, and generally acting like they've never been in an improv class or performed before (which is doubly surprising when you realize that one of the requirements for even being considered for an audition slot - is to have graduated from a major improv training center: iO, Annoyance, UCB, SC; or have at minimum of one year's performance experience). However for me - the knowledge that there was basically no way on earth I was going to be even called bacl (much less hired) - made me feel fairly laid back through the whole process. The Audition:I got there about 45 minutes early and so spent a little time chatting up a friend who works in a New Age-y flower shop across the street (shes a fellow improviser - I know through classes). Anyway 30 minutes before my scheduled time I made my way into Piper's Alley and up to the Etc. Theater. Interestingly enough on my way into the building I ran into another improvisor I know from the Annoyance very well - he was apparently slotted for the group right before mine - so we chatted for a little bit (he's also one of the people who had been invited to audition at the closed event a few months ago). They had a little table set up outside the entrance for you to check in and drop off your head shot and resume - and a bunch of chairs set up to the side for people waiting their turn. Note: in this audition you are not going it alone - you are put into groups of ten people for your audition slot. Anyway I sat down and waited with my friend and as we were sitting a mutual friend of ours was coming out just having finished his audition (basically it's not too far off to say that as an improviser: that everyone you know in Chicago is going to be around SC during this week). Once he came out my friend got up with his group and went in. Finally at 3:55pm they call for the ten of us slated to audition next to hop up - one guy leads us over into a corner by the elevators in order to warm us up. Quick side note - one of the things they let you know beforehand is that for the audition you are to wear "show clothes"- which can mean a lot of different things for different people (especially depending on where they improvise). For me (and I think most performers in Chicago) "show clothes" designates clean, long pants (preferably not jeans .. but eh, if that's all you got), and a nice solid colored - or simple striped shirt (preferably buttoned down with a collar). Anyway I'm standing in my group of ten about to warm up - and it's two girls and currently six guys. I am the only guy not in a suit (now SC people all where suits in the tour co and on main stage - it's their thing ... and at this point part of me is wondering, hmmm am I under dressed - even though my two friend had been shabbier by far than what I'm wearing). Suddenly another guy runs up to join us - no suit (whew) .. just a nice collared shirt (I'm safe). Then of course he pulls out a tie from his back pocket and puts it on (shit). Then the final guy joins us and thankfully he is dressed at the same level I am (no tie, no jacket, just a nice shirt and pants) ... though it turns out his name is also Peter (sigh). We warm up with a few simple energy exercises and then some quick scene initiations - and suddenly it's time for us to head in. I saw hi to my friend on his way out and we walk into the stage. There's probably at least 12 or so people sitting way back in the audience taking notes and watching as we hop up on the Etc. stage. Mick Napier (head of the Annoyance) is running the audition and breaks down for us what we'll be doing. He'll be calling one person's name at a time who will hop out and start a scene and then someone from the back line will just hop out and join them - Mick will call scene and then someone else's name. There will be a couple short scenes and then maybe one longer scene. After this he quickly asks us to step forward say our name and tell any special/interesting talents we have (just a quick little get to know you thing .. and gives the people time to organize their notes). Once that is done we were off to the races. Everybody had their name called once for the short scenes (if you were lucky, and fast - you got to support someone else in a scene) otherwise you just got the one. Then Mick had everyone sit down and called people up two at a time to do one longer scene (for the longer scene I actually ended up in a fairly fun one with the suggestion of CIA agent and mole - turns out we were in love - and confessions of both love and espionage abounded was administrating a lie detector exam). Everyone in my group actually did a pretty good job - no one really blew me away and no one seemed like they shouldn't be there - it was actually a fairly fun group overall - a number of laughs. All in all the whole audition was about 15-20 minutes long and, if you were lucky, you ended up in 3-4 scenes - for a total of approx 2 minutes of stage time. The whole atmosphere was far more laid back than I thought it would be - and I actually had a pretty good time. After it was all over I headed outside and popped into a bar across the street to chat up with my friends and then headed back up north to get ready for my rehearsal that night. In the end I did not get called back (as I knew I would not - no one I know got called back .. at least not that I've heard of yet), but I'm very glad I did it as it was an interesting experience (and heck now at least the SC people know I'm in the city ... even if by "know" I actually mean they have my Headshot on file somewhere). I leave you all with this link to a SC survival guide I came across a ear or so ago - and I think it applies in a lot of ways to most auditions as well (at least some of the info) enjoy: www.argosagency.com/features/Gwinntervention.html
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 7:00:54 GMT -5
CIC Rehearsal - Experimentation
Tuesday night I had the second rehearsal for the new improv troupe I'm in, sponsored by CIC. I titled this entry Experimentation, because that was basically what the rehearsal was all about. Our Director Jorin has a couple different ideas of what might end up being the shape of our shows - and tonight was the first attempt in figuring out how best to mesh his ideas with our group dynamic.
One of the key things Jorin had an idea for us to focus on for possible use in our future shows was an adaptation of an exercise he had us do the first night (it all ties together people): The last exercise centered around a group of characters simply engaged in a conversation on stage. The idea is to adapt this into an opening for our piece instead of the traditional Chicago style Organic opening or the typical monologues, word associations, etc. Personally I really like this idea, partially because back with Suspicious of Whistlers (and more importantly perhaps - because that's where we came up with it - the three man endeavor I was a part of Secret Pizza Party) we had a similar version of this we called the banter - which was just the actors having a conversation inspired by the suggestion - and partially because when it worked (see Secret Pizza Party especially) it lead to a lot of fun information/inspiration to play off of. The key difference between these two versions is of course the fact that in the one we are working on for the CIC troupe - it is a conversation held among a group of Characters in a scenic situation, which is inspired by the suggestion. Still the same potential pit falls are present in both: ten people (or really more than four or five) trying to have a conversation on stage is hectic at best (and especially to keep it short enough for an opening, hard as hell), and there's always the danger of people trying too hard (aiming more for laughs than just conversing...or turning it into more of a group scene).
The experimentation process went a little choppy at first - as some of the ideas thought up to combat the above pit falls - just lead to clunkier and somewhat clunkier situations. Ideas like half the group conversing while the other half supports in some other way - like painting the scene around the characters (or even before the conversation takes place to set up the locale) were tried to combat the numbers issue. Then the other big hurdle was getting everyone in the group comfortable with quickly snapping into characters after the suggestion and having a natural conversation as them.
At the end of the rehearsal process we still had yet to hammer out the best way to approach this idea - but we managed to rule out a number of possibilities and all the time we are getting more and more a sense of how we play together. I think our biggest problem right now with the opening is focusing too much on the idea of location - namely where the conversation is taking place on stage (making sure the conversation isn't taking place on a void) - instead of first locking down the idea of characters conversing with each other naturally and then figuring out a way to set it in a space/context. Though all in all the group itself has a great energy and when we get going on scenes - we play fast and make some kick ass moves (and the idea behind the opening I think is sound) so I'm still very excited for us to start performing.
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 7:02:57 GMT -5
iO Level Three - Week Two
So Wednesday night was our first class with our regular teacher for level 3: the kick ass Bill Arnett.
From the first few minutes of class I could already tell this was going to go a million times better than least session. I have to say so far I have been very fortunate with all my teachers up here in Chicago as it seems each is either more or just as inspiring than the last.
We started off class with a quick name game in order to kind of get people’s names down (and let Bill get them down). Next Bill had us play 6Things ____ Would Say: a warm up where everyone stands in a circle and one person turns to the player on their right and gives them a profession – that player must then (as quickly as possible) say six things that someone in that profession would say (and preferably only someone in that profession would say) – Bill’s one caveat for this was to encourage us to be as blunt and even obvious as possible. For example if some one gives you Mechanic, say “Yeah, I’m a Mechanic I can fix your breaks.” Or don’t just say “I hate my job” say “I hate being a mechanic” Don’t be afraid to be that blunt and up front about it.
Next Bill had us all sit down and asked for a small group of us to hop up on stage. We formed two lines and Bill explained we would be doing short scenes. In these scenes a player from line A would step out and initiate the scene – and the player form line B would hop out and repeat that initiation back throwing their own Point of View on to it and a short scene would commence. So for example:
Player A: “I want to get a divorce Tom.” Player B: “Oh, you want to get a divorce do you? well It’ll be a cold day in hell before I agree to that Sheryl.”
After everyone had a chance to participate in a couple of these – Bill had us move on to doing some simple two person scenes (in which we could continue using this method of initiating if we wanted to) where at some point during the scene each character was to give a brief monologue (to the other player, not to the audience). This was building off the Six Things exercise as Bill suggested we keep that in mind if we got stuck at any point: what are 6 things this person would talk about.
The class then ended with is dividing into two groups and running two quick montages with the freedom to try on anything we’d worked on so far in class.
Bill left us with these ideas: Be Brave in your words – you don’t have to explain everything, but don’t be afraid to explain. If you ever Don’t know what to do in a scene, say what you’re feeling, state exactly what’s going on in the scene, or state how your scene partner is behaving. Don’t be afraid to state the Obvious Be confident in your offers and scene work Specificity is key – add details whenever you can Tell stories, have a past Comedy comes from the context Your job is NEVER your character
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 7:04:36 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two - Week Six
A Somewhat Brief Aside:
So as the more astute of you might have noticed Week Five of my annoyance classes is suspiciously absent – sadly I had to miss that class in order to make an important (and mandatory) meeting for all iO interns (apparently the intern program is going to be going through some changes – and after every session interns will be up for review and may be let go instead of the old policy of basically a guaranteed offer to return. Also the screening process for new interns is going to be a bit more intense from what I hear).
Also back to the world of the Annoyance for a moment. Enrollment for Level 3 opened up this past Saturday – Sadly I was not able to enroll, so there is a chance I might end up taking a two-month hiatus from Annoyance classes after this session is up (which sucks). See the thing with the classes at the Annoyance is that once you get to level 3 there are only two classes offered each session (one Thursday night, with the wonderful Susan Messing – and one Tuesday night, with the equally delightful Rebecca Sohn) – So considering that there are 3 sections of level two being offered a third of us are going to have to wait around (though for level 3 if enough people end up on the waiting list and a qualified teacher can be found they sometimes open an extra level). It is important to note that Level 4 and level 5 only offer one section each session – and they have never offered more as the teachers schedule prohibit it (so registration is cut throat). Susan’s Level 3 class (which is the only one I could take because of my Tuesday night rehearsals) filled up within the first half hour of registrations being open – I only failed to get a slot because their servers crashed and I had to call back, sadly I was just a tad slow calling back. Still there is a glimmer of hope as I’m currently harassing the director of their training center and calling in favors from friends of mine at the theater to see if they can squeeze me in – so let’s hope.
The Class:
Anyway on to the class itself. We started off today with the Annoyance staple of warm-up scenes. After of number of these Rich had us all spread out across the room, leaving ourselves as much space as we could in between everyone. He then told us we were going to be doing a big switch Character exercise. Rich would tell us to start and once he did we were to snap into a character and start a vocalizing (basically either talking to ourselves or having an imaginary scene by ourselves). At some point he would call switch and we’d have to instantly snap into another character and rinse and repeat until he called scene. All in all we inhabited each character for around 30 seconds or so each – for a total of 30 switches. Afterwards Rich went around and asked each of us how it had felt going through that many characters – if we noticed any patterns in ourselves – and how we discovered new characters. For me it was almost always through physicality – whatever position or motion I found myself in when he yelled switch I morphed into a new character inspired by how it made me feel (leading with my body and letting my mind follow a little).
Next Rich had us all form a back line and told us we were going to be doing a character gauntlet. One person would step out and then be in 10 rapid-fire short scenes with other players. Each scene the person running the gauntlet was to initiate the scene and had to vary up their characters as much as possible from scene to scene. After three or four scenes Rich would pause the action and give the player a challenge for the remainder of the scenes – something vary up about their character choices. We sadly ran out of time before everyone got to participate – but I was the last one to go. The Feedback Rich gave me (my challenge) was to really try and vary the speed at which I spoke in scenes – as dramatically as possible. He also noted that the majority of the characters I had played so far all tended to have very smooth movements to them and to try and really play with the rhythm of how I moved as well.
All in all it was a very fun class – as I love doing this sort of character work (being forced to try and come up with 40+ different characters is always challengingly fun) and is one of the reasons I love the annoyance approach so much, because it is so rooted in finding a character instantly.
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 7:06:08 GMT -5
CIC Rehearsal - Finding our Voice
So Tuesday night Was the third rehearsal for the team I'm on at CIC. We have begun the always interesting process of trying to come up with a name for our team - we've been lobbing ideas back and forth over e-mail and just a few days ago locked it down to a solid list of 65 suggestions...sigh. We are currently voting to narrow that list down even further and might just have a name within the next two weeks.
Some of the more "interesting" suggestions have been:
* Princess Powerless McFloppyTits * Bored and Horny * Real World: Your Momma * Johnny Depp-ression * Balls * Loser * Reach Around * Hoop Dreams * Mee Mee and the Bottle Rockets * Live Sex * Pandas on Fire * On Par * Above Par * Par * Doogie Howzer M.D. * Cuddle Puddle * Otter Nonsense
Keep in mind this is only 17 out of 65 and these were all legitimate suggestions...sigh. Note: I am keeping the decent names secret for now as I'm not sure which one will end up being ours and I'd hate to have some other group snatch it up before us (and there are a couple that if we don;t take I plan to keep in my back pocket for future teams).
Anyway this rehearsal we've gotten very close I think to locking down exactly how our shows (at least in the beginning) are going to look like. The past week Jorin had been contemplating the problems with the opening we faced last rehearsal and came in with a few new ideas.
We started the night with an exercise we actually do at the top of every rehearsal: the sharing circle. We each go around and share one interesting thing that happened to us the past week that has absolutely nothing to do with improvisation. After this we did some typical warm-ups and then Jorin had us rock out a short montage to get us in the mood.
After this we tackled the opening again. This time around we completely did away with the idea of half the group having a conversation and the other half supporting in some other way - and instead focused on splitting into smaller group and having interweaving conversations (think the Cock tale party exercise). Basically we split into three groups on stage and each group has three distinct conversation inspired by the topic - trading focus between each other organically. It wasn't perfect, but it was far better than last week and we started going from this opening into full pieces right away.
At first the plan was once our opening was done we'd have three distinct scenes pulling inspiration directly from each of the three conversations. Next we'd bust out second beats of each of those scenes and then for the rest of the show we could draw inspiration from anything that had happened before (basically a spineless Harold - and fairly close to the structure Whistlers had worked on for a long time). The main problem we encountered with this was that the early scenes quickly became almost formulaic - and I think a number of us felt slightly limited - because we almost always ended up with one set (scene from the opening, then the scene it inspired and it's second beat) that was basically just a slightly different shade of the same color. The problem was in the nature of our opening: with a Harold at least - you have that same, Scene A, B, C followed by basically A1, B1, C1 - however the opening is not set up in that same three section shape - it's it's own entity (a single source of inspiration that then fans out to the three scenes). A Harold is a clear Pyramid shape (or diamond perhaps when you factor in the group games) what we had felt more like three separate lines of inspiration - at least until the last half of our show when we'd be free to tie things together or explore even farther apart.
Luckily Jorin saw this too and so we began tweaking the ideas a little more - trying different things to see how they worked. Finally by the end of rehearsal we found something that we all think just might be the right fit. We modified the opening a bit - so there are still three groups holding different conversations, however the cross fading between them is now much faster - and the groups actually physically faded in and out of the focal point of the stage. After the opening we now have a far looser form - where we aren't locked into any order of second beats or scenes. Also we are always on the look out now for situation where the members of one of the groups from the opening end up on stage ... if that happens it's a perfect opportunity to continue that conversation. Ironically enough (or perhaps not so much so) in the pursuit of trying something other than an organic opening - we've decided on fairly structured opening that sits on top of a very organic form.
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Post by peter on Jan 25, 2008 7:08:09 GMT -5
iO Level Three - Week Three
For the first time since the class started there was less than 20 people in the room today. We officially have 18 people signed up for our section - however the past two classes have seen multiple people sitting in. Today we actually had a few regular people missing and one new face (who was actually in my level one class - so not new to me - hooray).
Anyway we started off the class with everyone hopping up and playing a quick name game again - incredibly simple this one - you just pass the focus by pointing to someone and saying their name - that's it. We followed that up with a pattern game - everyone in a circle, one player looks to their left and says some object (like red, or zebra, etc) and claps in unison with the person they are looking at. That person then turns to their left and says a new object in that same category (so if player A said red, Player B would name another color, Blue -- If A said Zebra, B would name another animal, beaver - etc) and claps in unison with that person. This continues around the circle till it reaches the starting point. Once there it starts again only this time both players say the object they mentioned before in unison while clapping (so Player A looks a Player B - both say Red and clap - player B looks at C - both say Blue and clap - etc). We ended up getting four different patterns like this going around the circle at the same time - though they were close on each others heels.
Next Bill had us just bang out some quick warm-up two person scenes - and once everyone had gotten two under their belt he had all but a third of the class sit down.
Bill then introduced us to what he calls the Clingy Priest exercise. The small group forms two lines against the back wall - A player form Line A steps out and quickly gives the player from line B a character - by saying something along the lines of: "Oh look it's the Clingy Priest from my parish..." And then then the scene commences with Player B embodying that character to the best of his ability (some other examples besides Clingy priest are: Judgemental Step-mom, insecure cop, perverted uncle, overly enthusiastic business man, etc). Again this is to get in our heads that How we do what we do is who we are on stage.
After everyone had gone through this Bill switched it up on us. Now a player from Line A enters the scene and silently gives himself a character like one of the above and then plays that in the scene. The player from line can give himself a character as well but is mostly there to support A in this exercise (basically to play the straight man).
After this we took a brief break and when we got back Bill again had a smaller section hop up and form a back line. This time around we would be focusing on character mirroring and general agreement: one person would hop out and assume a character then another player would join them in the scene mirroring their character (copying it basically). Bill would only call scene once the second player heightened that character even more than the player who initiated it. Eventually after everyone had tried their hand at this a couple of times Bill varied it up on us again - having people come out and mirror each other's characters, only to have a third person walk on once the scene and characters had been fairly established and completely change the setting. So once the new player walked on the three were suddenly in a completely new space (dare I say context even) initiated by the third player (for example two overly enthusiastic businessmen who were having a scene in an office - suddenly find them selves at a Drive through window ordering food - and they have to maintain their character's activity). This exercise really hammered home the idea that it's what you are doing or talking about in a scene that makes your character, it's how you do it or talk about it.
At the end of Class Bill asked us this question: "What's more important the Actor, or the idea?"
Our answer was the Actor, because as Bill said: "Give me the best premise in the world and I guarantee you I can find terrible actors who will kill it [ruin it] - I'll even work with them and coach them, it'll still turn out terrible. On the other had give me a terrible premise and I bet I can find a few actors who will make it wonderful."
This class left us with these ideas: Keep it Simple Don't be afraid to say exactly what is going on How you do what you do, that is your character Let things really affect you - react to what your partner says and does Characters are portable The art is in concealing the craft
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Post by peter on Feb 26, 2008 18:53:10 GMT -5
Back in the Land of the Living...
(or where the hell have I been the past month?)
Hey all,
So far the month of February has been completely insane for me up here in Chicago - and because of a mix of shows, rehearsals, classes, work, sickness, and uncooperative bunny rabbits I've been incredibly lax in my posting - my sincerest apologies.
Expect a plethora of posts in the next couple of days as I finally find the time to transfer my notes on classes, shows & interesting tidbits from Chicago from my little black notebook to this blog.
In the mean time go catch up on Bill's Blog as I finally updated that.
And for those of you who continue to read this despite my utter failure at keeping it up to date this past month - thank you and I hope the updates are enjoyable.
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Post by peter on Mar 5, 2008 7:45:31 GMT -5
Annoyance Level Two - Week Seven
Earlier tonight was the second to last class of this particular level over at the Annoyance. I'm going to be sad to see it moving on as our teacher rocks, however there is some good news:
Follow up Aside: As some of you recall in my last post about Annoyance classes (last week) I mentioned my failure in getting a slot in the next session. Well after a little over two weeks of pestering people (and calling in a favor or two) I just found out that I'm now enrolled. So lucky for all the readers out there - no 2 month hiatus from the Annoyance for me - and of course lucky me cause I get another two months with the awesome Susan Messing - mwuahahaha.
The Class: Anyway back to the topic at hand. Surprisingly enough today we had a ton of people miss - there were only eight of us in class (hooray for us - cause more stage time .. but still sad in a way). Actually in many ways it was probably a good thing there were so few of us as we only ended up having time to get through two basic exercises (besides the ubiquitous warm-ups scenes which are always present at the top). First was the continuation of last week's exercise designed to challenge us by forcing us to rapidly switch characters throughout a gauntlet of scenes. Of the eight people who were in class only two of us had gotten to go last week - so a good hour at least was devoted to finishing that exercise up. Also since there were fewer people to go through today (and honestly because a few people in the class had a tougher time with finding different characters quickly) a couple players went through some extra rounds of the gauntlet.
By the time we had gotten through everyone in this exercise there were only about 25 minutes left in class. So Rich decided to let us basically kind of help and test each other with a character mirroring exercise. One player would step out and then anyone on the back line who thought they knew a good character energy that would challenge the first player would step out and start a scene. The first person who stepped out then had to mirror that character and continue the scene with the other player making that energy their own. All in all it was a fun way to end the class and let us get an idea of how our peers saw us.
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Post by peter on Mar 5, 2008 7:47:03 GMT -5
CIC Rehearsal - Counter-Productive LoverSo tonight we finally decided on a team name: Counter-Productive Lover. I have to say I never thought I would be in a group with a longer name than my College team (Suspicious of Whistlers), which has a whopping 21 letters - but here I am with this new 22 letter name...sigh. Seriously though I'm actually pretty happy with the name - it wasn't my top pick of the final 10 we voted on tonight (though in a way I'm glad it wasn't as now I'm storing that one in my back pocket for a possible future team name - mwuahaha), but it was definitely better than most (I'll give you one more example - the closest runner up was: Rad Dad ... sigh). Also (and this is the main reason it won in my opinion) this name came up organically in a previous rehearsal from a series of scenes involving a (you guessed it) Counter-Productive Lover. Anyway we now have a brand spanking new MySpace page - if you're on it feel free to be our friend: www.MySpace.com/CounterProductiveLover(If you're not on it ... stop by and check out the logo and eventually we'll have some video up there - I promise). The Rehearsal:Anyway tonight was our last rehearsal before our first performance this Friday (quick freaking turn around - am I right?) - so tonight was all about running through our show format (which we had luckily figured out at the end of last the last rehearsal). Also tonight we found out that sadly our Director Jorin isn't going to be able to make our show - he is booked for two shows himself already, both suffering possible number issues (performer wise). Luckily Jorin enlisted a good friend (and fellow performer he works with) to meet us at the show, warm us up, and take notes for us - and he was there tonight for us to meet and get a feel fr his warm-up style. So our guest coach, Louie, went ahead and warmed us up (fairly typical exercises, some to build energy and some to focus our concentration) and then we jumped right into running our show. We're going to run for around 25 minutes Friday, so that's what we aimed for tonight. Our first set I was feeling a little out of it - I was thinking too much and a little tired, though it was surprisingly good for our first real run through (read: mediocre). Our second and third runs were fantastic though - I guess that first set warmed us all up and got us in the groove. We all played very quickly and brought a ton of energy and it was a lot of fun. Both Jorin and Louie agreed that if we had a show like either of those runs we'd be the hit of the night - and that even our first set was entertaining enough (just lacking in pacing and energy). We left the rehearsal and headed out to our usual bar to hang out - all of us very pumped about the upcoming show - Jorin giving us the final note: Have as much fun playing Friday as you did tonight and you can't go wrong.
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Post by peter on Mar 5, 2008 7:48:46 GMT -5
iO Level Three - Week Four
So tonight was the half way mark for level Three at iO.
We found out when we'd be able to register for the next session of classes earlier today (Feb 22nd - for those who are interested) - though the schedule won't be posted for a few more weeks. I'm hoping I can find a good teacher with a class that fits mys schedule (as it's a tad hectic ... and this session the only evening class was Tuesday night - which I can't do, thanks to rehearsals). Also a consideration each session is trying to remain with other people you enjoy working with
It's kind of an odd three way balancing act from session to session: on one hand you need to find the class time (and teacher ... teacher is very important) that works for you, then you have to take into account what classes you friends (and those people you simply enjoy working with) are thinking about, and finally there's the whole registration time concern (there's no guarantee you'll get into the class unless you're one of the very first people to call/submit on-line for it). Especially with the higher levels at the training center it can get pretty crazy - as there are less and less classes (slightly less so at iO say compared with the Annoyance - though depending on the teacher, classes fill up within minutes at levels 4 & 5).
The Class: Back to the class itself. We started off with all of us standing in a circle. Bill had one person simply start walking across the middle with, as he put it, "a little something behind it." That player was to walk towards someone else, who would (once the first person reached them) would start walking - doing their absolute best to mirror the previous person's walk in every way. And thus the focus would get passed in this way - each new walker was give the instruction to only focus on mirroring the person walking toward them and not worry about what went on before. This of course led to the walk slowly morphing organically as it moved around the circle (as each person's body moves in slightly different ways, and some people naturally stress different aspects of the physicality). Eventually Bill had the person walking add a noise to the walk and we watched as that too changed slowly. Next Bill tapped another player on the shoulder and sent them walking into the circle - suddenly there were two walkers. As this progressed Bill tapped more and more people until we had upwards of six different walkers moving about the circle.
After a little while of this Bill had us pause and then asked us to just bang out a few short warm-up scenes - in order to get the kinks out.
Next Bill had all but a small group (about a third of the class) sit down. He divided up that group into two lines. A player form line A was to step out and initiate by basically simply saying "Hello" with a specific emotion behind it. The other player would then have to respond with how the first person was feeling : "You seem very ______ today." If the second player was right about the vibe player A was giving, a short scene would then commence with that as the initiation. However, if the second person was wrong in their assessment the initiating player would step back and then deliver the greeting again with more emphasis on their emotion - until Player B got it.
After everyone in the class had gotten a chance to do a couple of these Bill switched it up by just having two people ho on stage. For the rest of the class we worked on longer two person scenes where one player would initiate verbally (say something) and then the second player would make some sort of emotionally based noise (a sigh) or emotionally based exclamation (Yipeee). After that the scene would continue normally with the second player being asked to really hold on to whatever emotion their noise had inspired. There were a surprising amount of super happy characters through out this exercise as I feel that was the easiest for most people to convey (or at least figure out a noise for in their mind). Everyone ended up playing both roles before class ended, so you got to both initiate verbally and then come in with a simple noise. I have to say this was definitely a fun exercise when you were on stage .. but off it - you really began to wish the class sizes were capped a little more rigorously (there were 20 of us there btw).
Bill left us with these thoughts: Subtext is key A Character's Behavior is basically either appropriate or inappropriate for any situation - either is fine to play, just realize it and have fun with it. Most Denials in Improv are Denials of Omission - one person ignores (either on purpose or accidentally) an offer or bit of information. Sometimes because they are too focused on their own offers/plans - or because the don't know how to handle the new offer. Feel free to make assumptions to move the scene along.
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Post by peter on Mar 5, 2008 7:52:12 GMT -5
CPL's First Show
Note: For all those who instantly know what CPL stands for - congratulations you've been paying attention, bravo. For the rest of you lazy slobs - CPL stands for the troupe I'm in over at CIC: Counter-Productive Lover.
Anyway as the title suggests we had our very first show finally. It took place Friday night at our home theater (we're one of I think roughly three house teams there). All in all I have to say I am very happy with how the show went considering it was our first - there were a lot of really fun moments (both for us and the audience) and of course a few kinks that we need to work out. Really the only two major complaints I have about our performance was the fact that early on one or two members got a little jumpy with the edit (cut a couple scenes short - editing before they really got going) and then the fact that our lighting person gave us a very poorly timed black out (which was about 4 minutes early too).
The first part (the Speedy Gonazlaes impersonation on the edits) is fairly easy to chalk up to first performance jitters - as they came on really big laugh lines (aka the default edit points for improvisers who don't entirely feel the rhythm of a scene) - and the second wasn't even in our control (though really ... the light person called it four lines into a scene that hadn't even reached the punch yet (and those lines were clearly in the process of setting up a nice call back to early on if they had just waited another minute).
We had a great crowd and heard afterwards that the higher ups in the theater were extremely impressed about our show - apparently most of the audience left still talking about some parts - so go us. I think the funniest thing though is that we (as a group) were not nearly as impressed with ourselves as the audience and even the guy giving us notes seemed to be (note: again for those not paying attention I mentioned in the last post our Director couldn't make the show and so had a friend sit in watching). The reason for this is because of the level of work we've done in the last two practices - we know we are easily capable of so much more, so while this was a fun show (and fairly good for our first ever performance) in our eyes ... we all are setting our goals much higher. The best part about this though is - while I've seen it happen often (where the performers are far harder on themselves than the audience usually is) - it's often far better than the opposite.
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