iO Level One – 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)