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.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Auditions – Chemically Imbalanced Comedy
Last week I came across a notice announcing an audition for a brand new sponsored long form troupe to be part Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC).
http://www.cicomedy.com
Now 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
( http://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.
http://www.cicomedy.com
Now 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
( http://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.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
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
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
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Annoyance Level Two - Week One
So a brand new session has started at the Annoyance – 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
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
Annoyance Level Two - Week One
So a brand new session has started at the Annoyance – 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
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
Saturday, December 1, 2007
iO Level Two – Week Six
Today 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
( http://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
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
( http://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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