iO Level One - Weeks One - Five

Improv class Update the First: Getting you all up to speed.

Backstory
I made the move from good old St. Louis up to Chicago back during the first week of September - and (as of today) am currently in my sixth week of classes at the iO theater. Now for those of you math majors out there that seems nigh impossible - here we are four weeks into the month of Chicago yet I've been taking classes here for two extra weeks.
Well I managed this feat not through the use of a Tardis, tricked out Delorian, or phone booth sent from the future by George Carlin - but by driving up here and sitting in on the classes before I moved (well one of them at least... I called in a favor or two) and was officially enrolled.

Lowdown on the iO theater
Before I begin my recap on the classes up to this point let me begin by giving you a lowdown on the iO Theater (for those of you not in the know).
So the way iO works is that there are 6 main* levels of classes (1,2,3,4,5,& 5b) each class meets once a week for a total of 8 sessions (so eight weeks). Each class lasts 3 hours and has a short (10 minutes or so) break in the middle.
The theater itself has two stages (both with a full bar - hooray) - the Del Close Theater upstairs, then the Cabaret Theater downstairs (the downstairs is where the House or Harold teams perform) - and has multiple shows going every night of the week. Students at the theater can get into almost any show for free.

Recap of the Classes
So here's a quick look back at the past 5 classes of Level One at iO.
I recall begin very surprised after the first class I attended at iO by one thing in particular: the size of the class (we started out with 23 people...for a 3 hour class - if you work the math out in your head that means each person averages around 7.8 minutes of stage time....less when you factor in the break, warm-ups + discussions).
Luckily in subsequent classes we now average between 18 & 20 (a couple people have just vanished and one or two miss, making up the classes at other times**)

The very first day I we did a short name warm-up (where we "try" to learn people's names and also get some energy up) - with that many people a few people I have only just now learned their names.
Afterwards we quickly jumped into an exercise on listening called cocktail party: http://greenlightwiki.com/improv/Cocktail_Party
From there we worked briefly on short true personal monologues, a few agreement exercises - such as yes and..., and by the end of the 3 hour class we were doing short scenes.

After the first day (a I foolishly did not keep a record of everything we did at the time) it gets a little hazy as to the specifics.

I recall that by the next class we were already doing open scenes - at the beginning of each class so far we always perform one short warm-up and then sometimes will learn a warm-up that is actually a possible show opening.

Some opening we've already covered include:
word association, monologues, and the invocation:
An object is gotten to inspire the opening. The performers then begin with a series of "It is..." statements describing the object and its environment, next a series of "You are..." statements follow where the performers relate to the object in some way, this is followed by a series of "Thou art..." statements which describe the nature of the object (in terms of the personal "you are..." statements) in an almost Shakespearian and epic poem style, next comes the last series of statements: "I am..." simplifying the nature and picking out thematic elements from the descriptions before.
Ex. Spaghetti = object. It is siting in a blue bowl covered with Parmesan cheese. You are the meal my mother served me every time I got sick. Thou art the soothing balm that washes away all pain. I am love.

Big Ideas we have covered in the previous classes:
Relationship, relationship, relationship: The scene is not about dead space hookers, or the fact that you failed chemistry, or digging holes - the scene is about the interaction between the two characters on stage - and how those above things influence it.
Secret wants: Everybody secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) wants something from almost any interaction they have - so why not your character. It can be as epic as wanting your partners undying love, or as simple as wanting a snickers bar or high five - and it never needs to actually be addressed in the scene, however it can be a great tool to find a character.

Main focus of all the first five classes:
Learning some of the basic techniques that will prepare us to tackle the Harold and the iO style of improv.

We've gone over tag outs, walk ons, openings, drawing inspiration from an opening for a scene, group games, and the structure of the first two beats of a Harold.
I plan on going into more detail about these things in later posts - however for now, at least you some idea of what goes into the iO style.

My Thoughts
Some of the classes have been incredibly interesting - though for the most part it is a real struggle to keep the energy up. On a good day you can hope to average maybe 2-3 scenes (or group games or scene-like exercises) and only if you're fast and sitting in the front row (this I think is key in any performance class like this where you have to get up and work - otherwise you'll be one of the last every time).
About 75% (or more) of the class you are sitting and watching other people improvise or listening to other people's notes or explanations about exercises and scenes. As they say, however, you can learn almost as much by watching other people and listening as you can by doing - however, it requires effort on your part to stay focused.
All this down time can make for some rough/off/low energy scenes if you let it - and considering how little stage time you might get - it's incredibly important to maintain your focus.
For me I usually try and be one of the first people up for every round of new exercises - it keeps me on my toes (especially if I'm in the first group, pair up - as usually our instructor doesn't explain the exercise until the first bunch are on stage). Also I've found that the longer you sit and watch other people do the exercise before your turn, the greater tendency you have to get in your head and start thinking way to much about when your turn comes.
As a performer I very rarely get in my head on stage - I just don't worry about it and focus on what's going on in the scenes. But I swear there have been times in these classes (or some workshops) where I end up just completely analyzing an exercise and how to respond or what I'd like to do (This type of scene would be perfect for this exercise.... or If I was in that scene I'd probably...).
I often try to direct this to more constructive thinking (I've played an angry character today..I should try happy or some different emotion - or I started my last character out with a different voice, maybe this time I'll start with a physicality or emotion) - still getting up early and then being able to just sit back watch and absorb the other scenes is much better.



That's all I can recall right now sadly - I promise later posts will have more details about the individual classes (as I'll be writing them either right after, or the next day). Also in last three posts concerning Level One I'll look more in depth to some of the main ideas and exercises above.

So stay tuned.


*There is at least one optional level and also a series of electives available at iO as well. For the full curriculum and descriptions, check here: http://www.iochicago.net/classes/classes_curriculum.php

** Note: you can only miss two of the 8 classes per level, after that you must retake the entire level. It is possible to make-up a missed class by going to another section of the same level on a different day. During my session there were five different sections of level One being taught (so at roughly 20 x 5 that means approx 100 people are taking just level one at iO).