I've heard this from various people over the past few years, and I'm sure I've said it myself. I think it's a very backwards way of approaching improvisation.
The burden of "giving" is not on your scene partner. Read the thread on improv and awareness.
Do you have a scene partner? Great. Then how can they not be giving you anything? They exist. He/She (the actor at least) is alive. Someone sitting there doing nothing and saying nothing is still giving you something if you are aware. Don't sit there and wait for someone to give you some magical gift that sets up a beautiful scene. Open your senses and GET IT.
Chris
2003/05/29 - 12:20:35
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Friday, May 16, 2003
CIF 2003: May 16, shows and SHOWTIME
The day dawns.
After burning off most of the morning and grabbing lunch, we headed over to our 2pm tech meeting at The Playground. We met the venue manager and the tech improviser (who Jim knew from his time there).
The room itself is longer than it is wide. As you enter the front door, the main seats stretch in front of you in four or five long rows facing the stage, which is to the right and raised. It's roughly 16'-18' wide and 8-10' deep. Black curtains hang along the upstage edge of the stage and there's a 2"x4" railing also along the back that is about 3.5' or 4' tall. Behind the stage is a narrow pathway between the wall and the curtains. You can access the stage from either wing or through a part in the curtains and a gap in the railing upstage center. Backstage left there is a stairway that leads down to the basement/green room. It's cool, but a tad claustrophobic down there. The ceiling must be almost exactly 6'2.5" high. Part of the basement is directly below the stage, so that's not the ideal place to warm up. Fortunately, there's a back door upstairs that leads into a little fenced loading area outside. There's only one bathroom. With the added seats for the festival, the entire capacity was probably 95.
We went over the only cue we have, and that was that. They have two little lights in the booth. The blue light is turned on when you have 5 minutes remaining. Then, with 2 minutes remaining, the red light is also lit. The duos had 30 minute slots.
At 3pm, we had an appointment to meet Todd Stashwick, an experienced actor and director of Hothouse STC in Los Angeles. The Lincoln Tap opened at 3pm and since we were early, we popped into a small, antique shop to browse. The most interesting thing was a $50 collection of old 8mm porn reels and a small stack of 70's style porn coasters. Careful...you don't know where that hair in your drink came from...
At 3, we met Todd. Some photos from this meeting are located among Jim's threads. He's a very interesting fellow. We basically knew of him because he seemed to be the ring leader of The Doubtful Guests, our favorite show from last year's CIF. Jim sent him an email the weekend before CIF and he happily agreed to let us buy him a beer and discuss. So, we did. He has about 15 years of improvisation experience of all sorts. He was a performer at IO and Second City before moving to New York where he was part of Burn Manhattan. He moved to LA and found some like-minded folk who played around and put together The Doubtful Guests. Now comes Hothouse STC, a training and performance group Todd organized with the director of The Player's Space. It's a relatively new venture, roughly our age and size.
This guy who had never met us, probably never heard of us, rapped with us about theater and improvisation for 3 hours. I can't give a blow-by-blow of the conversation, but it included a lot about the history of improvisation, the present state of improvisation, and what might be coming next. We talked about television, the effect of SNL and WLIIA on the public's perception of what we do. It was a great conversation. For me, it clarified a lot of what I feel about the role of improvisation in art and the performance experience. I'm still processing a lot of it. Corrin and I were jazzed because we had managed to get into his Saturday workshop where we could put some of this to work.
After our brains were full, we parted ways and Todd said he might stop by to check out our show. We headed off to change and prepare.
This is a huge post and I haven't even gotten to the show. We had a blast. I can't say anything else about our show. There was an air from the beginning that led me to believe it would rock, and I guess it did. I'm sure there were some in the audience who hated it, but for the most part I think everyone had a good time. The whole thing felt good. I didn't feel like I was thinking, analyzing or working. It just had a flow...an absurd flow, but an entertaining one. I know that at one point in the show, I felt we must be nearing the end of our time...the show had been through so much already...I looked up, and neither the blue nor the red lights were on. Wow.
The end came on its own. The tech improviser saw it, called it, and it was over. Coming out of the show was like descending a mountain too fast. My mind was blurry. I had trouble for a couple of hours afterward recalling the show with any sort of detail. I don't even think we did a routine bow or anything after the blackout, but I didn't miss it.
We crept out into the back of the house for the final two acts...Men in Shirts and Monologue Ponies. The audience certainly got to see three very different shows. I'm pretty sure I prefer going first in situations like that. John D. and his duo buddy Matt came to visit despite having a play reading at Northwestern the next morning. We all went and had desserts at a little 24 hour diner place. That was it. Nothing to do but relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
After burning off most of the morning and grabbing lunch, we headed over to our 2pm tech meeting at The Playground. We met the venue manager and the tech improviser (who Jim knew from his time there).
The room itself is longer than it is wide. As you enter the front door, the main seats stretch in front of you in four or five long rows facing the stage, which is to the right and raised. It's roughly 16'-18' wide and 8-10' deep. Black curtains hang along the upstage edge of the stage and there's a 2"x4" railing also along the back that is about 3.5' or 4' tall. Behind the stage is a narrow pathway between the wall and the curtains. You can access the stage from either wing or through a part in the curtains and a gap in the railing upstage center. Backstage left there is a stairway that leads down to the basement/green room. It's cool, but a tad claustrophobic down there. The ceiling must be almost exactly 6'2.5" high. Part of the basement is directly below the stage, so that's not the ideal place to warm up. Fortunately, there's a back door upstairs that leads into a little fenced loading area outside. There's only one bathroom. With the added seats for the festival, the entire capacity was probably 95.
We went over the only cue we have, and that was that. They have two little lights in the booth. The blue light is turned on when you have 5 minutes remaining. Then, with 2 minutes remaining, the red light is also lit. The duos had 30 minute slots.
At 3pm, we had an appointment to meet Todd Stashwick, an experienced actor and director of Hothouse STC in Los Angeles. The Lincoln Tap opened at 3pm and since we were early, we popped into a small, antique shop to browse. The most interesting thing was a $50 collection of old 8mm porn reels and a small stack of 70's style porn coasters. Careful...you don't know where that hair in your drink came from...
At 3, we met Todd. Some photos from this meeting are located among Jim's threads. He's a very interesting fellow. We basically knew of him because he seemed to be the ring leader of The Doubtful Guests, our favorite show from last year's CIF. Jim sent him an email the weekend before CIF and he happily agreed to let us buy him a beer and discuss. So, we did. He has about 15 years of improvisation experience of all sorts. He was a performer at IO and Second City before moving to New York where he was part of Burn Manhattan. He moved to LA and found some like-minded folk who played around and put together The Doubtful Guests. Now comes Hothouse STC, a training and performance group Todd organized with the director of The Player's Space. It's a relatively new venture, roughly our age and size.
This guy who had never met us, probably never heard of us, rapped with us about theater and improvisation for 3 hours. I can't give a blow-by-blow of the conversation, but it included a lot about the history of improvisation, the present state of improvisation, and what might be coming next. We talked about television, the effect of SNL and WLIIA on the public's perception of what we do. It was a great conversation. For me, it clarified a lot of what I feel about the role of improvisation in art and the performance experience. I'm still processing a lot of it. Corrin and I were jazzed because we had managed to get into his Saturday workshop where we could put some of this to work.
After our brains were full, we parted ways and Todd said he might stop by to check out our show. We headed off to change and prepare.
This is a huge post and I haven't even gotten to the show. We had a blast. I can't say anything else about our show. There was an air from the beginning that led me to believe it would rock, and I guess it did. I'm sure there were some in the audience who hated it, but for the most part I think everyone had a good time. The whole thing felt good. I didn't feel like I was thinking, analyzing or working. It just had a flow...an absurd flow, but an entertaining one. I know that at one point in the show, I felt we must be nearing the end of our time...the show had been through so much already...I looked up, and neither the blue nor the red lights were on. Wow.
The end came on its own. The tech improviser saw it, called it, and it was over. Coming out of the show was like descending a mountain too fast. My mind was blurry. I had trouble for a couple of hours afterward recalling the show with any sort of detail. I don't even think we did a routine bow or anything after the blackout, but I didn't miss it.
We crept out into the back of the house for the final two acts...Men in Shirts and Monologue Ponies. The audience certainly got to see three very different shows. I'm pretty sure I prefer going first in situations like that. John D. and his duo buddy Matt came to visit despite having a play reading at Northwestern the next morning. We all went and had desserts at a little 24 hour diner place. That was it. Nothing to do but relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
CIF 2003: May 15
Operating on maybe 2 hours of sleep, I now attempt to recount Thursday for you.
Thursday...hmmm...at the moment, I'm not clear at all about what we did during the day. At some point, there were a couple of attempts to buy tickets at the Athenaeum. One of those attempts was successful. Guess which one.
On the first trip, as Jim and I were walking down the sidewalk, we heard yelling and other human exclamations coming from an open window in a small house. Jim supposed they were the sounds of domestic violence, while I held (quite without experience) that the sounds were those of an orgy. Later, when Corrin and I were returning along the same path, police cars were out in the street and officers coming out of the house. Fun eh? While we were walking to the theater, we ran into Kasey who had recently broken the law (not in that house) and who, unbeknownst to him, was well into the process of injuring his foot.
Thursday night we went to support our hospitable host, Mike, and his team 52-Hiccup at a little venue called Frankie J's. One of the three groups scheduled to perform did not show up, so they asked if JaCKPie wanted to do a set. We said, "Sure," and were on the stage within about 5 minutes. That's insane. It was good, though, to get our performance feet on the ground in Chicago. It was like a warm-up.
After the show, we caught a ride with a guy named Shafe whose head was shaved, and we popped over to the Lincoln Tap for the opening night party. We were greeted with "CIF Orgy Kits", which was a small purple bag with a condom, some "performance enhancer", and aspirin. Now, that's funny. Anyway, we got some beer and settled in, met some folks from Chicago, Canada and elsewhere. Paul and Travis showed up. It was loud, smoky fun.
Chris
Thursday...hmmm...at the moment, I'm not clear at all about what we did during the day. At some point, there were a couple of attempts to buy tickets at the Athenaeum. One of those attempts was successful. Guess which one.
On the first trip, as Jim and I were walking down the sidewalk, we heard yelling and other human exclamations coming from an open window in a small house. Jim supposed they were the sounds of domestic violence, while I held (quite without experience) that the sounds were those of an orgy. Later, when Corrin and I were returning along the same path, police cars were out in the street and officers coming out of the house. Fun eh? While we were walking to the theater, we ran into Kasey who had recently broken the law (not in that house) and who, unbeknownst to him, was well into the process of injuring his foot.
Thursday night we went to support our hospitable host, Mike, and his team 52-Hiccup at a little venue called Frankie J's. One of the three groups scheduled to perform did not show up, so they asked if JaCKPie wanted to do a set. We said, "Sure," and were on the stage within about 5 minutes. That's insane. It was good, though, to get our performance feet on the ground in Chicago. It was like a warm-up.
After the show, we caught a ride with a guy named Shafe whose head was shaved, and we popped over to the Lincoln Tap for the opening night party. We were greeted with "CIF Orgy Kits", which was a small purple bag with a condom, some "performance enhancer", and aspirin. Now, that's funny. Anyway, we got some beer and settled in, met some folks from Chicago, Canada and elsewhere. Paul and Travis showed up. It was loud, smoky fun.
Chris
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
CIF 2003: May 14
Last night we saw three Harolds performed by a relatively new team, a team of more veteran players mixed with newer ones, and a solid veteran team.
Rattlesnake H.S. - these guys did an interesting opening in the vein of a party conversations/shifting focus scene, but it seemed to be to large and unwieldly for them. I applaud them for working on it though. Throughout the show there were problems talking over each other, and it often felt like they were skipping the information at hand to get to something "better". Not a bad start though...
Johnny Roast Beef - Again, an interesting opening and a very cool transformational take on the games. Both were basically a personal twist on the object invocation. Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily translate into solid scenework.
Carl and The Passions - These guys, their confidence on stage, and their use of information clearly set them apart from their predecessors. It was a large team...10(?)...but they played unselfishly and did a great job giving focus in group scenes. Again, these guys had a very cool opening, and unlike the others, they nailed it. The scenes, except for maybe one or two that seemed to rely too much on caricature, were all excellent.
The tech person(s) missed calling the lights on the first two teams several times. You really felt for them, recognizing they had an ending, another one, another one...losing steam now...another one, and finally LIGHTS. Never take a good tech improviser for granted.
Then, we saw the fantastic duo of TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi. More on that after we run down to the theater to pick up some tickets.
TJ and Dave's show at 10:30pm Wednesday night was great. They did about an hour and 20 minutes of really interesting and entertaining work. The story involved a couple of teachers in love with special appearances by some of the students. It was definitely the best thing we saw Wednesday night.
The Bud Light was flat.
Rattlesnake H.S. - these guys did an interesting opening in the vein of a party conversations/shifting focus scene, but it seemed to be to large and unwieldly for them. I applaud them for working on it though. Throughout the show there were problems talking over each other, and it often felt like they were skipping the information at hand to get to something "better". Not a bad start though...
Johnny Roast Beef - Again, an interesting opening and a very cool transformational take on the games. Both were basically a personal twist on the object invocation. Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily translate into solid scenework.
Carl and The Passions - These guys, their confidence on stage, and their use of information clearly set them apart from their predecessors. It was a large team...10(?)...but they played unselfishly and did a great job giving focus in group scenes. Again, these guys had a very cool opening, and unlike the others, they nailed it. The scenes, except for maybe one or two that seemed to rely too much on caricature, were all excellent.
The tech person(s) missed calling the lights on the first two teams several times. You really felt for them, recognizing they had an ending, another one, another one...losing steam now...another one, and finally LIGHTS. Never take a good tech improviser for granted.
Then, we saw the fantastic duo of TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi. More on that after we run down to the theater to pick up some tickets.
TJ and Dave's show at 10:30pm Wednesday night was great. They did about an hour and 20 minutes of really interesting and entertaining work. The story involved a couple of teachers in love with special appearances by some of the students. It was definitely the best thing we saw Wednesday night.
The Bud Light was flat.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Coaching and breakthroughs
Anyway, Monday's level one class was a huge inspiration. The students made a real leap in understanding how important it is to be able to access emotion, to react to what is said, to grab onto the information that is put forth. I pushed more than in the past couple of weeks and they responded -- big time.
It's amazing when you're coaching/directing and you run into a player who has a "block" of some kind...emotional, physical, intellectual, etc...and you get a sense of taking that on yourself. Now, the "block" isn't that player's, it's yours. You are literally experiencing the struggle along with the other player. You long to be free of it. Then, you confront it like any obstacle. How can I get through, over, around, under this?
When the player overcomes the block, it's quite euphoric. I was riding this high for quite some time Monday night. I see these moments and think, "Yep. That's why we do this." It's so instructive, even beyond the realm of stage performance. This work can offer anyone the opportunity to drop the "mask" of their everyday life and explore the range of their personality and imagination.
It's amazing when you're coaching/directing and you run into a player who has a "block" of some kind...emotional, physical, intellectual, etc...and you get a sense of taking that on yourself. Now, the "block" isn't that player's, it's yours. You are literally experiencing the struggle along with the other player. You long to be free of it. Then, you confront it like any obstacle. How can I get through, over, around, under this?
When the player overcomes the block, it's quite euphoric. I was riding this high for quite some time Monday night. I see these moments and think, "Yep. That's why we do this." It's so instructive, even beyond the realm of stage performance. This work can offer anyone the opportunity to drop the "mask" of their everyday life and explore the range of their personality and imagination.
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