So 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.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
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