The wedding of our great friends this past weekend coincided with the Black Box Improv Festival at Georgia Tech. Jim and I were able to get together for a JaCKPie show. My wife and I left our apartment at 7:15pm Thursday night to get to the airport for our red-eye to Atlanta. The flight was delayed because of weather conditions affecting the arrival of our plane. When the plane did pull up to the gate, a passenger fainted while waiting to deplane, which led to some further delays. A whole fire station's worth of paramedics/firemen showed up to hook her up to various pulse, blood pressure and "don't sue us" monitors. We took off sometime after 11pm and arrived in Atlanta at 6:30am.
After renting the car, we had breakfast and several cups of coffee with my brother-in-law. We dropped off our stuff and took a quick nap at the home of some friends we were staying with for a couple of days. Then, we spent a few hours with my mom and had lunch #1 at Chick-fil-A (we don't have those here). A quick trip back to change clothes and head out to the rehearsal dinner, which also was running a tad bit late. As soon as we exchanged hellos and hugs and ate, we left for the improv show at Georgia Tech. Jim and I found a spot to get connected and warm up a little. The warm-up included some crazy stories and a game of net-less, paddle-less, table-less ping-pong. By this time, I was operating purely on adrenaline and left over caffeine. When we were brought backstage just before showtime, it occurred to me that perhaps I should look at the stage. We don't need anything really, but it's always a good idea to know what's out there. Two theatre cubes and a stool that wasn't really tall like a stool should be. It was more like a footrest for someone with wide feet.
We made our way onto the stage and I immediately saw a contingent of folks from the JTW, some who I hadn't seen in quite a while. Jim and I decided to get a suggestion for this show and do The Jam for source material. The question was, "What's a word or phrase you might repeat to yourself as a mantra." The suggestion we took was, "Relax. Don't give up." The Jam covered topics from self-help books, Jim's name mentioned in the "Contributions I ignored" section of a sci-fi book, cable & broadcast tv. There were probably some other things but that's all I remember now. The show flew by for me. We dealt with a couple's attempt to reinvigorate their marriage, subsequent sweepstakes winnings and a rather large purchase. Things deteriorated for them when we learned the wife had been going to school behind her husband's back. We had a couple of astronauts with a penchant for seeds and grains. One of them lost his dog, Buttercup, in a tragic shuttle accident and was pieced together for burial. Luckily, they were able to hold him together long enough to play an odd round of Demon-Dog Fetch (a brilliant offer on Jim's part). We had a game that consisted of two ambiguously ethnic mystery types threatening each other through asides to the audience. We discovered the improv utility belt that contains a stapler, duct tape, a ball, and a supply of Tang lids. You'd have to ask someone from the audience how it all came together, but we ended with Buttercup II finally making it through a successful blastoff. I suppose you could say that was the "Don't give up" part.
Some lines I remember:
Jim - "Choose a racism."
Chris - "I don't know this crowd, Jim."
Jim (after Chris walks through the elaborate space-object truck Jim had created behind Chris' back) - "Let me just have a second to mourn all that object work."
Chris (clueless) - "When you're moving the shuttle from the launch pad to the hangar, you can burn a few steps."
Jim (preparing for take-off) - "Oxygen. Check. Buttercup's love for me. Check."
Jim (ambiguous Wild West/spy guy) - "I'll tear his face off."
Chris - "I wonder if he knows this isn't my face."
The show was great for me. I felt a little rusty at times, but the combination of adrenaline, fun and the complete confidence I have in Jim carried the day. I continue to be amazed at how Jim and I are able to work together as if no time had really passed at all. That's what happens when you play all the time for a few years. It was interesting to see the different elements that were present in this show as opposed to our standard performance. Jim pointed some of them out in his blog entry...the broad games, the self-references, and some really cool transformations from one scene to the next.
Afterward, we hung out at Manny's until after 2am catching up with friends and generally laughing like the crazed sleepless fools we were. At least I learned that a deer is the symbol of unnecessary side support. The rest of the weekend was a blur. I wish I could've seen the other shows and hung out a bit more, but that's the nature of a whirlwind trip across the country. I'm looking forward to playing again over the Christmas holidays.
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