iO Level Four - Week Six & Seven

I'm combining the last two classes of this level into one post (partly because I forgot to post last week and because most of the notes were fairly similar in both).

Our second to last class before our performance had us running full length Harold's exclusively with a focus on reaching a clear ending to our shows (instead of simply performing until someone kills the lights). The big note we took away form this class, besides how to end our shows was: Either you're doing something all together on stage - or you making an active choice to change it

Some of the tips we were given on finding ways to end our shows were:

• Return to and repeat the opening
• Return to the opening and finish it (if it ended with some sort of cliffhanger)
• Have one strong narrative in your show reach a conclusion (if you have one)

So our last class before our big show this Sunday is also the last class of this level (because apparently our performance counts as a class since the instructors all have to be there). This class much like the last one was all about running Harolds to prepare for the show.

I left the class with these notes:
Harold's are malleable, the strict version is just a teaching tool
You can break the form is the show calls for it
Play the Distractions in your scenes
Mix in both Narrative and tangential inspiration for Second beats
Look for moves/patterns that can tie the show together
Ideally each show should have a form unique to the suggestion

iO Level Four - Week Five

Hooray Bill is back - and again today's class was basically just running mini-Harolds in preparation for our class performance in two weeks. The mini-Harolds focused on full length openings and group games with shorter than normal scenes in between.

Here are the notes I took away from the work:
Follow the Distraction in a scene: The scene is not about ________
Mirror each other (especially in opening and group games)
Transitions in openings are as simple as one player simply making a different choice and everyone supporting all choices made
Don't leave people hanging out there on a limb - support each other
If you're playing with a lot of people on stage - not everyone has to be in a first beat scene - they can come in the second and third beats
Rarely does everyone in a group remember every detail about the show - but if everyone remembers one or two things then collectively you all remember enough to wrap it up
A great way to end is simply to return to the begining

Annoyance Level Three - Week Eight

Sadly my last class with Susan has come and gone.. as a side note to all of you reading this know that she is truly one of the absolute best instructors in Chicago and as I may have mentioned before if you ever get the chance to work with her - do it.

Anyway she started off class with a little challenge to all of us: do the absolute worst improv scene possible. For anyone who has actually read some of my later posts you'll recognize this from mid way through my level two class with her at iO.

After this exercise - which we all failed gloriously at. We moved into searching for whimsy in the way we perform once again. This time we started down this path with some very Dada-istic group work ( the most coherent moment was this: picture four actors as bees flitting about, and four as flowers resting peacefully... eventually the bees notice the flowers and begin to investigate...eventually the bees basically gang rape the flowers). Not necessarily the highest art - but fun as hell (considering we were all in on it together) and that was the point: finding what's fun about performing for us.
We mixed in a number of silent scenes, scenes that were truly Dada-istic where each person just started making a random noise/movement - and stuck with it, and finally moved on to more traditional two and four person scenes.
Interestingly enough one thing we found by the time that we actually got to "normal" scene work - just talking with each other became terribly boring and we discovered all kinds of wonderful things to do instead.

In the end Susan left us with these parting bits of advice:
Initiating a scene doesn't make it your scene, it's everyone's who is in it
You are powerful just by getting on stage
Do'ers always beat out talkers in scenes
Just Do something, it really doesn't matter what
Leap before you look - At the top of a scene do something physical and then figure it out
When a player stops and judges something - that kills it
Walk-ons: try to be an editor instead - however if you must walk-on please do it only to add to what already exists and then get the fuck out
If you want to make your friends happy - be as retarded as they are
Using sounds in scenes is one of the best games on the planet
If you're ever at a loss on stage - mirror your partner
Sometimes our brains hurt from too many classes, too many shows, etc - that's when you most need to stop and find the whimsy in your improv
You always have to fight your inner "snotty improviser": Don't judge
Every time you do something on stage you discover a new thing about your character & your world
You can NEVER fail by taking a risk in improv
If you're not having fun then you're the asshole

and finally:
"If any of you fuckers are on coke - get help."

iO Level Four - Week Four

Bill sadly had to miss our class today, so we had a substitute. The entire class we basically just ran openings and full Harolds - so I will cut to the chase and focus on the notes that were given to us (and that I gleamed myself from watching and listening).

Form is meant to make your life easier.
After you know the basic structure pick the elements you like - best poets create their own poem styles, best performers do the same.
There should be no time limit on your show.
Do something Fun for you.
Give whatever you're doing some emotional context.
Should never be any dead time - either in he opening or between scenes.
Everything said should be inspired by the last thing your partner said: LISTEN & Build.
Find themes in your opening.
DON'T HESITATE.
If you hate what you're doing on stage, either evolve it into something else or recommit and do it more.
Harolds crave strong initiations.
Stay active in your openings - don't just sit back and watch.
Organic openings are all about mirroring and supporting people's moves.
Steal what you like from teams you admire.
Don't try to be funny.

Georgy Porgy The End...& The Beginning

So this was the Last Night of the First Show I've had the pleasure of working on at The Annoyance Theater, but it won't be the last...

Could I have made that last sentence any more confusing if I tried? Does it even make sense grammatically? What the hell does any of that mean? Well I'll answer that last one.

So tonight the show: Georgy Porgy...and other stories by Roald Dahl (catchy title right...) closed at The Annoyance. I have been working on this show as the Stage Manager and Video guru - both of which were kind of intense, as this show was a bitch technically.

The Director is someone I've known since college (we met at a college improv festival.... aww) and knew I did a lot of video work in my spare time.

Well she pitched this show idea to the theater like four months ago - and then contacted me, as she wanted to mix live performance with various multimedia elements. Well the show got picked up and I started a lot of work - as through out the show there are various images and videos projected on a large screen to add to the performance.

There were over 100 different visual cues for this show alone (just pictures and video). That does not include, music, lighting cues, etc. so this was quite a job and for the past eight weeks I've been working my but off in the booth with the Theater's Technical Director (who's operating the board).

The sad thing is - as the post mentions - the show closed tonight. It was a fun, if sometimes stressful run and my first show at The Annoyance.

The nice thing is - because of how much work was involved in this show (and how well I did in the booth), I've been offered a technical internship at The Theater.

In fact I already have my next show, lined up: The Perfect Wave.

No more paying for classes, and I get to stage manage more shows.

Thus my official involvement with the Annoyance begins... mwuahahaha.

Annoyance Level Three - Week Seven

Today in class we were all very hateful to each other.
WE basically focused on the idea that even though improv is an art form based around the idea of agreement, you don't always have to be good two-shoes on stage living in a rainbow world of puppies and flowers. This idea actually goes to something I believe is absolutely key for great improv to happen: while as actors you must agree with your partner and accept any thing they throw out there - as characters, fuck that bull shit. You don;t even have to like the other character - in fact you can hate them.
And it also highlights one of the best things about The Annoyance: This theater gives you the freedom to be completely uncensored on stage, which honestly is an amazing gift in this art.

Comedy isn't personal, even when it's directed at you.

The main exercise we did was called "Thank You"
Two players did a scene where the goal was to be as hateful as possible to each other's characters. Whenever one character said something hateful to another, the recipient must reply thank you and expound on that flaw, or whatever the first character brought up.
The scenes were incredibly fun (both to watch and play in) and really showed how everything be a gift on stage if used correctly.

From the class we took these ideas:
If you start as yourself and someone says something hateful, you'll get defensive You don't have to one up people in a scene If you say something with "authenticity" the audience will believe you, if you say something with the mentality of "here's a funny joke" they won't
Everyone can talk out their ass & bullshit about random things at a party - the key is allowing yourself the same freedom to do that on stage
Your inner monologue is NOT serving you
If you want to be in the moment: DO Something, TASTE Something, FEEL Something
Comedy is never personal, even when it's directed at you.