Cindy in Chicago

Final notes on the deconstruction

2011-08-17T10:57:00.000+10:00

An "art installation"
joint work by Erin Foy,
Sophie Long and Cindy
Tonkin, July 2011

I found these notes when i was packing. These are i believe all the notes i have on the deconstruction

.To do the deconstruction you need a handle on the 5 types of scenes (see the chart on the last entry).

First scene must move around emotionally.

In the run:

Pace is more important than content - pace will take care of bad work
Good work at the wrong pace is worse than bad work at the right pace
Characters from the opening scene can appear, but never with each other
Storyline characters first, then tangents. If there's a reference in there weave it into the story (batman helping grandpa in WWII)
Every detail from the opening, 2nd and 3rd scenes can be a scene in the run
Can do anything in a run, monologues, poems, as long as it's fast and gets faster
Will likely end in a scenic rant
Run is in part the "story" of the first scene
In a run the characters fromthe opening scene are the straight guys
Look for "runners" - find a mov which recurs and keep on making it recur
Make the run "feel" like story, but muck around with it
The run is in part a La Ronde: all the characters surround the primary event

Watching the end of a decon is like watching 6 people fall down a flight of stairs and land on their feet

After the theme if it's not abundantly clear why a character in the opening is like they are, then explain (give some back story)
Overall:

2 characters introduced: this is art; here are the themes; here's what we think; here's what connects them and connections we normally wouldn't make
Never end the story before the final scene

A flowchart which determines what kind of scene you are in

2011-08-15T12:20:00.000+10:00

Miles Stroth's genius is unbounded.
He does, however, prefer to use words to explain things.
I have translated his words into a simple flowchart for deciding what type of scene you are in. To discover the way you play each scene, go back a few days in this blog.

I'm not 100% comfortable with this, because we it implies a sequential decision making process, which isn't how I experience it, but it does cut through the stuff and show you the 4 questions you need to ask to get to the heart of Miles' 5 types of scenes most easily.

Comments welcome.

I did check the original hand drawn one of these with Miles, but I've made it prettier and it's more elegant looking here.

If you can't read this, please check out the pdf.

Day 2.5 with Miles

2011-08-14T15:27:00.000+10:00

I spent some time last night putting together a flowchart for identifying what kind of scene you are playing, because it's quite a simple decision-making process but it's masked with complexity.

i'll have to verify it with miles today, and then i'll make it pretty and add it onto this blog when i get a chance.

NYPD tower at times
square - resembles
those big walking things in
star wars

this afternoon was deconstruction.

these are notes from days 2, 3 and 4

here is the basic template (again, i think a diagram would be better, i'll get to it).

for a 25 minute deconstruction these are the timings (there's no earthly reason it has to stay at 25 minutes, it's just what we have this week to "graduate").

opening / foundation scene 6 minutes - should have a clear issue (and it helps if this is high stakes)
2 x theme scenes (which highlight the "deal" with the 2 characters in the foundation scene) 1 minute ish
foundation scene (and characters play up their "deal" as highlighted) 2 minutes
5 commentary scenes x 1 minute
foundation scene 1 minute
run: 8 minutes total - starting at 40 seconds, and later scenes can be less than 3 seconds: all things are fair game, but scenes get shorter and shorter (in a crescendo, when it spirals out of control and finishes in the:
final foundation scene resolving the "issue" 1 minute (may involve a time jump forward or backward)

characteristics of the opening scene

roxy deli, times
square, NY

2 players only
use all scene tools, but no walk ons, cut-tos, phone calls or time jumps (i.e. it's just these 2 on stage in a realistic scene)
conversation, add references (to books, movies, authors), details, characters you care about. don't reference comedies (miles says the audience then compares you to the comedy - hey, they said seinfeld, that's funny, this isn't as funny as that - since opening scene isn't comedic, it will never be as funny)
when you hear the offer, think what relationship does that make me think of, and what's the basic problem in this relationship
don't argue about the problem, but do talk about it a little - touch on it, and move away and then back again
give realistic explanations for the behaviours
must have a basic problem between you, something happening now
talk about the problem then go off on a tangent (did you see the game last night, did you see batman), then come back. the wider you range in topics, the better it is for the deconstruction itself
different levels of emotions, range of emotions and topics
make them real and a little bit awful - fairly realistic, but not absolute realism: absolute realism is boring
lots of references to culture (movies, books, plays, pop culture)
if you mention people, name them if you mention a restaurant, name it
make me worry a little about are they going to make it, we want audience to be concerned / invested in the relationship
in our experience, scenes between brothers don't seem to be high enough stakes (maybe this is about status). we had success with lovers/partners, parents / grandparents and children. we didn't actually try any sister scenes, so i'm not sure whether it's a status thing or an emotional investment thing

characteristics of the theme pulls

abacus and mah jong
inspired decoration at
ruby foo's, times square
chinese restaurant

choose one theme for each character in the foundation scene: say optimism for one, pessimism for the other, but they do not have to be complementary, they do need to be different from each other
scene essentially is a double absurd scene. first person states quite baldly the theme (I think everything's bad) and the other mirrors and echoes and heightens (yes, everything is bad, I hate the world)
scene is short
keep it simple (if the theme is too long e.g. "not being able to do what she wants to do because" it's not a theme). Themes are short and always in the positive e.g. I'm jealous, i feel betrayed, I'm hopeful, not "i'm not happy" but "i'm sad" not "i'm not loyal" but "i'm treacherous" - no qualifier on the theme - if there's a qualifier then it's commentary
themes are the driving force behind what's screwed up between the 2 of them

2nd foundation scene

same 2 original players come out and continue their scene (maybe with a small time jump, but nothing too much) in the same place it was originally
this time they play up their theme from the theme pulls, so that you really see their theme in them
because they are playing up the themes, they will exaggerate, and reveal more flaws, which will be useful in the commentary scenes, and later in tangents
in our experience, during the theme was an opportunity for the other players to remind the people in the opening scene if they forgot to name other characters who we can see later in the run, or to make any cultural refs
2nd (and 3rd) foundation scene in the same place as the first
don't resolve anything in the foundation scene until the closing scene

characteristics of commentary scenes

in case you want a 2nd one...

the commentary essentially points out what's screwed up about the way the people were thinking or interacting: e.g. he said he could never have a good time without alcohol, that's screwed up
the 2 people in the commentary scene essentially match and mirror each other, yes anding the initial idea (I like control, yes, I do too (and maybe an example of how they like control).
the "math" for thinking this through: the character said he needed alcohol to have a good time translates to "who shouldn't need something to do what"; e.g. a bride shouldn't need a gigolo on her wedding night t to have a good time (so you play the gigolo/bride scene)
stakes of the commentary scene must be higher than the original scene. if that's not possible then either make them ridiculously low (you get jellybean for changing the world), or reverse the idea (instead of who shouldn't need x to do y, try who should need x to do y, but doesn't)
if the set up isn't completely clear, drag in the line or the emotion they used to make it clear
examples: he blamed her for her mother's death; who should not blame whom for what (or who should blame whom for what, but doesn't). giving him a hard time for having a job; who should not give someone a hard time about what; who shouldn't give someone a hard time but doesn't
all commentary scenes are straight/absurd (so figure which one you are by the opening line and then stick with it) - it's got to have the straight guy to make it work (and all they do is heighten)
5 commentary scenes in a row
make sure you heighten if you are the straight (do you like my kiss make up? you can't wear that to church - gives context)
litmus test on the commentary is whether i know what you're commenting on
normally opening scene characters don't play in the commentary

ever descending
escalator, NY subway

characteristics of the 3rd foundation scene

again in the same place as the other 2 foundation scene
essentially the first scene in the run, so needs to be long enough to set the pace at the beginning
can have a small time jump, but not much
we often started the run by a story line character tagging in to begin the next scene

characteristics of a run

at the beginning scenes are longer - 1 - 1.5 minutes, and they get progressively shorter until it gets hectic and 'out of control", so much that people are talking over each other: emphasise speed in the way you move onto stage - getting faster
opening scene characters can be used in the run (especially with story line characters)
feel free to let the ideas "infect" the other scenes - e.g. if they refer to dickens, perhaps a dickens character somehow interacts with them or the other story line characters)
open with the other characters (storyline characters) mentioned in the foundation scene (the husband, wife, kids, neighbours)
if it's just something that catches your ear, that's a tangent
father hits son with a bottle of budweiser: abuse is the theme, hitting someone is a commentary, budweiser is a tangent
high energy group scenes work well for the fun (riot)

characteristics of a final foundation scene

same 2 characters all the way through (maybe a 3rd at the end if it's really necessary)
could involve a time jump - forward to when the issue resolved, or if it's not really soluble, backward to when the issue didn't exist
gives the audience a satisfying "the story is over" feeling
if there is a recurring 'bit' in the run, then you can bring it into the final scene (e.g. vampire bite)

rockefeller center decoration
through my kaleidoscope lense

general ideas:

miles asks for a line of poetry from the audience as a suggestion (first thought should be what relationship does this suggest to me)
this was created to see how many ways you can be inspired by a scene
if you play it a lot you can relax a little around the form
if you want someone to care about you, tell them about you
if you know what a player wants, give that to them, before you do the "math" on who you should be in the scene
big 5 themes for great art (good things to pick as your issue in foundation scene): mortality, sex, philosophy, religion, social structures
by definition, great art lasts, so improv can't do it, but it can tend towards great art
roommate scenes don't bring a lot of baggage, but parent/child, long term partners brings a lot with it - if you choose roommates as your relationship there are too many things to define, and strangers are even worse - never do a stranger or transaction scene as an opening
miles doesn't warm up (he says high energy is a decision: is warm up really just about energy??). he says if the group wants to warm up then he warms up (because that's what you do)
every format is a net to fall back on
miles taught us the weave edit: AB are in a scene. C starts object work downstage in vision of B. B then crosses stage in front of A and engages in the scene with C. Meanwhile A goes to the other side of the stage and engages in object work in vision of C, and when it's time C crosses the stage and engages with A. it's called a weave because of the way the players move. it's similar to a sliding door, and can go on indefinitely.

Day 2 with Miles

2011-08-10T12:41:00.000+10:00

ok, correction to yesterday's blog: there are in fact 5 types of scenes:
1. straight / absurd

two friends on a bench,
metropolitan museum of art
new york

2. character-driven
3. reality scene
4. alternate reality
5. mapping

for an explanation of 1 - 3, see yesterday. 4 and 5 are outlined below.

alternate reality:

treat an absurd offer as a rule which scans out into the world ("board up the windows, we're surrounded by vampires" makes it a vampire world,"let's kill us some dragons Brent" brings in the world of knights, it can also be an alternative reality like a science fiction e.g in this reality, people plant babies and they grow from the ground).
to be an alternate reality it must affect the whole world, not just the scene
you need to justify why it exists - just a short line - don't make the whole scene about the world, the scene is about the relationship
you can bring in the "straight representation" then go back (dude, do you ever think that there's more to life besides killing dragons? no, you're right, there isn't"). if you do a straight representation once, you need to do it again (it's a pattern too)
alternate reality used to be called story-driven

statue at metropolitan
museum of art, NY

mapping:

taking the characteristics of a cliched situation, like breaking up, and putting them on a different environment e.g. trading in your car
key is to keep your primary focus on the high stakes scene (break up) - usually it's funny because it's a high stakes mapped onto a low stakes situation
steal the language of the high stakes scene (the old car is the person you're breaking up with, touching the car is touching the person, sale is dropping them)

other ideas:

if you mistakenly type yourself as absurd, and they're in fact the absurd, so you end up with a double absurd scene, then you need to grab yourself a character quickly (because a double absurd has to be a character driven scene).

this afternoon we did deconstruction, but it deserves it's own entry, so read on...

Miles: Day one - straight absurd

2011-08-10T00:53:00.000+10:00

First day of the final week. It's all gone by so fast. I could do this for a long long time!
Miles Stroth is our teacher this week.

4 kinds of scenes:

straight / absurd scene (one straight acting person, one absurd person)
character driven scene
realistic scene
4th type to come tomorrow morning!

sign on n clark "cheap and tacky
2 bedrooms". everyone would
want to live there, right?

characteristics of the straight/absurd scene

you are pretending to be yourselves or close to yourself
one person is "wrong" or flawed
if you stagnate, then answer the who are these guys to each other, the why are they doing this - get the game of the scene (straight/absurd), and then heighten with who what where

the absurd character in a straight/ absurd scene

the absurd one is the one who is "wrong" or "flawed" (you stole the cheese from the fridge, you are the one who forces people to wear things they don't want to or you are emotionally stunted)
absurd character's job: do it more, keep on doing the "wrong" thing, play your flaw

offer absurd nonsensical reasons for why you do things (don't ever justify it in a logical way),
ignore any of the straight person's offers which don't suit you
listen opportunistically for things which serve you, ignore what doesn't - if it's a troublesome or argumentative line just don't respond or respond with a non-sequitur (let's get pizza) or rehash info we already have (it's so cool that i have a monkey).
if you feel inactive reiterate what you already have (i own a monkey called carl)
find what to do in what the straight guy says
absurd is almost always positive state of mind; straight guy gets increasingly frustrated
our natural instinct is to defend ourselves from attack: to play the absurd reverse it on stage, ignore anything requiring defense
the absurd does what the straight guy tells you not to do
some absurds are borderline retards, others are drug-addled
when you have to give a justification for your behaviour, make it ridiculous (i won't share my umbrella with you because you're an orphan)

the straight character

view from my new
york hotel room
window

straight guy points out everything that's wrong, absurd guy does absurd stuff
tell the absurd guy what NOT to do (don't leave your shoes by the door, clean up the yard, call me mum)
get increasingly frustrated
straight man's job: make it worse, listen to everything because you are trying to build a logical case against the straight guy, and you need all the ammunition
once you've established the absurd guy, you need to take it up a level to why you are still here in this room with this absurd guy (you saved my life in 'nam)
straight guy makes sense, absurd guy makes no sense at all
don't temper your integrity - keep making it worse for yourself by feeding them stuff to frustrate you
be obvious
audience gets into the straight/absurd scene through the straight guy (they think, i'm with you, he IS crazy)
we need the straight guy to blow up so we can cue a new level (who, what, where, etc) then we can keep the original game and add a new one if we need to. reaction should be progressive leading to a blow out - start small with small offers, but you may go back immediately if it's a big offer... there must be a level change after a blow out
straight guy points out what's generally agreed to be the norm
absurdities not recognised by the straight guy don't get the laugh until the straight guy points them out (if you agree with the absurd, then they don't laugh)
there's a version of straight man as victim: you've got my jacket, that was my dad's jacket, i felt safe when i wore it, he's dead now, it was really comforting when i went through chemo to wear that jacket...
straight guy can give a reasonable explanation for the absurd's behaviour - the absurd cannot
generally work under the assumption that you know this person, so their behaviour isn't happening for the first time, so you don't have to blow up immediately - take it slow

characteristics of a character driven scene

if you choose character-driven, stay in it, don't switch to absurd
character must have something driving them, a want, an obsession, not just an accent or a physicality (e.g. viewing the world through the eyes of a sadist) - turn something into a character by giving them a focus
character driven scenes can be absurd as well, sometimes double absurd
characters can also be archetypes (e.g old man who's been in a war, old man pervert)
in straight absurd scenes you remember the game, in character scenes you remember the character
if you mirror a character be 2 peas in a pod, the same, but find something different (e.g. we're both old men, but he's the pervert and I'm the in the war guy) - match their energy and atittude, but find a difference between you (what he sees in the girls, you see in the war)
if they have chosen a weird character and you can't think who else inhabits that world, then go peas in a pod
principles of the straight/absurd scene apply: smoeone still needs to call out the oddness to make the audience laugh, but do it "representationally" ("did you ever think that maybe doing this thing is odd") and then go back to doing it. you can't shift entirely to straight guy, because this would be the proverbial dropping of your shit, so just represent the straight and go back to being your character
in a scene you think something doesn't work and you think the audience probably didn't catch that, but they never miss anything, so call it out (you just stubbed out a cigarette with your hand)
characters can be double absurd - essentially complementary characters which more or less ignore each other and do their own thing - you only have to take their offer if you can use it - you'll know if you can use it in a second - drop it if it doesn't suit your game - don't try and make it work if it doesn't. with double absurds no one has to make sense - they just have to make sense in passing.
if they turn your game on you in double absurd then take it and apologise - how can i be more unfair
if you have no idea what they are doing, mirror them, find basic character, then find your difference
listen till you hear your position then play it

realistic scenes

character-driven scenes are more heavy handed with character - more subtle characters for realistic scenes (closer to your self but without the oddness of an absurd scene)

ideas:

miles hates others defining what you are doing when miming an action - you get to define it yourself
stay away from similar emotional states - 2 x positive states lead to sex, 2 negative states lead to fighting, neither works well on stage
we need to retire the line "someone's off their meds"
when someone starts a scene listen to them as if they have an idea - give them 3 - 4 lines, and if not then you start
most scenes which screw up do so in the first 10 seconds - drop what you are doing if both of you initiate and listen to what they are saying / watch what they are doing
mick napier's book mostly about initiating, very little about not starting (it's phrased in a "if someone beats you to it" way, like starting first is all there is) - miles' philosophy is see what they do and take a position around that
if it's about truth in comedy, then play it as real as you can in every scene - which means in a straight/absurd scene you need a good why you are staying there - this is the 2nd level (after you've established who is straight, who is absurd, what the absurdity is, then you can do the rest of the who what where
sometimes you are supposed to argue (when it makes no sense not to); if you're caught in an argument, (i'm right, no i'm right, no i'm right), just say "you're right, I'm wrong.. (i'm ordering pizza)"
if the other person is initiating ok to start out neutral and slide into character if required - it's harder to slide OUT of a big choice than it is to slide into one (if the audience see it, it's improvised)

More harold

2011-08-08T05:54:00.000+10:00

week 4, days 2 and 3 i think.

NY subway with my distorting
lense

stick with the first offer: if your opening leads you to mermaid world, then come back to mermaid world and explore more (not the same again, more, deeper) - there is so much to explore there

the aim of an opening is to walk away feeling so good that we know what to do - if necessary call out the theme, state it up front and often
try and work out what is your scene partner's intention and play to that

the back line's job is to keep a scene in the present - if they mention someone not in the scene, then that person should enter - you're the protectors of the present. if there's an opportunity to show it, then do it instead of telling it

shoot the grandma: don't stop yourself from shooting the grandma - if it's inevitable, if the audience can see it coming, then don't delay it, do it, and see what happens afterwards - there's always something next

don't drop your shit (your own first offer of character / point of view / attitude) - how can your choice co exist with the new idea

be blatant if you think there is any ambiguity

the Lyndsey break - an energiser - punch towards the ground and scream at the top of your lungs for 15 seconds

if we need a transformation, look to do it with a yes, rather than with a conflict

try using something from the opening to sweep edit (keeps the theme present so people remember it)

if you build an environment in the opening, you can set the first beats in that environment if you want to (as long as the scenes are about you and your scene partner, not about the environment).

the more you know someone in a scene, the higher the stakes: solidify the relationship as early as possible - if the audience doesn't know who these people are they don't care about them - e.g. in a torture scene, you need to quickly set up the what and the who (i know you're my brother but...)

one tactic for an opening is to set up one person at a time, so the slow build makes it clear to everyone. each move builds on the previous one, NOT ON THE ORIGINAL move. the last thing said is the most important

exercise: opening, and 3 scenes, then second beat must have one each of thematic, tangential and character pull, then move onto 3rd beat (following the pull pattern you set up in beat 2).

NY building with my distorting lense

whatever happens, do it again, and it looks like it happened on purpose.

telegraph what you are doing to the cast (and audience) if you're worried they won't get it (or even if you think they will), remove all ambiguity, don't make them play guess (you set it up much better when it's clear) - e.g. "as your mother..."

joy and fun underneath the characters makes you watchable. this is easiest when you stay in the present tens

exercise: we did a full harold each person had a brief from the following list of harold principles:

keep it in the present
pull tangentially
pull thematically
the last thing said is the most important
emotion drives
first beat must be grounded
shoot the grandma
chew your food (take it slowly)
vary the energy
hit the suggestion so hard you find the theme
just say it
characters live everywhere, plot won't survive
variety of edits to vary the energy (from words to gestures)
(+lyndsay added a wrecking ball - someone to come in and make crazy offers out of the blue)

edits:
if you're joining the scene, make eye contact. if you're sweeping don't.
for tagging, make eye contact with the person you want to stay

to remember your accent/ character, add a physical dimension to it

Week Four: the harold day one

2011-08-07T05:11:00.000+10:00

so this is a summary of day one of week four. things got too busy to write up every night - as the end of the intensive approaches my class is going out more and more together, seeing 3 shows a night, and then feeling exhausted.

week four was intense. our teacher was lyndsay hailey, who had a new perspective on the harold for me. Essentially her thesis is that the last thing said is the most important, and that is true for the organic/harold games as well. in which case she suggests at the end of the organic the last thing said should be a statement of a single theme.

route 66 starts (or ends) here

by making the theme clear (e.g. life is short), then the first 3 scenes become easy to theme (for, against or exploring the thesis).

then the game slot should pretty much begin where the opening left off, and deepen into the theme (e.g. if the opening took the suggestion brown and ended up charting the digestive system and we ended up with life is short, then the game after the first beats should take up the digestive system and go deeper to find the next "theme" for the 2nd beats, e.g. move from the digestive system to the other organs, ending up with a theme that the heart is resilient). Similarly, the 2nd game slot should do that.

it gives a clear path for the beats to evolve through and is really a "conversation with the audience" (which is a del close idea - the suggestion is what they give us, and then we have a conversation with them which converts any idea into brilliance and poetry.

ideas around openings and game slots

game slots were originally short form games to "guarantee" a laugh between the more serious beats. then they found out that the serious beats were often just as funny
the harolds in chicago at io are generally 25 minutes, but there is nothing inherent in the form that determines this - they were originally 45 minutes
opening should be artful and poetic finding a deep theme. good teams have a single theme, wihch they all jump on board with, bad teams have 12 themes
need to think of the suggestion in light of the first offer, but the last thing said is always the most important, so if the person who speaks or moves or makes an offer before you takes it away from the suggestion, then it's away from there
invocation is the training wheels exercise to take suggestions from literal to artistic
beach on the shores of lake michigan

ideas around themes

iO is the home of selfless improv - if we have competitive interests and competing themes, because we want our idea to win, we end up with a fractured point of view
piece before form - if the piece is better served by breaking the form, then break the form
our job is to make people think before they laugh (on one level it says to the audience, i'm going to take your crappy suggestion of dildo, and make it art)
if you think the theme is the circle of life, then it's good to say it (protect your friends by saying "man, the circle of life is a beautiful thing"); repeat the theme as you sweep each scene if you want to - it's your thesis statement for the overall piece, and everyone knows it, including the audience

armando ideas

armando: the unspoken rule is to take the question and intentionally get real and vulnerable - the comedy comes in the scenes: comedy as relief of tension (monologue creates 'seriousness' tension)
opening lines of a beat may all be the same (e.g. I'm really disappointed...) if the theme is disappointed

ideas on the harold

the goal of our group is to extract one clear theme and care about it
don't bring scenes together until the 3rd beat
2nd beat game slot: this isn't just happening, it's got to be important, it has to progress the theme in some way
character can live anywhere (if character is point of view, then it doesn't matter if you're a librarian or a cop or a viking).
it gets funnier when you pick up patterns and get more specific - digging deep on a single theme is funnier than going broad over several themes

pulls exercise: do opening and first three beats, and then pull from the first beat scene A a thematic pull, from scene B a character pull, from scene C a tangential pull

tangential pulls are the rarest but a "welcome friend" - e.g. repeating the same dialogue or taking how someone walks or moves or how the beat was staged

some ideas on getting out of your head around theme:

get character with a clear point of view
just chase the last thing said by anyone else - you'll be on theme
you don't need to know where you are, just follow what others do
it's like when you have terrible sunburn - you seem to get slapped on the back more often - the theme is there, the energy is there, you'll find it, even if you don't consciously know
chase the most interesting shiny thing about the scene - if you have an idea you think would be fun, follow it - remember there is the rest of the troupe and some of them are following (and if they're not, then they'll appreciate a strong fun move from you)

pain and vulnerability:

exercise: tell your most vulnerable moment

ben stiller movies: primed to laugh because of the pain
you can't control
embarassing moments are huge today's the day moments
you can't control plot, but don't resist what you know - bring your own life story on stage

exercise: independent film: behave like you're in a taking-itself-seriously independent art film: do not consciously chase patterns or connections or interactions with other people: we did this for 13 minutes, and it was surprising how connections formed even though there was no intention to do so (and explicit instructions not to) -- i.e. themes and patterns and call backs will occur naturally - stop trying to force them

(some of the things describing indy films: unintentionally funny, overcommitted, trying to be poignant, sometimes no idea what they're talking about)

it's impossible to be in the moment if you're thinking what happens next - you audience will make you brilliant - they will make you brilliant, they will connect things you don't even consciously see

soundscape organic opening: helps to have a rhythm to ground it. always keep your first offer. if you feel it needs a transformation, then go deeper into that first offer (musically this would be staying within the genre, physically this would mean sticking with the physical offer but changing its intensity or rhythm, for example), rather than trying a new offer. make sure you're affected by the others on stage: the group will know that there's a need for a change -

three times makes a pattern...

2011-08-01T15:17:00.000+10:00

Chicago Fire Academy is apparently
on the site where the great chicago
fire started... turns out it wasn't
mrs o'leary who started the fire,
it was some anti-irish sentiment
whipped up by the media.
thank goodness that never happens
any more...

Object work - line up what you can see with what you can't: eg fridge lines up with seam in stage, sink under light.

Repeating anything makes it into a pattern. (3 times really makes it a pattern)

If someone walks through your mimed table and the show is going on fine, ignore it. In a 2 person show you may want to call it out

For the entire piece to be art the individual scenes shouldn't be

Third beats need to be quicker: if it's not working cut the head off the beast and see what else grows.

Exercises:

Create an organic warm up (without consultation)
Repeat-a-scene: we did one scene, then the other half of the class had to repeat it. Tested our listening, showed what made scenes memorable (emotions, specificity, active, committed, real emotions)
Staging exercise: do strongly emotional scenes with odd staging (opposite ends of stage, back to back,nose to nose)
Same initiation: series of scenes begun with same line: here's the Johnson file, someone was out late last night

Barry recommended reading Peter Gwinn Group Improvisation (we'd already discussed Improvisation and Truth in Comedy and Art by Committee and Impro).

My observation: difference between the good and the bad improviser may have something to do with their ability to find a play ground inside themselves (vs imprisoned by themselves)

2011-07-29T01:04:00.000+10:00

fence at the buckingham fountain
chicago

Day 3 week 3

Exercises:

Just yes – one person talks about something they care about, the other can ONLY say yes. (barry’s generalisation: 80% of bad scenes are bad because one person just says yes and the other does all of the work)

Yes and – scene, each line starts with yes and.. (followed by scenes where the yes and is silent in your head

oddball initiations – first person makes a ‘bad’/oddball initiation, the other has to yes and it, giving context, grounding it, adding feelings (and it turns out there’s no such thing as a bad initiation). With oddball initiations we are often more specific. Being specific is helpful – it answers 7 questions and gives 5 to five other ideas (i have a job isn’t as good as I work in a bakery specialising in French patisseries). Throwing a specific out there means your partner can work with it.

Specific piece –we were given 25 minutes, and ask to create specifics which would recur: weird edits, parallels in plot or character or ideas – essentially creating patterns and echoes – setting the table for what will happen next

junk mail on an abandoned door
knob, near Belmont, Chicago

Larger yeses exist – if someone mucks up a word, then make that word real (a cook county social club show was set at yale university. Someone fluffed the pronunciation and said Dale Yall, so their scene partner created a 2^nd university called dale yall. This only works where you have the luxury of time – probably not good for a 1 minute scene, but cool with longer ones, and especially cool with long forms).

If there’s only one grounded scene between humans, we will want to see that resolved.

Need to cast a wide net from the ask for – if you get sock and do every scene about socks it’s not as rewarding for anyone as it is when socks become about clothing becomes about nike sweatshops in third world countries is about compassion or hard work or getting by...

plenty of time

2011-07-28T00:38:00.000+10:00

day 2, week 3, with barry hite

long form improv operates on entropy. if it starts zany it doesn't get calmer: but if it starts calm and grounded it can get zany later.

seen a lot of armandos where they use a reframing device (a previous scene reframed as a pitch of a show or an ad). tj and his friends also have a whole show (called "the scene") where they do it. it's essentially a directed show, but the whole cast (of 4) use it. haven't seen it yet. last night i saw chicagoland (a show with tj and another experienced player, noah and 2 others). they ask for a location in chicago to start, and they got steppenwolf theater so we had lots of theatrical scenes which were then interrupted (as well as a few drunken celebrity in bar scenes). One of the fun game of the scene they played was after a long speech tj intervened as director and the player (noah) had to re-do his speech).

old school harold is 45 minutes, now most of them are 25.

today's focus was varying energy (a good album has a series of songs at differing intensities - i guess the updated reference is a good playlist?). if it's a one note show, performers get bored, audience will catch up (we need to treat audiences like they are genius poets, can't bore them).

old school italian downright
american

improv piece as a cumulative art project

seekout variety in play, stage picture, energy,narrative intensity

think of the different energies of a 3rd class teacher, a dictator, an accountant, a kindergarten teacher, a ceo. even low energy choices need to be high intensity, high commitment.

you don't immediately need all 3 of the big 3 (who, what, where) but at least 1 is needed

it's fun to watch people working from agreement

high intensity choices and playing upstage don't mix - play high intensity and downstage

your greatest disagreements will be with the people you love the most

matching scenes gives everyone the same status: with the same status it's easier to affect each other (more difficult when you have high/low status on the same scene)

in 2 person scenes where you are starting new scenes spontaneously, be aware of the "pool break" edits - there's no need to go for a little walk to start the next set of scenes (one of our class literally did it like a space jump on himself - very effective)

editing scenes (speed, frequency) has as much effect on energy as anything else does

lou mitchell's bakery
finest coffee

nothing wrong with the occasional competitive scene (as long as it's not all you do)

the thing is not that people throw curve balls (zaniness, craziness, magic), it's that we listen and remember and throw the balls back

exercises:

character energy match: someone steps into the centre of the circle and adopts a character physically and vocally. rest of the circle must match that energy and intensity; energy must vary from one to one - not all shouty or not all timid, not all excited or despondent.
match energy: scenes where 2nd player matches the initiator in both energy, physicality and vocal quality
complement energy: scenes where 2nd player chooses a different energy / physicality / vocal quality from the initiator
2 person show: we had 5 - 8 minutes, the brief was to vary the energy, match or complement the energy. barry called the edits, making them increasingly faster. it got so your initiation was coming from nowhere (so much fun, again, again,again!)
whisper back - initiator says line. 2nd person whispers that line word for word, then says their own line. forces you to acknowledge their line, slows you down, very uncomfortable, but it does make you listen! (barry uses this as an endurance test for listening - the longer the line, the harder it is to repeat; it also shows when your lines are too generic and vague - because you hear them back to yourself and realise the scene is going nowhere because of the vagueness)
curve ball (tilt) - normal scene and 2-3 lines in one player throws in a curve ball (what johnstone calls a tilt), other players job is to respond to it and ground it in the scene (helps to have immediate acceptance, relationship in the scene already, listening important too - only able to ground the curve ball if you have set up a reality and a relationship already)
8 minute show: 2 players on stage for 8 minutes. one ask for, do whatever you like (again, again, again!!)

personal histories

2011-07-27T01:20:00.000+10:00

the objective is to make your scene partner safe enough to bring in their own personal history

for a harold, start with grounded, theatrical real life scenes, and then move on to silliness later.

this is not a recycling bin
it's a dream machine

how you get better is watching shows, good and bad. seeing people you respect and admire who fail makes you OK with failure

if you can perfect being a human being you should be able to perfect being on stage... except you can't perfect being a human being.

exercises:

3 line scenes
3 line scenes where each line endows your scene partner
3 line scenes where each lines endows your character (having an i statement moves away from plot - plot is the hardest thing to make interesting and sustainable)
2 minute scenes with no more than 3 lines of dialogue
3 line scenes where each line begins: "i can't believe you just said that, it makes me feel..." (respond, feel something)
3 line scenes where each line begins: "it's important for me to hear you say that because"... (make it important)
conversation + action (talk in pairs about something that you feel strongly about, then each pair given a action: surgery, wash car, rake leaves etc where they continue that conversation) -
keep it real - given a classic scenario that movies and sitcoms have done a million times (jail, morning after sex, parent reprimand, visit a grandparent), but keep it real - grounded in real life - play a close version of yourself

always assume no edit is coming. to play the moment when you know this is true, use these three tools: i think, i feel, i want. if you're still stuck then make statements about each other (e.g. hearing from someone that they feel like you're intimidating will cause a reaction)

"it makes me feel" should be followed by an actual emotion (mad, sad, glad, etc), vs i feel like you don't think i'm smart (that's not an emotion!)

good food here: bar on north
clark

good to feel positive emotions - if you start negative it mostly stays there, with positive it has more room to move, negative puts you on the defensive, gears up for an argument, positive engenders the greatest relationships

emotion can inform motivation more easily than the other way around: FEEL something, and then work out why later - an emotional choice is the least encumbering

start a scene by scanning them and then choose an emotion (randomly?), it's better to have an emotion than none

play people who are familiar enough with each other that they can compliment each other

make sure to make things important

60% of bad scenes is 2 people not feeling or making things important

conversation + action is generally the first 15 minutes of tj and dave, then they have a spike or an explosion which refers to something they set up / planted much earlier

it's not about being funny, it's about being comfortable enough to express opinions: take any good conversation and have them be assassins in Peru trying to kill the Chilean ambassador, and it's entertaining...

heartbreaking moments belong in comedy too: play a character closer to arm's reach

generally you want grounded, intense scenes that the audience will buy into - so later the less real scenes will be accepted too. grounded = identifiable, but not boring (99% of life is boring, we want to see the 15 minutes a week which isn't.

Get Physical with Jay Olson

2011-07-25T02:01:00.000+10:00

extra workshop on Friday called "Get Physical".
included some variations on short form games which may interest you.

want to learn about robots? a
store near belmont, chicago

exercises:
walk around the stage, then intensify the walking around - if this is 5, make it 7, make it 1, make it 4, etc

dance: with music playing, then dance like a construction worker, a surgeon, a teenage boy, a society matron..

3 line scenes: just normal, then grounded in the physical, again only 3 lines, but they had more meaning, and the scenes were more interesting

freeze tag blind called by teacher, then freeze tag blind but also called blind

stage directions (line in a bucket, but with stage directions instead: eat a delicious sandwich, take an ax and chop things down, kiss someone) with the need to justify within the scene - added fun to scenes. if you're at a pool and your stage direction says to light a fire, you don't have to justify immediately, start slowly, do all of the component parts (find paper, lay the wood out, light the matches, blow on it to catch) until someone else notices / brings attention to it, or until something in the scene makes it relevant. even if it's not relevant when you start, it will become so.

live childhood game at millennium park

make up a childhood game: jay made us remember the childhood games we had played (hopscotch, red rover, simon says), and then asked us in a group of 7 to make one up. What resulted was a playful, joyful, supportive pattern-based organic opening, without the heaviness of trying to create art (or any whooshing out of place). we did a couple of these, then he started giving us names for the game (like an ask for), like robbers and farmyard, or the bank is closed. had a great time and created some really interesting connections.

ideas:
connect everything to emotions - if you hear laughing do it more
get into trouble
be naught
do something carefully and physically, and it will never be wasted

2011-07-25T01:49:00.000+10:00

day 4 of week 2 - last day of this week.

exercises:

girls in millennium park
proving that busby berkeley
comes naturally!

story exercise which had a name, but i didn't write it down: cross "i am a tree" with shared story (announce what you are as you come in "i am the picket fence", once you've established that you can move, you can also narrate, but all of the troupe is on stage at the same time, and no one stands separately, even to narrate).

busby berkeley was a hollywood choreographer / director who made use of symmetry and the beauty of repetition - see video).the exercise we did essentially exploited mirroring and rhythm to create interesting stage pictures.
we began with 10 of us lined up one behind the other centre stage. the front person did a gesture, and the 2nd person mirrored or complemented that (e.g. 1st person punches to the left, 2nd person punches to the right). Then 3rd person does a different gesture, which is mirrored or complimented by the 4th, and so on to the end.
then the first person peels away from the group, and the 2nd one mirrors or compliments, down the line. the piece then pretty much takes us a life of its own - sometimes your pair changes across the stage, with the outcome of creating something that looks interesting on stage. at the same time it will provide an opening which will provide ideas to pull from in the following scenes. very beautiful stuff happened.

mary zimmerman (no one is sure why it's called this). in groups of 3 and 4 we had to mirror and heighten each others' movement. then we re-did it for the class. some quite complex wordless narratives created (so does the audience just create a narrative even when one is not there? can we let ourselves off the hook and just do what feels right?)

Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium
Park. You gotta love a good
Frank Gehry design!

5 minutes to plan a piece we had exactly that, 5 minutes to "design" a 5 minute non-improvised piece, encompassing any of the stuff we'd done to date - busy berkeley, mary zimmerman, any of the strange and wonderful group mind exercises; the only constraint was that everyone must be on stage at all times, and that in the planning phase no one could reject or override any ideas - once it was decided we were being pumpkins, there was no saying "i don't like pumpkins", or "i think that's great, but why don't we do this instead" (sound familiar?) - i.e. no editing, only brainstorming, yes anding. go deeper into the idea, rather than creating something new. did this in groups of 7, then as a whole class.

warm up: here comes susie: (a warm up provided by gerry from switzerland)
group chant: here comes x (their name),
individual: says what they are doing (digging up dirt), with the accompanying gesture
group: repeats "here comes susie, digging up dirt" twice.. mirroring their gesture
group: "this is how we do it" (3x),
group turning so they are front to front: "front to front to front to front
group turning so they are back to back: "back to back to back"
group turning so they are side to side: "side to side to side"
group: this is how we do it (return to beginning, "here comes x")

dysfunctional family dinner similar to the porch exercise, 5 players at a dinner party, again we were looking to find a point of view for our character from the first few gestures we make and how we felt about those gestures or the imaginary food in front of us or where/how we are sitting

feedback; we finished the week with individual feedback: the whole class and then colleen said what they appreciated about each person's play, and then what they would like to see the do more of, and we then played a scene doing something they had requested. i'm working on being a high status selfish male moron right now.

ideas:
if i slow it down it makes it important, and then i remember it
if you get back into the body position of where you were, you remember things (kinesthetic memory)
you'll be surprised how much group mind is already there, we just have to pay attention
we are brainwashing ourselves to be more like children

i'm as invested in your idea as you are in your idea
if you make a statement (tuesday is a good day for golf, then you need to say why this is true (it's the day my wife is at bridge, the day anna serves beers at half price, the day my boss is at a board meeting)

you can play "sensitive" across a spectrum - sensitive angry vs sensitive fragile vs sensitive apologising

anger is flip side of sadness - see first ep of 6 feet under - pounding the coffin in sadness, last tango in paris talking to his dead wife

make a choice for your own character and point of view before you see what they do: gives a different dynamic

high status can also be benevolent

tics, quirks, porches and ambiguity

2011-07-22T16:15:00.000+10:00

Day 3 Week 2.

adding weird tics and quirks: start a scene with 2 people in silence. deal with your environment, start with a character close to yourself. colleen interrupted and added a physical characteristic (eg everyone got shirley temple pouty mouth; in another they all had giant hard-ons; had to wink after each line). it added a sub text. we were encouraged to notice how the change made us feel (childish, tickly, sad, horny?) and play that emotion. added enormously to the scenes. it served to intensify all of the emotions.

triceratops, t rex, mammoth
an ornament on a bridge
over chicago railway lines

so it's important to make the physical into an emotional / personality attribute (don't just pout, how does pouty make you feel, make that your thing). this is a short cut to an organic character, rather than playing the idea of a pouty person.

if you hear the audience laughing and you don't know why this is usually an indication that you're doing somethign true to the character, rather than doing a "bit" to make them laugh

the porch exercise: 4 people on stage, on chairs, each one chooses an activity (independently of the others), and based on how this makes them feel chooses an attitude / emotion, a point of view. then the job is to heighten this through the scene (this is your own game of the scene - e.g. you do a crossword puzzle but it's frustrating, so you're the guy who's frustrated with everything; you clip coupons, so you feel thrifty, so you're the bargain hunting nit picker). Meanwhile, of course, everyone on stage knows each other somehow. during the scene we find out how they know each other. and they are sitting watching something (on the porch) which we also need to find out.
if you're doing some object work and you think it's one thing (making clay volcanoes), and it's named something else (jenga), then keep the emotional stuff you set up for yourself (focused, obsessed, etc), even though the object has changed. because you've already established that.

the ambiguous exercise an organic game - exploring stage pictures, something nice for the audience to look at, symmetry, mirroring, not necessarily tangible or narrative

o mighty isis - appealing to the god isis to "show me ..." a car, a tree, a circus, and the whole group paints it. it's about watching the offers already there. Then we moved to just making an object without a suggestion,

flying - we spent a short while lifting each other. apparently a nod to safety in case it happens in the grad show.

narrative fantasy - essentially typewriter with 7 players acting out everything, playing the furniture and the trees and environment etc. as well as being the protagonist

wisdoms:
it's not a rule that we don't ask questions, it's a guidelines to make our jobs easier
your character can be the game of the scene
if you don't know how you feel about what you're doing, just choose some way

target has a separate escalator for
trolleys and people! chicago

what you say in a scene doesn't need to be logical sense, but it needs to be in character / show what you are obsessed with (what do you think of Star Wars? It says we'll all die someday (from a nihilistic character), it's about love (from a romantic), it endorses incest (from an uptight character).

totally legit to say 'What?" if you're so obsessed with your object work that you miss something

annoyance says accept the radical over the top character choices. iO says "hey, why are you acting crazy".

charna came from a short form background, del from scenic work and long form at second city; originally group games were proper set games. eventually they introduced more organic options

armando advice:
three possible functions of a monologue: to sympathise or empathise or educate
you are unique, interesting people, we want to see who you are

get an attitude

2011-07-22T11:42:00.000+10:00

Day 2 of week 2.

insects at the
field museum, chicago

warm ups:
circle of doom stage 2. from yesterday: the sign and the sound with your name (cindy - swoosh with a hand gesture); say your own and then someone else's. so this tested our memories and our ability to do other people's stuff with the same level of commitment that they had in creating it.
when we had this down we moved on to saying a name, but someone else's gesture. the gesture was what got passed (i'd intuit that this was about paying attention to the physical offer).

make up a dance: 7 people on stage, each had to make up 4 beats of a dance, (so eventually we had 28 beats). they learnt it bit by bit, and then as a group came up with the last 4 beats. then they did it for us in the audience.
then, scary bit, colleen made the audience members come up and pay a tribute to the first group by dancing their dance... and we made up our own.
colleen linked this to being on stage and basically mirroring and repeating other people's actions/ games etc.

good morning fucko: 2 players, they sleep (on 2 chairs). then when colleen said "good morning fucko" they had to get up and start their day. as before, much of who these people were to each other was shown even before they spoke (how they slept, how they got out of bed, what they did first). start your own day but make a choice about how you feel about this, and make this an inspiration for your character.

aerial view of some
visitors to the art inst
of chicago

onion skin - 171 - (space jump) played with 7 layers, no one calls the jump, just a new scene started strongly with an entrance. there was a priority of a good scene over physical justification, which i found hard after years of space jump. that said, in erin's class they WERE asked to physically justify.

notes from colleen's wisdom:
this level is all about moving from being cynical adults to embracing and supporting people's choices

remember to give us a WHY, especially if you're doing something you hate (running a marathon). that way there's a why to bring back for the 2nd beat.

when in doubt in a group scene, join in. if someone else is being brave and singing, then you sing too - don't leave them hanging

there's more mileage in happily / sadly / magically / lustfully /grumpily doing something than there is in just doing it. don't just do, do it with an attitude towards it. you can just make coffee at home. on stage make coffee with an emotion or attitude

when you invest in object work you are distracting your analytical brain, so you can be brilliant.

the first 5 seconds on stage is a contract with the audience about who you are.

there's a difference between agreeing and playing politely; can agree to the scene and still argue - disagreement within the scene while agreeing to the moment

play a heightened version of myself: if you're anxious and neurotic, be more so on stage. take care of yourself: know who you are (personality / foibles, not role), and how you feel about that. look after yourself = determine your world view

they don't make sounds for sound effects in scenes - it's assumed that when you put on the blender, it's blending, no need to make the blender sound. if you make a blender sound for the blender, then they assume that you're the guy who makes sound effects, and you'll have to do it not just for the appliances but for other things (your squeaky shoes, etc)

ucb is find the game of the scene: iO is find the relationship

even if you don't like the other character on stage with you, you need them for some reason (it's important that the audience knows why, else why stay on stage, why stay with someone you hate). who are these people, why are they on stage together, what's their stuff.

as a character you need to know what do i want, what kind of person am i, how do i feel about them

if you were cool you would be in a band: improv's not for cool people

2011-07-20T14:37:00.000+10:00

so the amazing blinding flash of the obvious from lisa linke's workshop on saturday was part of my ongoing insight for Monday, day 1 of week 2.

kid at the field museum
of natural history
chicago

Exercises
Circle of Doom - each person says their name and sets up a sound/gesture for themselves. Then we pass focus around the circle, firstly by saying someone's name and their sound/gesture. then by just passing the gesture. good for learning names, but also is about mirroring and doing someone's idea with as much commitment as they do it themselves.

Caligula - we all held hands and then just moved in an organic manner... having at least 2 points of contact with 2 other people at any point (but not just hands). to get used to touching each other. would have been better with music. and alcohol. and cheese.

leading with body parts - the old exercise which never gets old - leading with diffrerent parts of the body (forearms, squinty eyes, forehead, calves). letting this inspire a character / voice (we had to say good morning). after a little of this, we then individually walked and the class pointed out what we lead with. next we had to change our leading part, make it into a character, and we sat in a group of 5 will colleen interviewed us (why are you guys all together, what's your name, how old are you, and then whatever came out of it). we had to keep the character all the way through.

mirroring - the other old chestnut which tells you so much which morphed into speaking in one voice using the same partner. it was 4 players as 2 characters, but with no direct eye contact, speaking at conversational pace and conversational volume. it lead to more fun scenes, because of the give and take. the emphasis was on the scene, not on the speaking

wisdoms and observations from this week's teacher, Colleen Doyle:

the audience gets mad when we "drop our shit" - when we drop character elements part way through. we need to fight the impulse that there's something better, something funnier. stay with what you started with: the first 3 - 5 seconds on stage is a contract with the audience about who you are as a character. fulfill it.

if there's ambiguity in a scene, be the hero and jump on that grenade (name it!).

be specific. not just reading a book. reading a book called "insects and their place in society" by walter b. arthurian.

audience wants to know who these people are: relying on premise/plot doesn't work as effectively as relying on people's foibles.

your job is harder if you play a negative emotion
apathy is harder to play, harder to push their buttons and get reactions because they don't care about anything

we need to know what your character wants

if you use a physicality as an inspiration for a character it's more flexible than choosing a role (i'll be a policeman doesn't work as well as I'm squinty and I'm shuffly, and i feel constrained: i'm obsessed with details). don't just change your body, know how you feel about that change, and play that emotion as part of your character. how do i feel, or what's my point of view.

if you make a mistake and mix up a name, then that's a gift to yourself, keep on mixing up names.
whatever you do at the top of the scene is important to you

try wearing different shoes, you'll create different characters

improv is an imperfect art form, stop trying to do it right

for gay characters: play the person first and the sexuality second

del close: we need to be raving paranoids on stage - everything is personal

architectural detail, Chicago

del close: wear our characters as thin veils over ourselves (i.e. play your own foibles and eccentricities, just more)
martin de maat: today is the day that (i tell you i love you, i stop taking your shit, i break out of my routine)

if you were cool you would be in a band. Improv's not for cool people
if you don't want to work with others, go do stand up. improv is about working together.

if you get aquarium, be in it, don't look at it. Feed the animals, go diving, whatever it takes

scenes get harder if you try to solve their problem: allow room for it to be your friend who just kicks things or misnames things, so they can repeat their thing over and over. and if their thing is a big choice, don't make them feel bad for having done it, or you'll teach them not to do it again. give it back as a gift - if they kick something, say something like "i'm nervous too buddy", so their behaviour means something.

if you think they're nuts and you're confused, then it's ok to say "you're nuts and i'm confused".

there is no throwaway line on stage, every line hits me personally. most improv scenes need half the talking, because they are looking for meaning. so instead just imbue everything with meaning and you're there! metaphorically it's about 'using every part of the animal'

advanced scene analysis: beginnings, middles, ends

2011-07-17T15:16:00.000+10:00

did a great workshop today with lisa linke. she was clear, prepared, had plenty of examples and her training was well-structured. this was additional to the iO 5 week curriculum, so it was a whole new class, but around 6 of the 14 people in the workshop were from my class.

turtles (or tortoises?)
shedd aquarium

Beginnings: it's there in the first 2 - 3 lines (just validate this)
lisa set up a series of conflict scenes, not because it makes a good scene, but because she says it usually gets a lot of information about the relationship, your wants and who you are out quite quickly.
after a warm up where we learnt each others' names, she set up a conflict situation (there is one pizza coupon for 1 pizza topping, one of you is vegetarian, one of you is not, you are hungry).
After 2 - 3 lines she stopped the players and asked us as the audience what we already knew. We were able to recite a whole heap of information, not just who was the vegetarian, but whether they liked each other, who had the higher status, the character quirks of the 2 people. From just 2 lines.
The instructions then were to just make clearer anything the audience was murky on (one guy said "do i look like i need pizza", but it wasn't clear whether he was fat or skinny from this, only that there was a body issue).

essentially every scene was like this - within 3 lines the audience knew something about each character, their deal, their relationship - even if there was no clear CROW. they are filling in a lot of blanks.

middles: the game(s) of the scene
the game of the scene is about leveraging any patterns - the audience is pleased to see it repeat (think of warner bros cartoons where the same patterns of status / rage etc are repeated over and over). audience equally pleased to see it broken once it has been established
gotta keep your want from the beginning (don't give up on it, maybe give in for now)
invention (which she called "getting plotty") is when a player doesn't like what they're doing, and is looking for something to add - go back to who you are, what you know and what your thing is, just keep playing the game of the scene (i'm the one who gets scared when they mention bears; i'm the one who says "it will be alright" when clearly it isn't; i'm the one who drops things). being in discovery rather than inventing requires us to be vulnerable, and this is why people tend to get plotty
if it happens more than once, it's a game (then make it happen at least 3 times) the audience is begging for it to happen again (e.g. he's incompetent, show he's more incompetent)
the game as indulging audience's schadenfreude (delight in seeing others suffer)
keep on heightening, heightening heightening until someone edits

following plot in a harold narrows it, we have to invent to get out of it. following themes / relationships / tangents widens it out. Make a lateral move, not a literal move

ends: editing a scene
we looked at beats within scenes - when soething changes or shifts (theatrical beats, not chapter/beats) - a new beat is when a new piece of information is introduced, when there is a shift in mood or tone (e.g. "i have something to tell you" / "i have a confession to make" is usually a new beat)

security door of a jewelry
store in the loop

beat changes are the time for an edit
also edit on high, low, clear things, a multi-option "mystery" (will he go left, right or straight ahead, will she stay, leave or kill him or something else?)
don't edit when a scene isn't on its feet, or when it's in trouble
important that you don't miss the ending (don't want to feel the scene has been revived, dragged out, revived, dragged out... )

lisa had us all edit if one person edited - gave a full group-feeling to the edit. probably gave a good reason to move and therefore engage the kinesthetic as well as the auditory-digital senses.

some general notes:
iO doesn't do "yes and", they rely on a state of agreement on the reality (if someone says "i'm gonna kill myself", the reply "yes and I'll get the bullets" isn't necessarily in that reality, it's more normally "no, you have so much to live for").

the best choice is ANY choice - it gives info about your character and their relationship.

generally iO doesn't do conflict scenes, they try to do slice of life scenes - they don't aim for drama they aim for truth in comedy (or comedy in truth) the funny things that happen when people "bump into" each other

it's essential to keep with your own "want" from the first few lines.

in an organic game, you are doing it right if you have no idea what is going on

first beats in a harold should be 3 - 3.5 minutes long, 2nd beat shorter, 3rd beat shorter again
no tag outs or walk ons in first beat

on the back line: stand with open arms, not crossed arms - ready to edit

we don't make movies, we make art - don't make it totally predictable

Day 4: validate, don't invent

2011-07-15T13:28:00.000+10:00

today we played our first full harolds. some of the scenes were great. some were just ok. but no real stinkers. got a class full of amazing people. not taking many notes because we're playing a lot (which is so good!!)

the scene is in the first 2 lines: validate what's there, go back to it, don't invent anything new after that

Urn, Art Inst of Chicago

some more mapping scenes as examples
parent / child clean up room discussion (but over a fryer at a McDonald's kitchen)
wrestlers trash talking (on the train on the way to work)
catholic confession (in detention)
coming out (finance guys announcing one is vegetarian)

fish at shedd aquarium, chicago

the question came from the class "is there anything off limits in a show?".
well, it depends who you are, but here are some interesting things: the studio audience in the Colbert Report are briefed to laugh and whoop and holler if they appreciate a joke, but if it's a misogynist, homophobic or racist joke they are asked to refrain from whooping... the show says they are concerned it will sound like a rally, rather than a comedy routine.
apparently people in chicago have been known to leave a show if someone plays jesus on stage

openings
Conducted story (like story, story, die, but no one dies, and it's not competitive).
Story (acted out, sharing focus like in conducted story, but without anyone pointing)

second beats
explore and heighten what's already been created
see characters in a different situation

Day 3: armando and scene painting

2011-07-14T10:19:00.000+10:00

General comments about iO from the class:
as others have noticed before, iO's shows are not particularly theatrical: while they acknowledge the lighting person, there are very rarely any lighting or musical effects in the show (with some notable exceptions).

Ducklings in the fountain
at the Art Institute of Chicago

stagecraft is often lacking (and deemed not as important as connecting with the other player). People can play entire scenes with their back to the audience.

Character:
never play a character who you judge/dislike: you need to find something in the character that you want / like / undersatnd.)
apathy is not a choice (as an emotion for a character) - make characters who have opinions and feel things

Scene Painting:
scene painting (where players take turns to describe a room) was heightened when the whole cast moved to the object and mimed around it (as a player it felt supportive and helpful that everyone was focused on one thing)
include sounds and smells in the scene you paint

Indian Statuette
Art Institute of Chicago

Mapping across
where you take a classic exchange (e.g.flat mates arguing about the rent, the cleaning, etc) into a different context (e.g. a dentist's office).
we had a lot of fun with this. Some of the classic conversations we mapped across were: spouse I think you're seeing someone else (baseballer and coach); a job interview (proposed camping trip). There are similarities between this and metaphor songs.
Marla, our teacher, is in Whirled News Tonight, she says they use a mapping scene frequently there (2 people are Iraq and America for example)

Hints on Armando:
monologues which include sensory details (smells, tastes, sound, pictures feelings AND words) are most important
straight retelling of the monologue is NOT the object. At no stage do you retell an incident (transpose it, map it, heighten it, but use a different context at least).
things you can pull: subtext, concepts, details, relationsihps, characters, environjments, time periods.
three types of pulls: thematic - big ideas; commentary - commenting on behaviours, ideas or opinions through a scene (absurdity of human behaviour); tangential - take a seemingly unimportant detail and make it into a scene.
if you do an Armando based purely on tangents (and no themes), then it feels thin, lacks depth
even though a monologue might be about something (e.g. rockets, the THEMES are about the opinions /emotions expressed or suppressed, NOT about rockets or science as such).

Day 2: musical hotspot, invocation, tag outs

2011-07-14T01:10:00.000+10:00

Day 2 started with musical hot spots, which we then used as an opening for a Harold (we just did 3 or 4 scenes from the opening). So simple, and quite cool.
The lovely thing was when the musical hot spot went quieter (Hallelujah, Bridge over Troubled Water) as well as the usual air guitar stuff. We actually even had an air guitar solo with no words in the hot spot.
Warm up in the afternoon was passing a sound and action around the circle, each time heightening but trying to preserve the original.

Invocation as an opening
this is an old-style Harold opening, get an everyday object from the audience (scissors, bucket, pen, screwdriver).
Whole group then begins to describe the object starting with "it is" - e.g. a screwdriver; it is long and thin, it is insulated at one end; when that's exhausted they move to "you are" - more emotional / one level up in abstraction, the use or the function or the significance of the object you are my dad's favourite thing, you are with all the others in the bottom of my tool box.
Then the group moves on to "thou art" (we are slowly moving up levels of abstraction and making a simple ask for into something conceptual - this time we're up to praising the god of the object) - thou art the that which fixes everything; thou art the revolving thing
And finally each person becomes the object as the god-like thing that it is: I am change. I am revolution. I am electricity.
Our class had some trouble distinguishing what went where, and at the same time (even when we got it "wrong") it created some different conceptual and themic ideas to play with other than just fixing a broken toy or screwing on a cupboard door.

Notes:
function of a group game is to "cleanse the palate", gives people stage time who may not have had any (especially where the cast is large - some teams here are putting 12 players on stage for a Harold), changes from just 2 people scenes, gives an opportunity to explore abstractly/conceptually. (there are more, i just didn't write them down quickly enough).

reasons to tag out: show character in a different context, highlight a pattern in character, to bring in a character they've mentioned on stage, heighten a pattern, time jumps.

exercise: both players on stage do a physical activity, find the emotion in that activity and commence the scene from that emotion.

Day one: patterns, monologues, confessions

2011-07-12T09:53:00.000+10:00

So, day one of iO's summer intensive.

There are 7 classes, 110 students. There are a few Swiss, apparently a German, I heard a South African, 2 Australians from Brisbane and the 3 of us from Sydney. Some English and some Canadians. And of course a fair few Americans! Erin, Sophie and I are in separate classes, and they did very different things to me.

Class finally started around 1pm after an introduction.

I was supposed to have Bill Arnett as my teacher, but oh no (oh no oh no!), he can't teach this week, so I have a woman named Marla who plays regularly in Jason Chin's Whirled News Tonight, and the Armando (which I plan to see tonight). 14 people in my class, including 2 Swiss and 2 Canadians.

After introductions we played a game of patterns (you know, point and set up a pattern, then run multiple patterns simultaneously). class had no problems retaining the patterns, but a truckload of problems setting patterns up. People were trying to be clever, not obvious. We eventually got there.

Exercises:
Serial Monologue: start with a truthful monologue, then we tagged out and continued that monologue (of course once you tagged in it became fiction). Got some cool stuff out of it. Supposed to tag in with the exact word, although not everyone did that. good listening / heightening / game of scene stuff.

Cocktail Party: talk from your real self, as if you're at a cocktail party. In pairs (we had 3 x pairs on stage) primary responsibility is to connect with your partner. Exercise in listening, giving and taking focus. It's eminently watchable, which is always weird.

Beetles at the Field Museum,
Chicago

I have a Confession: these were all set in a diner (so we had an environment). Given a relationship. First person says "i hae a confession to make" and they confess something (i'm in love with your husband); second player then says "actually I have a confession too" (i'm in love with YOUR husband). from then it's just a normal scene, with reference to the confessions. need to make sure the confessions are important, they are the offers you should play with. challenge to be in it together (rather than being against each other; where there was an argument, Marla stopped it and started again). Each confession offers something about your character too.

Fish at the Shedd Aquarium,
Chicago

Guidelines:
be specific: not when i was little, but when I was 3, or when I was 11 - it makes the story better
keep with the energy - e.g. if the pace of the tagging gets faster, keep it going until it can't go any faster
have an emotional opinion
people want to watch people who like each other (Keith Johnstone says 'happy healthy sexy')
one of the students came up with this metaphor: watching players argue and invent was like walking in a thunderstorm trying to get home: watching them collaborate and like each other was being wrapped in a blanket watching the thunderstorm together.

Last wed, more...

2011-07-10T14:06:00.000+10:00

Hey, so i just discovered some notes from last wednesday's class that i hadn't written up. so here they are.

butterflies at chicago's
field museum

for shift left/shift right (four squares they call it here)
avoid retelling or rehashing the plot, assume the audience is with you

exercises:
high stakes death
you are dying (from the water rising, from poison coming out of vents above you, from attacking zombies) but you cannot talk about it (it made me think of hundreds of scenes in Buffy and Angel - the world is ending but we're offended about a comment about our hair).

only talk about the objects
you're in front of a buffet / a market place / a dinner party / travel brochures, you can only talk about the food/objects (this is a subtext exercise)

types of song: metaphor song
seems complex, but is ridiculously simple
you don't do the work, the audience does; e.g. listing things about a pen, chuck in a rhyme with pen, but essentiaily just list attributes of a pen. Our love is like a pen; it's inky, it's fluid but goes on smooth, it comes in many colours, it's useful, it's what you need when you have to write a cheque...

general ideas
you can have an emotional point of view on an object, but an object can't make a roller coaster like a person can, because it has no point of view back (and no shifting point of view)
because of the emotional tone in dialogue, there is subtext in talking about objects

slow men working
the fast ones are elsewhere
chicago road sign

words don't matter - you need a point of view about your partner - whatever comes out of your mouth must be about how you feel about your partner in some way
it's not our job as improvisers to be funny or make jokes, be specific and make emotional offers, that's all we need to do

in musical improv you don't have to fix anything. the scene is done in the first 2-3 lines, the rest should be emotional reaction: "Dave is gone, we have no leader" starts the scene, the rest is the cast response to having no leader (not their plan to elect a new leader)

the keith richard's biography has a section on how they wrote songs, it was essentially improvisation

structure of an improvised musical
opening number and closing number (in pippin and wicked these are the same song, may or may not work for improvised)
1st scene protagonist has a song about what they want (i wish)
everyone else then lines up to hurt or hinder that quest
being protagonist should be the easiest job - just follow along with the offers of help or not
make it clear at the top of the scene whether you are helping or hindering

Example of a Revolution Song

2011-07-07T03:24:00.000+10:00

sophie found me the revolution song from South Park.

For how to make this work in an improvised show, see here towards the end of the entry.

wrapping it all up

2011-07-04T05:12:00.000+10:00

this is the last of the second city musical improv posts. in a week or so I'll start up at iO, so i got a week of no improv posts.

A bucket of umbrellas at the Getty
Center, LA

warm up
s\he's hot I'd fuck him/her a cool rhyming warm up song for those who love the risque: chant 3 x "he's hot I'd fuck him" then "I'd fuck him all night". Helps to clap to keep the rhythm too. We alternated him / her, just for balance, right?
then the first person chants a 1 liner, and the second person rhymes with them.

I'm crushing a bug, a rhyming and slightly physical warm up
first person does an action and describes it (i'm crushing a bug, i'm crushing a bug while twisting toe on the ground). group then repeats the 2 lines. next person can either rhyme with it and do a new action, or follow the same action and start a new action with a new rhyme. after you've done round the circle, you go backwards round the circle doing the 2 lines for each person with the action.

musical theatre what are you doing - where all the actions and emotions are exaggerated

hey fred schneider what are you doing

i am the owner of a candy store first person sets up "i am the owner of an x" (where x is anything, a factory, a store, etc, but everyone will have to rhyme with the last word, so dont' make it an orange).
each person then says a line which rhymes with x, till it gets back to the first person who says "and that's why I'm the owner of an X".

notes on forms
commando - one suggestion per scene. jeff got us to connect them to the previous scene to get the ask for (in the last scene you saw a nasty woman, what's the name of a nasty woman you know?). the person taking the ask for does not initiate the scene.
pad set - do new scenes from the pad of pre-taken ask fors (may take 2 or 3 eg. Denmark, tailor, sad).
commontage - like a command but you spin off from the scene without a new ask for
a deconstruction-like musical - root scenes have to have a song, usually just 2 people, shorter scenes may or may not have songs. use focus edits or sweeps

swinging/revolving door similar to tag, but quicker and ensures return to the original scene if you have just a one-liner

when doing object work / miming objects, make sure there is a space in your hand for the object!
be aware of saying "you always do this", it minimises / kills the emotional impact. either it's the day you're not going to take it anyore, or it's the first time (which makes it more important).

succulents, the Getty Center, LA

be careful of character choices that make you look down (not available to the audience). find a way to be meek and look out.
teaching scenes are hard because the teacher cannot be affected by the pupil.

types of musical opening

opening numbers can be a chorus or a tag line (but everyone should sing)

environmental opening: eg oklahoma, beauty and the beast, south park; easiest to do, just sing about the town, no need to establish characters, just tell us where we are and what you love/hate / emote about where we are

attend the tale/prologue e.g. sweeney todd, bat boy; narrator, direct address, describe a character (who is on stage); tonal setting thing, not pimptastic

meta-theatrical: e.g. the muppet show, all of title of show, comedy tonight from funny thing happened on the way to the forum, another op'nin another show; it's a song about the show, about the actors, about getting ready to put on the show - meta to the plot. the key to meta is having a point of view (i love or hate the show, getting ready for the show)

harold-esque / thematic an organic opening with music; musically and tonally exploring the theme - e.g. the age of aquarius? (organic opening as a kinesthetic equivalent of a list song?)

i wish number - e.g. belle's song in beauty and the beast (called i wish); what i want from into the woods; easier in an improvised show to separate the opening and the i wish number. i wish number is a solo, except maybe for the bridge. if you have multiple wishes then you end up with more of a montage-musical

revolution songs - e.g. one day from les mis, viva la revolucion from south park; set up 3 interest groups (the protagonist who wants to be a star, the agent who wants her to be a star, her mother who wants her to marry Norman). each group sings a musically different verse, with a final tag line the same (the underlying chord structure is the same). hard thing is to find a good tag line which will work for all of the groups - whoever sings the first verse does this. once each verse is sung individually, then the 3 groups sing simultaneously their verse (which will create complex harmonies). Then key change, sing again. it's rousing, exciting and so so simple. Would make a good short-ish form singing game (but don't tell the audience the secret of the tag line).

narratively speaking not everything has to be wrapped up - gets too heady (i saw a musical improv show on friday night, they missed their ending because they felt the need to wrap up some minor plots).

the 405 freeway from
the Getty Center LA

in opening numbers, don't build characters because everyone's in the scene, there is no back line to remember it.

build the characters in scenes with 2 people, where the back line can remember and take pulls etc

if the musician makes a mistake or does something unexpected, don't look at them (it alerts the audience that something is wrong, and it also makes the musician feel blamed!). never betray your discomfort on stage, it makes the audeince nervous; if someone takes your entrance, pretend nothing went wrong

important to recognise when it's not your song.

the climax of a story is usually NOT a song, becuse it's plot, and you don't do plot in songs, you do emotions

it's never about the plot. if the plot doesn't work, forget it- better to abandon it than write yourself into the ground

if you die, stay dead

in group numbers we don't have to hear from every character

it's ok to let the antagonist win

variety numbers, dance, dance, dance, movement is enough without music. to create impressive on-stage dances, use the diamond technique (stand in a diamond; whoever is at the front sets up a simple followable dancing pattern. if they turn, then whoever is in front of the diamond is now the leader. make it repeatable, and hold it for a few bars - the audience will watch for minutes and not get bored - think about how simple the macarena is). for best effect signal your turns.

dancing is simple to do, hard to remember to do. call out "dance break" if you have to.

don't solve the problem in the first scene, solving the problem ends the story; it's not your job to fix the problem, it's your job to help or hinder the protagonist's journey to solve their problem, but don't fix it!!

musicals to see: bat boy, south park the musical is a text book musical - has all the elements

three person scenes, deconstruction and rhyming

2011-07-04T04:21:00.000+10:00

warm ups

Santa Monica Pier in LA

i think i blogged this warm up yesterday, but now i have it's name. It's called bad rap. set a topic for the rap if you like. the group chants bad rap, bad rap bad rap (x2), then first person does 2 lines in rhythm, the first with a set up and then a second line for the pay off rhyme, right up to the final word, but they don't say the final word, the person after them says a different word (which still makes sense, but isn't the pay off). keep going round the circle.

we played zip zap zop, yes you (a version where you say their name, they say yes, you take their place, etc), and simultaneous pass the clap. All at once.

cool warm up: where have my fingers been? the group chants where have my fingers been, where have my fingers been, and the first person improvises a short 3 line-ish scene between their two fingers (as if they were finger puppets). when they have finished the scene the group chants "and that's where my finger's been". we set a generic topic for the scenes (i think, it's 3 days ago now).

we learnt a 3 part round and used it as a character and singing in character game. any round will do, ours went i love the mountains, i love the rolling hills, i love the flowers, i love the daffodils, i love the fireside when the lights are low, boom di ah da boom di ah dah boom di ay, boom di ah da boom di ah da boom di ay). once we had it down, we all stood in a circle. first person started the first part of the round in character (voice, physiology, accent etc). 2nd person came into the centre as the same character, then 3rd round joined in and the outer circle sang along with the boom di ah dahs. then we began again with a new character.

did a couple of viewpoints inspired physical warm ups: group had to jump at the same time (not as easy as it sounds if one person doesn't lead or obviously signal, and then we ran in a circle and had to turn at the same time, and then lastly we had to randomly turn 3 times and jump 3 times at some point).
and then we did some viewpoints work with music: we took inspiration from the spatial relationships between us as a group, then from the topography of the stage, and from the architecture of the stage, looking to exploit each relationship differently. tina landau and anne bogart are the viewpoint gurus. (there are other viewpoints, including kinesthetic response, tempo, shape, gesture). jeff recommended viewpoints as a good way to break out of a shell

general advice-y stuff
three person general agreement scenes (group agreement makes for a great song) - looking for extreme agreement, not just in character,but also agreement on point of view (we all love doves or we all hate doves, not just all of us care in some way, but in the same way).

Segways in the car park at Santa
Monica beach, LA

using stuff like 'you're my best friend' says you've run out of ideas. if you want to use 'the best' then say why it's the best - we're the best little cafe in the world because we have just 3 customers and we love them all

need to "take the song out" towards the audience - pick a brick. if you're singing to or about your scene partner you can give them occasional eye contact / gesture, but you need to sing to the audience

once you're in music let it be music, it's more powerful. don't talk, it drops the energy

list songs are great and easy - if it's about a car, then sing a list of things that the car is (bright, shiny, has a dashboard, an ipod jack, a rear vision mirror...) visualise the car, and sing what you see. the audience finds it oddly enjoyable, and it takes no effort really!

metaphor song - our love is like a toaster, then make the audience do the work by listing what you know about a toaster, it heats things up to a crisp, it's shiny, it waits on the counter quietly... if you add a tag line (first line or last line), you have a song with deeper meaning you never knew about.

good to know the characteristics of genres: e.g. blues is often a complaint/expression of pain, languide, low down dirty, move in the way, voice gravelly and low; reggae: sound stoned, random words (ja, mon, freedom) repetitiveness, sing about revolution or marijuana, god (ja)

Musical numbers are more interesting when people come on stage and support (swaying on the back line isn't as effective). be a random band, be on stage as the back up singers (motown, be the supremes), be singing furniture in the scene (washing machines, couches, etc)

pay attention to yes and a specific offer specifically: if someone says "this swing will make a front porch very happy", don't say "yeah it's great", say "yeah that porch will be smiling for days"...

deconstruction
1. root scene of 5 -7 minutes from a one word ask for
2. 3 shorter scenes thematic pulls from root (the characters from the root scenes never appear in the non-root scenes)
3. 2nd chapter root scene
4. 5 shorter scenes, lateral pulls from 2nd root
5. 3rd root scene
6. 7 - 10 commentary scenes
7. final root scene, probably shorter + call back to first scene, caps everything off.

thematic pulls: the themes of the root scene (love, hate, loyalty, motherhood, whatever you hear)
lateral pulls: specific things about the scene: e.g. someone proposes in root scene, so we see a jewelry store (but it's different characters - character from root scenes don't appear in non-root scenes), or there are characters spoken about in the root scene who we see; or there's a mother-daughter relationship in the root, so we see a father-son in the lateral pull, we have a coke in the root, so we see a pepsi factory in the lateral pull.
commentaries: shortish, but varied in length, commentary is pulled from anywhere in the show - call backs,
minor characters mentioned before, energy should build because shorter and sharper)

don't kill the pull - no need to make it obvious where your idea has come from, if the audience work it uot they feel smart, if they don't, they're too busy enjoying it to care.

ways to add to or change scenes tag outs, revolving doors, cut tos. focus edit as an alternative to a sweep (talk louder and pull focus to start the new scene, and the other people will leave the stage)

keys to a montage: varied length, different number of people

musical montage: first scene, let it build to a song so pepole know it's a musical montage.

rhyming and singing and such

2011-07-01T12:07:00.000+10:00

This was Wednesday's class.
i have dispensed with capital letters because the shift key is in the annoying place on my mini's keyboard. you can invent your own.

O'Hare International airport - a long
corridor of rainbow flashing
lights

games to practice set up and pay off rhyming
i'm gonna call this exercise not what you think:
given a word (winter), think of the payoff rhyme (snow), then 2 set up rhymes (grow and know).
then say out loud 3 lines except for the pay off: in a season when things don't grow, you'd think i'd know, cold white fluff on the ground is (don't way snow)... you don't say snow, because the next person says something different to snow (but not a rhyme), like ice cream. then they think of a pay off associated with ice cream (scoop), and then two set ups (hoop and loop), and they go.
i think we did this with a clapping rhythm to keep to.
taking focus + rhymes
taking focus to sing: people move around the stage, and then randomly someone will make a strong physical move, and say 'i got it'. the move to an extension of this: one person does two set up rhymes, and one other person then makes a big physical movement to show they have the answer, and then they say the pay off rhyme
taking focus to sing
game to practice taking focus to sing a song - like oscar winning moment - scene to song - as you "step into" your song, transition your body to song, you step downstage and sing out (not to your partner, even if it's about them). they call this "pick a brick" (in the wall above the audience) or park and bark.

voice warm ups
when a body meets a body coming through the rye, to the tune of the chromatic scale for an octave both ways then sung as a 2 part round with each part starting at opposite ends of the scale.

advice on songs in musical improv
endings work well if you repeat the last line - try not to slow down. stronger to repeat twice. more than 3 and it can go forever
usually the song is the last thing in the scene - it's a natural emotional climax - only a button comes after

How healthy do you need to
be if Resurrection is an option?

if it's a group song and a lot of people are on stage, someone at the front can "conduct" to have it all finish simultaneously
it's hard to make things which aren't important important,but they become so when you sing about it. it's easier when it's something that's a big deal, something emotional. tougher if it's a car or a boat (but consider using a metaphor song for this)
if you're in the back line / the wings waiting to come on and you want to plan something, plan your initiation/first line only, and be ready to drop it if someone else initiates first.
stop talking when the music starts - fill the space with an emotional moment
make the initial statement about your partner (rather than something or someone outside the scene)
don't bother to rhyme if it traps you into saying things you don't want to or stilts your delivery
you can make any rhythm song slower by holding some notes or making a single word many notes
avoid telling someone they are crazy or on medication, that annuls/defuses their offer. you want to heighten the behaviour
there should be a physical change in you when the music starts - we should know in your body that you are about to sing (and it gives you a laugh)
the other person on stage with you is the most important thing in the room
take care of who what where in the first 3 lines
if you're at the end of your inspiration in a song, check with your scene partner for inspiration, then with the environment before you make anything new up (invention vs what's obvious)

games we played
four square / shift left
played as a scene and shifted when it gets to the point for a song.when you shift back you're in the song, and you can shift back to the song again as often as you like. finish on the end of one of the songs. (we had 2 bites at each song).

new games and old ones

2011-06-30T14:13:00.000+10:00

note: this one's a little hurried: there is so much fun to be had, I've done it in 3 drafts, and I am behind, so I'm not editing. Feel free to criticise my grammar or question my lack of capitals at the beginning of sentences, or even ask me more about the content!

Today's warm up included everybody's favourite Bunny Bunny, with an extra bit - you already know that either side of the bunny is toki toki. Well, the next 2 people in the circle hold their belt buckle and twirl a lassoo and say rasta rasta. It adds a layer of focus and concentration which is quite pleasing. With only 8 in the circle it was very very hard (only 1 person is not involved at any point). (if you don't know bunny bunny then search this blog for it and get my explanation from last time).

Kids at Santa Monica pier

Rhyme and associate was next, but with a twist. first person says a word (fish). Second person associates with that (ocean), but they dont' say what they thought, they think of something that rhymes with ocean (potion), and then they say "potion, ocean". Practice of course for the set up / pay off.

More rhyming: Next warm up is "your love is... a", "second line is a" where a is 2 different words that rhyme rhyme and b is the pay off (and of course a is the set up). Then you supply a single word as inspiration for the rhyme for the next person who goes off and does their thing with it.

Games:
An accompanied version of Madrigal. ask fors were all longish lines - lines from a movie, billboards, fake celebrity headlines, things you'd find on a chinese menu: each person sings their line over 8 bars, then each person gets a turn to do any combination of the words of theirs and other people's lines, then whatever the last person in the line sang the whole group repeats.
advice is to play the style hard - the fun is in the juxtaposition of the strange words and the wrong genre.

Serenade-like song with set up and pay off rhymes, to a celebrity. He set up the celebrity at the beginning and then we each did a 2-couplet rhyme.

Da doo ron ron of course.

a rhyming warm up: Up your butt: a chant:
individual: There's a dog
group: up your butt
individual and a bog
group: up your butt
etc (when you run out of rhymes, choose a new one)

some music theory:
a good melody is the right combination of steps and jumps + a good rhythm. Too many steps or too many jumps dont' work (too many steps sounds noodly)
a good melody is "sing backable", has a range of notes
if in an improv scene you created the "chorus" melody, then you need to resing (loudly) any bits people are missing (sometimes the groupmind will simplify it, but if they go too far, so the variations which make it interesting are missing, then you need to state it again)
music goes in groups of 4 (4 lines, 4 bars), even when it's in 3/4 time
melodies are a lot easier to remember with words
lyrics organise the music in ways which our brains like to remember

improv is constantly exploring and heightening

3 types of harmony:
parallel: in 3rds or 5ths parallel to the tune, same rhythm, consistent interval from the tune
chordal: follows the rhythm, but anywhere in the chord (including the drone)
descant: originally from church where a boy soprano sang over the top of the singing in a separate melody which went with the rest: in musical improv it's anything which is out of rhythm with the words, in harmony, but not necessarily in rhythm. If too many people do descant at once it sounds messy - as a guideline, 1 or 2 is enough

accents:
speaking with distinction - book
you tube has a heap of how to speak with accents
you tube also has interviews with singer/songwriters about song structure e.g. Billy Joel

song structure:

Santa Monica Pier

song structure is in itself a game structure
put the "funny" (specifics, game set up) in the verses, not the chorus
classic song structure: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus
in some pop songs a "rise" builds to the chorus (example used was Firework)
if a song is an essay, the chorus is the thesis statement, the verse is the argument, the bridge the counterargument (the yes but, or the yes and with an exploded argument)
an improvised song bridge can go to scene, and back, but use it sparingly and for specific reasons because returning to the scene is not as intense as a song
musical theatre tends to be more structured than pop songs (because you may only see or hear a musical once, so it needs to be understandable) - they use perfect rhymes, not near rhymes (perfect: lean and clean; near rhymes: lean and team)
good chorus has a vocal hook and a thee

alternative song structure: tag line song
example was Beyonce's if I were a boy: tag is at the beginning, then a number of lines, and then return to the tag. the tag is a pseudo chorus. Somewhere over the rainbow is another example
more often it's a last line tag line (people will say we're in love, they can't take that away from me, she's always a woman to me, a quite mountain town (from south park the musical), attend the tale of sweeney todd). benefit of last line tag line is that it leaves the audience with your thesis statement/idea. last line tag lines are great for solos and duets
can use the final tag line in the song as a setup / pay off rhyme. there are only 6 words which rhyme with love, so be careful using it as a set up for a rhyme
it's not a tag line until someone else sings it too

all cast group songs are not about plot or character, but they set an environment
opening numbers you dont' have to introduce characters, the song's about the place, sets up a point of view

songs don't need plot information, the plot is in the scene (ideally the first 2 -3 lines of the scene) the rest is emotional response, songs are crystallised emotion
singing about plot gets you in trouble because you're inventing
random throw away things from song may get shelved/picked up later, but it doesn't have to happen

new game: Onion Peel
Onion Peel is a nested loop like space jump. played with 5 - 6 layers here
first layer is all scenes, which lead to an emotional moment: the next scene is called when it's exactly the right time for a song (in this version, no one calls Freeze, the new scene starts with the entrance of the next player).
then in the last layer, the song goes on... and then back to the previous layer and you sing the song you set up on the way up the loops, followed by the song from the next loop.
requires a really on the ball musician, but we have those... may have to be modified depending on the amount of time you have, but real good fun (and because it's musical, a crowd pleaser!). With each layer the "entering" player for each level should in theory be the singer of the song. When you get to the last "solo" scene, the rest of the players join in as chorus and support.

re: ask fors
when starting multiple scenes from a single ask for, try associating and going "wide", don't go literal: "if you set the tent poles wide, you've got a lot of room to play underneath"

Musical Improv - emotional stories

2011-06-28T14:59:00.001+10:00

Yay, Day 1 of Musical Improv at Second City Chicago, level 1.

Taken in the Loop, Downtown
Chicago, just around the corner
from where I'm staying. But
taken in 2008, so it probably
has changed a little.
Tune back in and find out!

By the way you can subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, just click over in the left hand column where it's mentioned.

About 8 people in the class. Two or three who are doing this as their own personal version of bungee jumping (i.e. the thing which terrifies them most).

I'm quite jet lagged, so I'll make this quick.
Here are the warm ups and exercises we did today:
- a chant game: 12345. In an upbeat rhythm
the group chants: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
individual: My name's X and I say hi
group: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
individual: This is Y and she's my friend
group: 1
individual: (in rhythm if they can, a fact about Y)
group: 2

individual: (in rhythm if they can, a second fact about Y)

group: 3

individual: (in rhythm if they can, a fact about Y)

group: More, More, More, More (repeat to 12345 again) till all people have gone.

- Dance Tag: essentially chasings with someone "it", except everyone had to dance with the music (you can't just run away, you have to dance away). Great to get us physical and playing. The teacher, Geoff, played the keyboard in different genres to change our physical responses
- zoom, oil slick, brake, bridge, fire drill (a warm up I learnt at iO last time). We added one more - "monorail", which is everyone holding their hands in prayer position and going "ooh" as they circle - just like a monorail is going by
- voice warm up Many mumbling mice are making midnight music in the moonlight, mighty nice (on a minor arpeggio) - first just to warm up the voice, then in different genres with movement or object work, then as an articulation exercise substituting the first letter for different letters (pany pumbling pice are paking pidnight pusic in the poonlight, pighty nice).

Improvisation games / exercises
Word at a time song - love song to a household object (toaster, and yes, spatula)
Opera in Numbers - opera sung with only numbers (any random numbers) as the words
Gibberish Opera (with translation, which stunted it a little, but it put in harder to ignore offers from players)
Single Title Sing about it a sing about it with a few minor changes: any of the players on the back line can "freeze" the scene on any line, they repeat the line, then the player who said it then sang a song just repeating that line as often as they needed to: within the genre set by the keyboard
3 person "us against the world" scenes with musical asides (like an inner song- the other players don't hear what you sing
Add 1 word Song: A way of transitioning into full singing and from scene to song: Play a normal scene, and if the keyboard goes when you are speaking, you start with a single word, then that same word plus one more - adding a single word to the string each time: e.g. I, I love, I love your, I love your big, I love your big fat, I love your big fat heart. It actually meant you focused and concentrated your message, because you had plenty of time to work out the words to say it, and every word in the sentence got it's full emphasis. Really cool device.

OK, I'm cheating, I took this photo
last time I was here in Chicago.
Just too tired to
download camera pix tonight!

We practised backwards rhyming - starting with a beastie boys rap (where you try to make the whole group say the last word of your 2nd sentence), then with a warm up called My Mother Don't wear no socks - a doo whop number: Da Do Da Do etc, My mother don't wear no socks, I was there when she took them off, first line of rhyming sentence with your set up rhyme, second line with payoff rhyme.
the payoff rhyme is the word you want to say (e.g. carpet), and the set up rhymes with it (muppet). This kind of rhyming is easier than rhyming forwards. When you rhyme forwards the point of what you were saying can get off track: when you "plan" a set up and payoff, then you're able to surprise the audience. It's also much more impressive when you rhyme with gibberish. "I went to the zoo with my friend Genossoros; that was the day we saw the rhinoceros" sounds more impressive than "I went to the zoo, I saw a rhinoceros, I went there with my friend Genossoros).

Some tips:
- to feel what it's like to lift the palate sniff like you're smelling a flower. (lifting the palate gives a brighter sound)
- when singing use the musical comedy style: pick a brick stay still, slow down your body, ground in the music (vs wild dancing or hectic swaying)
- it's easier to sing about how you FEEL about an object than about an object itself
- 3 types of 3 player scenes: 1. everyone for themselves, 2. two against one 3. us against the world. Type 3 is much easier for a musical, because all 3 people can sing the same song
- conflict is not our job - a normal situation will lead to some kind of drama and conflict
- 3 types of improvisers: head (intellectual connection), heart, x factor. Del Close said intellectual connection and emotional revelations are what connects us to the audience
- don't fix the problems, let the emotion escalate, so that you have some heightened emotion to sing about
- don't betray with your body language if something goes wrong with your voice (the audience won't care if you don't signal it!)
- if you're an in-your-head player, music can get you out of your head (as long as you don't complicate everything by trying to rhyme!) You get more mileage out of being affected than you do from rhyming: it's like the music takes over your body and everything is changed with it and by it

Photos are up!

2008-08-23T11:00:00.001+10:00

If you want to see the last of my photos from Chicago and LA, they are up.

The fat lady has sung

2008-08-21T14:54:00.001+10:00

The show was great!

Our suggestion was polo. We made a polo mint. Which was a tad disorienting for those who thought of shirts or the sport. It mattered little because we evolved into a sacrifice scene which became a museum piece and an outcast school girl.

It's interesting how the adrenalin of a show pushes some people forward and others recede. It was hilarious. The audience of parents and friends laughed.

We didn't do as much beautiful musical stuff as we had done in class. But it was a great show. Didn't organise to get a dvd of it, but somewhere in the world there is one.

So I see my last improvised Shakespeare tonight and fly home tomorrow.

The Last Post

2008-08-19T10:59:00.002+10:00

Here as the last image from the US, LA International Airport (where the big jet engines roar!).

I have been disneyed within an inch of my life. Apart from the Tiki Tiki room for which nothing prepared me (singing flowers? So what), I loved it. Especially the Alice in Wonderland teacups, and oddly enough the carousel.

I think I got a little tired after so much improv, of not having to make it up myself (Disney is about dreams, and they fill in as many of the blanks in the imagination as they can).

It was great to be amongst the excitement, seeing tiny kids freaking out to meet Snow White or Ariel or Buzz Lightyear. I did go on the Buzz Lightyear ride twice (it involved target shooting with laser guns - who could resist?).

Also visited Disney's California Adventure - an excuse to divide the park in two and get two admissions while continuing to market your DVDs and related merchandise.

It was a remarkable experience, I walked 18k steps yesterday and 14k today (6k is my normal). My feet are looking forward to a good rest. I did stop just before lunch for a stupidly expensive foot and shoulder massage in the beauty salon at the hotel, and it was worth it.

My plane leaves at 10:30 tonight, Monday. It's 6pm now as I wait for the shuttle to the airport.

By 10am Wednesday I will be sleeping in my own bed!! Yaaaa hoooo!!!

Welcome to Disney

2008-08-17T13:34:00.000+10:00

Well, I made it to Disneyland.

I am sitting in the gutter in the middle of the roundabout just in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. There will be fireworks very soon. I arrived about 30 minutes ago. The place is buzzing, the conversations around me are very "family".

In the shuttle from the airport, I heard a radio ad for a Bank of America Dodgers card "show your devotion" was the catch phrase. You can get the Dodgers logo on all your banking products (or 99 other sporting teams!). We have so much to learn!

Disneyland has changed a little from when I was here in 1985, but is essentially the same. Mary Poppins' merry-go-round seems to have disappeared, maybe because Mary Poppins is so out of date! So far it looks pretty much like Hong Kong Disney did last year when James and I went there. The difference is the Americans.

Went to a class party last night after the improvised Shakespeare. We had a "mini-Olympics" on the roof of the Brits' house. Canadalia, or Austranada (me and 2 Canadian women from Calgary) did pretty well in the Beastie Boys rap competition, bummed out on the leap frog/name a country comp, and KILLED in the musical hot spot using only Canadian or Australian songs or artists (although it was close). For the sake of the competition the Californians seceded and made a separate team. The UK included South Africa, but I think the USA won overall (it got a little foggy by the time the closing ceremony rolled around). The opening and closing ceremonies involved passing a lit candle along a self-perpetuating human line to the sound of Chariots of Fire. Once again proving that improvising is like being at a 5 year old's birthday party!

Got home round 2:45, and woke at 9am to juggle my luggage and get to the airport by midday.

Arrived here at 5pm (7pm Chicago time). So I've spent most of the day travelling. I have watched all but 70 minutes of season 2 of Dexter, and 3 downloaded episodes of the Gruen Transfer (on the ipod).

Disney is open till midnight, my hotel is a cushily refurbed motel with HBO and great beds. I have a 3 day "multi-park" pass (there is a 2nd park called Californian Adventure, which is a mini-California (hmmm), with rides. So much to discover.

Surgery and History

2008-08-16T05:15:00.000+10:00

Spent the morning at the Surgical Science Museum and the Chicago History Museum.

I saw an iron lung, the history of eyeglasses, various "stones" (from kidney to ovarian), an apothecary's shop and a magnificent mansion built to mirror the tirelessly coped Petit Trianon.

In the Chicago History Museum I realised how much I have absorbed about Chicago over the past 5 weeks and my assorted tours.

But I did learn that both Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book were headquartered here, that the band Chicago is actually from Chicago, and was reminded that Ferris Bueller's Day Off was set here. (And My Best Friend's Wedding, the Blues Brothers and While You Were Sleeping).

The 1893 and 1934 World's Expositions featured heavily. I climbed into the engine of a train, and pushed all the buttons in the Chicago Diorama, itself a museum piece, created in the 1930's to show the history of Chicago.

Now off to get ready for the show!

Treasure Island

2008-08-16T02:20:00.000+10:00

Treasure Island, according to this sign, is America's most European supermarket. Hmmm. Not sure what that means. Maybe you pay in euros. Maybe farmers protest there by dumping vegies. Or is it just that people drink aperitifs?

It is now Friday morning. I didn't blog yesterday's class because it was mostly just play.

We had to agree on a form for tonight's show. In true improvisational style we settled on a "formless" form. Rather than get caught up in where we are in the form, we're just going to make it up as we go along. When fettered by form we hang back. When not beautiful music results (sometimes literally).

So I have 4 hours of touristing, then call time is 5pm. Cross your fingers.

Faith and Group games

2008-08-15T08:51:00.001+10:00

I just love that the Faith Tabernacle Church is right next to an ihop, which is a diner chain.

This afternoon was more group games. Group games are filled with anxiety (am I the only one who doesn't know what we are doing? Will anyone follow if I make an offer?), and it showed today. Very competent and talented people were freaking out big time.

Here are some words from Jason on the topic:
- in group games say (make a sound) AND do (because not everyone can see/hear you
- if you are bored, heighten or evolve
- if you want to remember bits from the opening for later scenes, just remember what one person did, and bring back their ideas (not just your own)
- if the group game has a character through it, we want to see that character again in the next group game
- make comments to the fourth wall/to the audience, not to each other
- sweep edits are ok for group games (it's the smoke grenade, abandons all finesse)

Elevator

2008-08-14T05:12:00.001+10:00

Here's the elevator at my favourite hotel. It's the old fashioned kind with a cage and a door on a hinge.

I can see why they have so much fun with them in slapstick. Because the lift won't move if either door is open, they are weighted quite heavily to stay closed. This makes them difficult to open especially if you have something in your other hand.

Today's improv is "free style". Jason is getting us to just play and find out what we want to do, what we find easy. The ease approach to our final show is so refreshing. The class is full of highly competent improvisors, so the show will be fine. So long as we don't overload ourselves with form.

We shall see.

Here are some bits from today's Jason advice:

- jokes kill a scene - only works if you edit on it

- if you tag someone out the point is to extend (not advance) with the intention of adding to the original scene (and of coming back to it)

- Tag outs can provide sub text (show people are lying, that they had a crappy childhood, that they have sworn to kill the other person)

- most improvisors come in with 2 uzis; the best improvisors are shooters with one gun who fire one bullet and get a better effect

- keep scenes in the present and sprinkle in the history rather then filling it with retelling history (show the history, don't talk about it)

- play adults with childish tendencies rather than children with adult tendencies

- know your scene partner - meanness from your sister means more than it does from a stranger

- one idea is enough for a group game (this is different to what Jet said)

2 new warm ups:

- first person says a word (window)

- go round the circle giving a list that word would appear on (things that need cleaning, ways to describe opportunity, places to order fast food), ending on the person who gave the word in the first place

- 8 things: 1st person gives a category "name 8 things you like about sushi", the other players count off as they list them

Wrigley Field at dusk

2008-08-13T12:44:00.001+10:00

What a beautiful sky tonight as I walked down from my hotel!! I went home, ate sushi in the bath while skyping James. It's such a trip!!! (In both the literal and hippie senses!)

Last night after the Armando the players did a little Q and A. Here are some gems:
- this was a 14 person cast (people have an open invitation to play), so multi-person scenes were the norm - Jason said he preferred 3 person scenes where it's 2:1, but who the 1 is switches - or a 3 person scene where it's 3 with equal focus (but harder to do). The option of fewer people rarely happens with such a large cast, and Jason explained to us that because this is an open invitation, people are used to being "alpha dogs" in their own troupes, so it's not normal for them to hold back
- monologues as a guideline should take around 3 minutes
- Del Close said our job is to enchant and horrify
- all male troupes happen "organically", all-women troupes happen on purpose (ie it's easy to make an all-man troupe by accident)

I have just seen two shows: two of the Frank Hayes Four did half an hour on "childhood dreams". Started with two 13 year old boys in a tree house, and explored the relationship with a stepfather, a therapist, a cello teacher and responses to a U2 concert. It was Seth who ran our object workshop a few weeks ago (his cello work was of great beauty), and a guy whose name I don't know, but I saw him in Shakespeare and in Baby wants Candy. Great work.

Then it was two of the Cook County Social Club (usually 4 guys). Their suggestion was "break up" and they showed us 3 relationships in different stages of break up and mending, including a beautiful teenage relationship with some great emotional work. The nice thing was it was 2 guys, and when they kissed on stage it was not the gag or the end if the scene. It was a part of the scene, it was paced like real life not slapstick, and the scene continued after the kiss. I'm not sure I'll ever see that on a Sydney stage!

The Reckoning is next at 1030. They promised us a Bat, which is apparently done in the dark. Will no doubt be interesting!

Class number infinity

2008-08-13T10:59:00.001+10:00

While it may seem like I have written over a million posts, it's slightly less than 90 (and counting).

Here is a photo of people in my class about to go on stage. Today people had their cameras out - only 2 more class days, then a show Friday night, and we are done. We have all facebook befriended each other, and we'll be friends forever (as is the case with all intensive programs, right?).

Cool formats:

- 1 2 3 - monologue, 2 person scene, 3 person scene (rinse repeat)

- similarly 1223

-

Things I want to remember from today:

- no need to set up all of the context in your first line (the bits in italics at the opening of a play "we are in an office, john is wearing a suit and typing on the pc") - just set up what's important (the rest can change)

- if you find you're not responding emotionally in a scene, stop, listen, and then respond (it's never too late to begin)

- easiest if first scene is reasonably grounded, then 2nd 3rd beats can be kooky (harder the other way around)

My Life as a Hotel

2008-08-13T05:19:00.001+10:00

Here is the entrance to my hotel. I love it. Breakfast bagels were a little stale, tomorrow I'll try the croissants.

Warm up games:

Do you like your neighbour:

- person in centre of circle points to someone and asks Do you like your neighbours?

- if they say no the 2 people on either side have to swap places and the person in the centre tries to get their place

- if they say "yes" they need to qualify "but I don't like people who..." And whoever fits that category has to change places

- person left without a place goes to the centre

- Jason's rule is that the "but I don't like" is a "secret demographic finder" - ie you need to choose things we can't see (preferences, experiences)

Vroom

- pass "vroom" with gesture around the circle

- cross arms and do brake sounds - reverse the vroom

- oil slick + gesture, skips one person

- bridge - sing a tune and throw the zoom across the circle

- fire drill - everyone has to change places and the fire drill caller begins the zoom again

Jason's gems today:

- initiating a scene is like a spark plug - you know it will start, but not what happens after

- mirroring the other person works sometimes, a strong emotional reaction works every time

- say what you feel about them

- make it a longer term relationship

- you can't debate someone's emotions, just have an emotional response

- third beat - whatever happened in second beat must meet 1st beat

- second beat should be perfectly good scenes without having seen the first one

- if characters are interesting, I want to see them again

2008-08-12T15:51:00.001+10:00

Photos for week 4 are up!

Afternoon with Jason

2008-08-12T12:48:00.001+10:00

This is a photo of the "corn cob" building in downtown Chicago. It's an architectural revolution because it has parking on the bottom floors, then residential and a marina in the basement. It was one of the first "whole life" residential complexes in the downtown area (built for some city workers originally). It features in an action movie with someone like Bruce Willis or similar. One of you will know it - he drives the car off the side of the corn cob into the river.

The most important thing today is that I moved into a new hotel!! It has air con, a bath, and most importantly, kind and proactive staff. It's 15m walk from the theatre, and I will be there at the Majestic till Saturday when I leave!! It also has toilet paper in the bathroom, carpet on the stairs, daily room servicing all kinds of things I have grown to value and which were absent for the past 4 weeks.

I feel like I've already written up this afternoon, but I can't find it, so I'll do it again.

Exercises building to a Harold:
- word association round the circle, avoiding opposites, avoiding pop culture references, avoiding "lists" (if we have 2 things from a circus move on), and avoiding word continuations ("super", "man" is out); then pull out the themes
- do it again, going around a finite number - the last 3 people setting it up so that the last person can get to the original word (or the emerging theme)
- move to half circle on stage, same game (begin initiating - tell us your opening line)
- now any order, same game, ending on the same word (preferably said in unison), follow up with opening lines.. (or scenes)

We did this opening and scenes from it all afternoon.

Jason's clever ideas:
- all connections show up. If they don't, ignore them
- In a large cast, initiate a scene by talking and moving at the same time
- impro trick - say exactly how you feel (emote too!) - it's bad writing, but makes for good improv - gets us faster to the emotional heart of the scene
- retarded people and children have no opinions or power, so they make for short, transactional scenes, not long interesting ones
- in "Game" scenes, it's good to play the game, leave it to play the emotions, return to game
- when something forces your emotion to change, stay changed or have a good reason to revert
- argument is good for the scene (heated emotional exchange) but debate is bad for the scene - an argument has to be something other than an exchange of insults - it's about the two of you
- walk-ons into a 2 person scene are to add or edit, not to "save" the scene
- 2 types of initiations - hard (I have an idea) and soft (no idea). If you have no idea, say nothing (but do something!)
- point of the form is deconstruction of a source material
- someone did a show where the audience painted onto a canvas on arrival - then players "deconstructed" the work as the source material for the show
- behind closed doors rank dissolves and it's 2 people (drop the sergeant, mother superior, father and use first names)

Breast Cancer Walk

2008-08-12T05:35:00.002+10:00

On Sunday there was a breast Cancer Walk Downtown. A pink ambulance was cruising around playing music with these graffiti on:

- Rock your rack
- Save second base
- Boogie so your boobies bounce

Oh and factoid I forgot to say, the Tiffany dome at the Chicago Cultural Centre has aluminium leaf on it, because in 1897 when the dome was constructed aluminium was more expensive than gold.

Jason and the Magic Bus

2008-08-12T05:27:00.002+10:00

This is a rusty old bus parked under the el.

Today's improv teacher is Jason. He directs a heap of shows here, and was Director of iO for a long time, until a few years ago.

Here's some wisdoms from Jason:
- the Harold's a Rosetta Stone to deconstruct any long form
- memory is a big part of what makes a show good
- if you asked an audience member a detail (eg he called his wife Jeff in the first scene) they wouldn't remember, but when you bring it back they recognise it (and laugh)
- line + expected response => drama
- line + wrong emotion => laugh (and then find out why they are doing the unexpected emotion)
- it should always be just about two people (and their relationship)
- improvised shows can have a Neil Simon character and a Noel Coward character in the same scene, and it works
- Del Close was trying to render human relationships down to the simplest units

Robocop has 3 directives, Jason's 3 directives are:
- who is this person to me
- what are they really saying
- how does that make me feel

Armando wisdoms:
- Armando is designed as a simple form, for troupes who don't necessarily play together often - someone tells stories, the others make fun of the
- the original Armando Diaz now runs the magnet theatre in NY - the form has changed a bit since the first shows (eg monologist sets the scene for the next scene)
- Asssscat is an Armando form

For monologues:
- if the ask for isn't inspiring or you can't think of something, "show your work" - the connections from the ask for to the story. If stuck go sensate (a sandwich is 2 slices of bread with something in between)
- monologue should be a story about you or an anecdote, not your opinions
- in monologues put in people's names (reality)

Armando scenes:
- don't retell what's in the monologue - unless to heighten
- do agree or disagree with the philosophy or argument
- don't hit the audience over the head with the monologue (if time and watch, don't say either of those words - try sundial or sun high in sky)
- do yourself a favour - if you want to do a 2 person scene don't mention a 3rd person (they will appear)
- look for the wider implications of the pattern from the monologue (eg 2 types of people - racism, political divides)
- always know each other
- scientists have names too

Still Life at the Park Grill

2008-08-11T06:35:00.001+10:00

Touristing today.

Only saw one show last night, the 8pm Saturday show is usually the Deltones, iO's musical troupe. But it being the Del Close marathon in New York, it was instead two Harold teams.

Apparently how it works is when people complete their 12 months of courses, they get to be in a Harold Show on a Saturday night for 8 weeks. After that as few as 1 in 40 are invited to join a troupe at iO. So I saw good impro, but the audience wasn't there either - where most shows fill the cabaret theatre, this was one third full. The players carried on regardless, and did well.

This morning I stopped in at the Old Town part of Chicago. Everything burnt down in 1871, Old Town was the first to rebuild - some beautiful old wooden houses remain (like Balmain weather boards, but taller).

Then it was Chicago Cultural Centre to see the Tiffany Glass ceiling (photos to come later).

I am now enjoying a steak salad at Millennium Park (where they have the reflective stainless steel sculpture called Cloud Gate, and the Frank Gehry designed auditorium). What a life!!

Shows and Games

2008-08-10T05:34:00.001+10:00

I set out this morning after a massage to go to the Surgical Science. Haven't got there yet.

Got on a train, which announced it was the Red Line (there are a few different colours here). But it kept on the Brown Line track. So although I could have gotten off, I stayed for the Red Line stop I wanted. I took the line right down through the Downtown Loop (which was a nice view, given that the brown line is elevated, and it's been around long enough for architects to have added features at El line level).

Then, when I thought it was about to loop back around and get me to where I wanted to go, it turned into the Red Line. Transformational!

So I ended up on State Street (that great street), which was shopping central in the 1850's.

Dropped into Barnes and Noble for a coffee and ended up with a few new games: Origin of Expressions (a dictionary-like game); the Settlers of Catan (a board game recommended by Shad); Barista (a negotiating game); BeRhyme (charades with rhymes); and Alibi (a more complex Cluedo).

In keeping with the rest of the day, they didn't do decaf at Barnes and Noble, so here I am at Macy's on State St with a chicken burger, discarding the excess packaging from the games (so I can get them home in my luggage).

Last night I saw the musical improv show Baby Wants Candy again. It was a different cast from last time. I would say second string - a lot of players have gone to New York for a Del Close marathon. Also the players went blue really early in the show. Always gets a laugh, but seems to stall things.

Got to say as an audience member it is usually more satisfying to have the all-in chorus (as recommended by Dave Asher's workshop), especially when the singers aren't so talented. It also gives opportunity for dance numbers etc.

As a player it's more boring to set up, but it does make a difference (and it's good to have a little variety). Even duets with a repeating line is very satisfying (and looks much harder than it is).

Just like last week, they topped off their 45 - 55 minute musical with a "let us retell your day". The guy who volunteered processed sewage for a living. So it was a gift from the audience really.

I'm wondering if they do the tacked on bit at the end in case the show's ordinary - that way they can get a sure laugh? They also have an audience draw (3 prizes with combinations of tickets, branded mugs, branded beer holders) after each show. Good for return business.

Same deal with Harolds - after a show of several Harolds they play a gaggy Freeze Tag (and usually the physical element of it is totally lost in favour of a gag). I guess it guarantees that people walk out laughing. Probably good for business, I guess.

Miles and the Zone of Quiet

2008-08-10T04:58:00.001+10:00

I am staying about 5m walk away from the Memorial Children's Hospital, which is, as the sign says, a Zone of Quiet. One up on a cone of silence I guess.

Today I did an additional iO workshop with a guy called Miles Stroth. He has a particular formula for playing, and over 5 hours we practiced one of those formulae.

Like all of the teachers we have had so far, he memorised our names (from us having told him once). It's a party trick, but impresses people a lot. Our first teacher, Alex, knew our names before we knew each others'. Miles' point was that he "bothered" to remember. Bothering to remember, bothering to listen was a theme for him.

He suggested there are 4 types of scenes:
- absurd
- character driven scenes (he said TJ of TJ and Dave fame does this type)
- Realistic (which Dave does)
- alternative reality (where we accept as true things which are absurd)

Monty Python did lots of straight absurd sketches - needed a straight guy to represent the audience (the dead parrot, the argument, the cheese shop).

The technique applies to any scene which opens with an "attack" (there's no cheese; you're late; you can't wear that dress).
- accept the attack as a gift (great, I'm the kind of person who is always late, and is really relaxed about it)
- if their character is absurd, you be straight and vice versa
- if you are straight, call attention to what's wrong (can feel inactive), call the strange behaviour
- if you are absurd be absurd, take only what you need from the straight guy's lines (don't answer the question)
- if you hit a wall, find a reason the absurd person is doing this
- if the other person starts arguing, go to a non sequitur
- if something is wrong, YOU did it
- at first react emotionally (few words) so the first player can get their idea out
- the more aggressive the straight guy is, the more absurd the absurd guy is

Other wisdoms:
- never help anyone (it kills the game)
- two positives or two negatives end up in an argument - you need one of each - it makes for tension, but not an argument
- if the game is "don't touch the cheese", don't touch it, or the game is over
- normal behaviour is to justify or defend our behaviour - just accept it and use whatever they say and twist ("you keep breaking my things" - "you keep lending them to me!")

Hand stands and the last day of week 4

2008-08-08T08:51:00.001+10:00

This statue is just in a residential street behind Wrigley Field. Not sure why. I do know that sculpture of three motor bikes "planted" under the el has been excavated. So Art is ever-changing.

Today is the last day of Week Four, which in theory centred on The Harold. We did 4 or 5 Harolds today - the last 2 with all 14 people.

Surprise surprise the first 14 person Harold was too short. Twenty Minutes. About the length of time we've been practicing with all week.

The week has been exhausting for all of us. Some of the Toronto women are flying home this weekend to do a show. It will be interesting to see where their energy is on Monday.

Words of cool from today:

- the essence of a group game is to notice someone doing something, and do it too or complement it (make them look good), but do it bigger (heighten); as each person does this the heightening transforms it into something new

- group games also work in 3s

- common patterns with newer groups (to move through): wooshing to get off stage in group games, making worlds collide in the second beat (ie too early), everyone doing the same thing all the time rather than complementary (eg if they are an oven, be the fridge, not another oven

- 4 player archetypes: wild card (off the wall crazy - you need only one, but you need one); actor (makes any scene believable, real); funny bone (can make anyone laugh); artist (group player, does the sewing together, sees things from a different angle). These come from Joe Bill (and are the 4 who founded Annoyance)

- it's not necessarily productive to spend a lot of time on what didn't work (but what ifs, how elses, yes)

Less theory more play today.

Heather's beer

2008-08-08T05:34:00.001+10:00

In the Cabaret theatre at iO they serve beer in jars. Here is Heather's beer from last night.

By the way the ring-in from TJ and Dave's show last night, Tracy Letz, is apparently a playwright who won 5 Tony Awards for a play currently on Broadway. He improvised like someone who was good at character, plot and subtext (his object was comparatively less fulfilling).

And TJ and Dave have been improvising together for more than 20 years (phew).

I don't know how it got to be Thursday so quickly, but there it is. This morning we began African Hunting Dog of our own accord, before Jet even got here. I just love group scenes (even more so when they work).

Then Jet threw us into scene work - this time we focused on "yin and yang" - going energetically different with each scene - if the scene was big, go small, if staged at the back and tight, stage at the front and spaced out, if characters realistic, go cartoonish.

That was fun - and Jet's comment was that you don't always have to connect scenes to an opening - if you connect to a preceding scene (through yin/yang) that connects to an opening, then that's close enough. Of course we know that we can connect anything to anything, so any offer can eventually lead back to a theme (and our fellow players can take care of that!)

The next exercise I've done before, but not for the same reasons: stare into your scene partner's eyes, and see what's there. Build on what you see by sending back an emotion (without "signalling" or miming or telegraphing). Then give it a weight, a sense, name it or the relationship, and then start a scene (in the middle). This is a TJ and Dave exercise.

We did some mini-Harolds then. And people had asked for feedback (again??). So Jet got us to say what we were working on and then gave us ways to do that.

Some random and cool stuff from Jet this morning:
- don't worry too much about chairs hanging about the stage, they are invisible if you don't use them
- you can use chairs to set up the blocking for the scene
- always move chairs with confidence and for a reason
- games - swarm entrance is one option, but also try peeling (one at a time)
- if scenes don't have layers (staging, environment, subtext, style, stacking etc) we'll follow story because that's all we have
- when your voice gets louder your body gets bolder
- watch scenes from the sides with great joy - it will infect your scenes too
- to find more characters watch people on buses and match them
- for kid characters, go to you tube - get the eyes first
- to get back your lost joy in a scene/in general - pretend that you are about to laugh, or act as if what you are about to say is the funniest thing in the world and you are the funniest person on earth
- to get out of head and into characters get into your body - stretch before a show, look only at your scene partner or at your environment (never inside your head or at the floor)
- stacking can and should affect your voice
- vary your vocal quality to find a new character - record your voice to verify that they are in fact different
- if you feel overloaded, give yourself a show where you lose it and go back to who you were before you did all the learning
- watch people you like play and copy how they do range

Some cool bits from TJ and Dave last night (mostly physical I notice!):
- woman gets out of shower, boyfriend just sniffs near her, she says "lillipilli"
- girlfriend putting moisturiser on her legs, boyfriend just watches her legs as she does it
- waitress opening a bottle of wine

And a myth from Joseph Campbell: we are born as camels and we get loaded up with stuff and have to go on a journey. We change into lions, and come upon a dragon, with "thou shalt" tattooed on every scale. Our job is to slay that dragon so we can become a child...

TJ and Dave

2008-08-07T15:22:00.001+10:00

For those of you who know my art works, this photo is more like my normal stuff, not so much a photo of something as a pattern I found in the iron work in the street.

I had a nap and a cool shower tonight after class and began a quest for a new place to stay even if only for the last few days of my time in Chicago. Have sent off some enquiries to vacation rentals in the downtown area. They will have all the mod cons, including air con and no late night parties, and even a TV, which I haven't much missed, seeing so many improv shows, but would be cool to keep me company besides my ipod.

The best decision I made before coming was to buy the EEE PC. It has been my lifeline - Skyping every day to James, doing my web mail, organising my photos. And at about 900g I could carry it every day if I wanted to. The keyboard is tiny, but it's a minor thing.

TJ and Dave is tonight's show. They came highly recommended. Everyone loves their work. It's an 11pm Wednesday night show and it sells out days before, which means something I figure!.

Tracy Letz performed with them tonight. No idea who he is, but he was 50+. TJ and Dave were probably early 40s. TJ and Dave had a really good rapport, the relationships between the characters they played were all "joyous" to borrow from Jet.

Dave tended to play with his back to the audience, but that's the only thing that didn't work (and ends up being a small thing when the relationships are good). Both TJ and Dave did excellent object work.

It was a great show with effortless call backs. Clearly the audience were loyal, they laughed at things which had to be old jokes or gestures. The situations were just ordinary (a restaurant, a couple in the restaurant, the waitress and the other staff). It worked so beautifully (and clearly wasn't to do with plot).

So, worth a nap to be awake enough to get through the show!!

Here we go a Harolding

2008-08-07T11:57:00.004+10:00

This is one of my favourite photos to do - reflections in buildings (actually reflections in anything - tea pots, lamp posts, sunglasses).

It was taken on the Chicago River
Architecture tour on Sunday afternoon.

This afternoon's workshop was Harold-flavoured.

We did transitions from group game to 2 person scene to group game, aiming to make this as organic and seamless as possible. Jet has this theory about the tao of improv - that after a group game ends the last 2 people on stage start the next scene. It makes things a lot easier, although doesn't cure stage-hogging.

Jet-isms:
- inventive and clever is not a compliment in this work; investing and discovering is
- building tension doesn't happen with words, it happens with silence
- do you have the courage not to be funny for 5 minutes, so that you can have the huge laugh at the end of 5 minutes?
- scenes alone are not risky enough - group games are risky (and they don't always work well) - they are there to bring ideas, brainstorm, make new ideas, lower the pressure
- when working in a group on stage people need to be scattered like chocolate chips in a cookie - not all together
- group games are when everyone commits and drops their own ego - which is different to everyone doing their own thing and checking in
- joy is what transforms scenes most quickly
- good shows happen when you know how you feel about your scene partner and you can see your world
- heighten scenes through layers, not complexity

Still having fun, although had to have a nap after class today; all the emotional stuff this morning was exhausting!

More Jet!

2008-08-07T05:44:00.001+10:00

Woops, more interesting things:
- never touch anybody with more pressure than you would touch a baby
- never touch anybody when you are playing angry
- as a character choice, play the essence of a genre - not the letter of it - ie you take the fan and the accent from Tennessee Williams play, but you don't need all of the trappings, and can play that in any context, whatever your scene partner brings
- ways to save a scene: go to a pot (emotion, stacking, style) go to the environment
-"pick a pot" even in group scenes (you may be called upon to talk)
- Beer Shark Mice play with just tag outs "follow the joy" (Neil Flynn plays the janitor in Scrubs, and he is in Beer Shark Mice)

Emotions

2008-08-07T05:31:00.000+10:00

This is a photo of the Red Line el line station after a game at Wrigley Field. You may remember the photo I posted a few weeks ago with only 3 people, which was taken from the same angle. What you have to imagine is that not only is this part of the platform crowded, it's as crowded all the way along, and the stairs have people waiting to get in, and at road level there is a crowd trying to get into the station, and appointed crowd controllers. It's a tad busy post-game!
This morning we warmed up to improvise with a process Jet called "The Everything".
It begins with an organic version of bibbedy bobbedy bop (the element where 3 people build a plane or an elephant). One person points to another in the circle and that person and their neighbours build whatever is named (and it can be abstract, like "happiness" as well as concrete like "gorilla").
Then 5 people sculpt the word. Then we evaporate the circle, which means most people are involved. Then drop the words, just morphing from one group "picture" to another through sound or action.
We must have done it for a good 45 minutes. We were all dripping with sweat by the end.
After that exhilarating and full of uncertainty segment we did scenes, repeating each with a supplied sub text (you secretly killed their dog last night, you want to rip each other's clothes off).
Then we experienced, in our places throughout the room, emotional levels. We did sadness from 1 through 10, (and also fear, love, anger, joy).
Next to practice using the emotions on stage, we did Shakespearean scenes - starting with a neutral line in Shakespearean style, the other person had to choose any one of the 5 emotions and take it to 10. Exhausting, but marvellous to watch. The scene initiator played it straight (Jet said they were the audience representative - we can deal with the crazy because they were dealing with it)

Jet's stuff from this morning:
- at an emotional 10 no one says full words, and no one stays vertical (often say 1 word over and over)
- access your body intelligence by reducing your verbal load
- to get better at accessing your emotions on stage, do it more often (on and off stage)
- after an emotional outburst, a non sequitur breaks the tension; a call back to the original trigger resets to start again (for more emotion); a real emotional response (are you OK) could take you anywhere
- if you have burst, and don't know where to go next, try pulling yourself together and failing. People love to watch people fail (the Great Fall)

By the way, they have a few vocabulary differences here. Here are some:
- blocking they call "denial"
- starting a scene is "initiating"
- corpsing/laughing in a scene is "breaking"
There are probably a hundred more, but that will do for now.

Reckoning and Cook County Social Club

2008-08-06T14:50:00.000+10:00

3 shows tonight. Saw the Frank Hayes Four (there were 3 of them this week, 2 last week.... So the numbers are deceiving). They were having a good time and I enjoyed watching them play around. The cast of three included 1 woman.
Then the Cook County Social Club (4 men). Also fun, and a little more "soul" than the Saturday night guys. They did a few in jokes (one of the characters had been to a corporate improv class). Sure crowd pleaser when every improv student gets in free to those shows. There were probably 20 people in the 100 person or so cabaret theatre who chuckled..
Both teams did around 45 minutes of improvising, no real structure, 2 or 3 recurring stories. Or maybe it was a Harold, without an opening as such, and with scenes continuing in the more "echoing" way that Jet has been teaching us, and I wasn't seeing it.
It is certain that there is an indefinable element of "soul" that makes me want to see more of a show or not. Jet claims you can judge a show by the amount of love and grace in their opening scenes, by the quality of their scene pictures, whether they are aware of each other. Maybe so!
Now I'm on the way home from the Reckoning's "experimental" show. They again sought a format from students. This one they called "That Guy" - describing a character and his environment and then a series of scenes with people connected to the character, ending where it began.
They didn't quite do what the idea's originator asked for, but it was a satisfying show.
Jet is in the Reckoning, and her range of characters is reasonably narrow (based on 3 shows I have seen her in). But her characters are consistent, consistently strange and oddly compelling.
There were 5 (2 women) in the Reckoning show tonight and it was a full house in the Del Close theatre.

Featured in tonight's show was a bad smell, and one of them has just boarded the bus. This has happened twice in the 3 weeks I have been taking the bus. With the extreme heat and some homeless people I suppose it's inevitable.

So closing off the nose and the blog.

Two whoppers $4

2008-08-06T09:26:00.000+10:00

This afternoon's improv centred on second beats. We did a random first scene and then created as many second beats as we could think of.

It was so much fun.

We started with the obvious, story. Then we tried using the same blocking (stage set up, not the saying no kind); mirroring a gesture or body position; taking an expression (facial or linguistic); same location, different characters; same relationship different characters; when it doesn't have to be linear, it really frees and delights the imagination. We even went to sheep from botox, which was so off beam!

Warm up: the quick draw game. Person in centre of circle points and says draw. The pointee ducks, the two on either side say "bang". If anyone stuffs up they make a noise to acknowledge it and takes the centre of circle place. No one polices getting it right or wrong, no one is eliminated, it's just a game for focus and fun. (I have played it as an elimination before and it involves a lot of testosterone! This is a gentler version).

Jet's contention is that it's a good way to get a dose of adrenaline before going on stage - her theory goes that the second dose of adrenaline (going on stage) is milder and easier to play with.

We topped off this morning's openings (dressing 3 characters) by talking about other options: 3 environments, 3 objects (or an environment, a person, an object in that environment). Important to make it not just a laundry list but endow the character etc (he's wearing black shoes dusty from selling encylopedia door to door).

Another story-based opening: story theatre. Like a typewriter but not scenic, with all players building the scene and characters (no one off stage).

More Jet:
- women (or men) who have hair in their face may end up playing meek characters, because of the repetitive action of moving hair off their face + also hair in your face blocks your face
- if a character is too close to the actor that's when the actor "goes clever" which takes the magic out of the scene
- if you follow plot you can end up with too much to remember - follow something else it's more fun to play
- second half of the Harold is often less fun because of the pressure to tie everything together
- best characters to play are curious or suspicious because they make everything important
- we like in comedy to see people suffer
- clever is the foam at the top of the beer (that's actually Del Close)

Off to a few more shows tonight. Getting a little sleep deprived!!

Jet and Apartment Finders

2008-08-06T05:23:00.000+10:00

For some reason there are ads all over Chicago for apartment finders. Whether it's tough and there are lots of time-poor cash-rich people prepared to pay for it, or it's just that so many people are looking, I don't know. Here is a photo of an apartment finders car ad.

Last night there was apparently a tornado siren in the city (while we were here at the theatre enjoying the Armando).

You can imagine that this information freaked me out this morning!! I'm just not schooled in wild weather protocol. Of course I lived on the North Coast NSW for years and there were cyclone warnings, and that was fine, I knew what to do. But a siren!!! Whheeeeew!!!

This morning's class started with another set of African Hunting Dog. Our soundscape was a haunting minor melody. So good to be part of it

Exercises:
- try to be illogical - make every line a non-sequitur - it's hard... So stop worrying about being logical with your dialogue, that's the easiest part - we improvise our dialogue all day

Structure of the Harold
- opening
Scene a, scene b, scene c
- "fun time" (again like the opening, refresh, regenerate what's important,
Scenes 2a, 2b, 2c
-Fun time
Scenes 3 if time

Hints for 2nd beats - goal is to reflect on it differently:
- if you follow story in one beat, don't do it again
- follow location (who else is there)
- follow an object (the tea pot), the book, the ashtray)
- follow theme (sex lecture to sex lecture)
- follow character - put them in a new place
- follow or contrast style - scene 1B was blue collar workers, scene 2B might be posh men at a club; or 1B was film noir, so 2B is film noir but not plot related

Jet's ideas for today:
- I don't believe in good or bad improv, only in making it easier
- in the same way we don't talk about what we're doing when we do object work, we don't talk about emotions - they just infuse the scene and the character
- we don't need a complex story, we need layers (sub text, style, call backs)
- if you find yourself "flipping" into your head/voice in your head, be in your body, be in your environment, be in your partner
- adding a style (genre) to a scene makes it physical and emotional
- openings are designed to show off your skills, make the audience feel they can trust you
- if your scene partner says "let's do something", then DO IT and NOW - it takes the thought out
- if you don't know a genre, watch your scene partner, then do what they do, but more (OVER accept)
- take different things from the opening - if someone takes location from the opening, take something else (character, theme, etc)
- if what you take from the opening is not clear to the audience then that's probably better than it being a carbon copy of the opening (yawn)
- I always have more fun when what I bring to the scene is simple
- one of my classes was doing bad scene work, so I said no more plot, just characters. if it's plot driven we see the same scenes over, but there are so many characters
- more than half the time at iO we don't get to the 3rd beat because we run out of time
- combat too much plot by introducing emotion (done a lot in Shakespeare, musicals)
- play slow, edit fast, follow the joy.

Another joyous morning, and now on to the afternoon.

Armando rocked again

2008-08-06T01:40:00.000+10:00

There is something to be said for improvisors knowing each other and knowing their craft.

Saw the Armando Diaz Experience and Hootenanny last night. There is a regular (large) set of experienced players who seem to randomly show up to play it (less a troupe, more an invitation only club like some of IA's shows).

The show was good, although a much less interesting monologist was up.

The good thing about this show was they had a "panel" discussion afterwards. The 9 players (including one woman) answered all kinds of questions from their comedic inspirations to how they knew when to come on (unfortunately they announced it to the whole audience so it wasn't just improv students, but some interested audience).

The minimum no of years individuals had been playing was 8 (and one of the cast was in the first Armando with the real Armando Diaz, apparently).

Here are some snippets:
- "I did the monologue for 2 years when I first started directing - I got stage fright"
- what I want in a scene partner - listen, honesty, trust (don't judge), listen to HOW I say something
- "stock" characters are OK as long as they aren't stock scenes, stock names, stock responses (if the mask relaxes you...)
- characters can be facets of your own personality
- stage fright - being in a regular weekly show helps
- "I used to say I'll be OK when I get the first laugh, but if it didn't come I would panic and start yelling and racing around, which wasn't useful. Now I breathe"
- call backs are inside jokes contained in a single show
- likelihood of someone listening increases with their experience
- most people don't do things that make them nervous any more

The photo here is my classmate Erin wearing her brand new false moustache!

Afternoon with Jet

2008-08-05T09:53:00.004+10:00

Afternoon with Jet was just as fun as morning.
Cool warm up - 3 parts to it:
1. in a circle, everybody slaps their legs in rhythm and says "kunja kunja".
2. One person points their two hands to themselves for 2 beats and says "bunny bunny" (the hands sort of do the "happy talk" gesture for each bunny), then they do "bunny bunny" to someone else, who bunny bunnies to themselves and then to another, etc
3. When someone bunny bunnies, the 2 on either side go "toki toki" like pendulums on either side of the bunny
Once this is rhythmically established, people eliminate themselves if they stuff up (based on the joy of making a mistake), and go dancing around the circle till there are only 2 left, and then we all bow down and they say "we are gods in Korea" (no one knows why this!!).

Second warm up: pick a "best friend" in the group, follow them with your eyes but move independently of them; then mirror them; then do complementary poses to them (close to them). Do this for a while (it looks very cool), then one person chooses an object to work with (clean a window, wash dishes, whatever), you complement that (not necessarily the same thing - may dry dishes or vacuum), keep doing this but from way across the stage (mirrored across centre stage) - now make the gestures more balletic... very beautiful (and something we could use in ballets!)

Next we played with a style of opening. It built from simple to more complex:
- conducted story - to which Jet added "underscoring" (another version of yes anding - "John was 6" "and because John was 6 he went to school", "and at school he had a good friend called Alfred" - repeating an element of the preceding sentence)
- conducted story with sound scape (effects, sounds, music)
- un-conducted story, with sound scape
- as above, plus move around and make stage pictures, act it out, etc

New opening idea which we'll be doing more of tomorrow:
- one player strikes a pose
- the others dress them, describing the clothes, their texture, colour, etc
- as they dress the player, they continue to play with the clothing and accessories (get engaged in the texture, etc)
- once you run out of something to decorate, "invest" in someone else's idea and give it more back story (his necktie was a gift from him mum on his 19th birthday)
- at some point someone will mention another person (e.g. mum) and then a player will be that new person to be dressed/described.
Do 3 people (rule of threes, right)

Jet-stars:
- clowns deliberately do hard things (climbing a scaffold), because when they fail, there is a naturally occurring emotion to work with (fear, sadness, anger) - no need to make it up - improv can be the same
- the warm up should have the energy and love that you want in your show
- group mind and stage picture go together (is it beautiful or a clump?)
- don't be confused, group mind always begins with one person's decision to do something and others following - so either follow or make a new offer - either way you will be part of group mind
- if you are ever lost on stage pick a best friend and do what they are doing
- scenes based on a premise get laughs up front. scenes based on point of view get laughs at the end
- secretly in your opening you have to be thinking "how do we get out of this?"
- after show debriefs should be about what else could have happened - so people know how you think - give them the opportunity to later do something you may want to try, but couldn't communicate at that moment (but the pattern recurs!)
- if awkward in an opening, try 1. building one giant thing 2. building one environment (both build group mind), 3. make a bold move (and commit to it)
- choose to be an inanimate object in an opening, it can make it less scenic and more open to themes
- if you are better at remembering than inventing, "invest" in other people's ideas (water them, bring them back, underscore them)
- 3 pots to take from when starting a scene - stacking (see this morning), style, feeling - once you find the source of joy, forget where you got it from and just be it.

oh there is so much more!! Off to see an Armando!

Jet 2

2008-08-05T09:27:00.003+10:00

Here are some of Jet's pearls of wisdom from this morning:
- 3 elements to a scene - point of view, environment and partnering
- Mistakes as gifts - if you don't know your name, that's a gift - use it; if you speak at the same time as someone else, thats a gift, use it; mistakes can't be faked, but they show the audience you are actually improvising
- Touch an object and really feel it, and find dialogue in that
- there' s a safety zone on the stage (the one we're working on today has a worn space about 2 feet in from the audience, and 2 feet from the back wall, around 4 feet wide) - stay out of it!!
- if they're laughing before you have spoken, you are ahead - they do this from the physicality or the object you are holding, or the sound you make for this character
- people come to see us do stuff they would never do on stage (risk - I could never play a vagina), or stuff that can't be done (flying, magic, etc)
- to make characters less cartoonish and more human take gestures smaller, closer to body or make it into an intermittent tic (don't play with your hair or rub your nose all the time, just enough to establish this as a tic)
- after an opening or a group scene, the tao of improv says whoever is on stage are the people who are supposed to play the next scene
- do it because it looks like fun - be interested, not interesting
- have some abstract moments which may never be explained, or which may return later (e.g. a strange character doing something strange or inexplicable, being a virus or baying at the moon or whatever)
- you can tell by the laugh what's going on - belly laughs vs reference laugh... emotional trumps clever
- it's not a mistake if you keep doing it (it can be incorporated then) - 1 player plants the seeds, the other players water and grow it - no one brings their friends in to see their house's foundation, but it makes everything else work

Jet calls exercise we did this morning the African Hunting Dogs because these dogs have a high success rate - 80% - because they hunt in packs. It accesses the 3 improvising skills which are most neglected. We often talk about writing and acting as improv skills, but there is also music, movement, and visual art. Stage pictures are important too!

Also did a lot of work on edits. Here is a list of many types of edits (of course there are as many as there are scenes):
- the sweep (good for a chaotic scene)
- swarm edit - everyone swarms on stage doing something (playing violins, dancing, writing things, rehearsing, catching a bus... usually something themic from the opening)
- object edit - walk confidently on stage without giving eye contact to the players, grab something they are using and transform it into something else. use stacking to make this into a character if you want to (this way the audience sees you are actually making this up, you didn't come with it pre-written!)
- verbal edit - start talking from offstage in a way which indicates it's a new scene (more crisp)
- touching the world edit - create a new environment - do something within that environment - if players can't see you, it may help to make a sound to accompany this - creates quite emotional scenes

So that's just the morning. Now to the afternoon class (so good, sooooo goood).

Gods of improv

2008-08-05T08:27:00.001+10:00

If you do things on stage with beauty and grace, the gods of comedy will get jealous and begin following you.

Here is a photo of an Aztec God on the logo of a restaurant near my bus stop.

This morning's impro was heavenly. Jet (a nickname for Jessica) is a gorgeous ethereal red head with a touch of the new age. She is unbelievable.

Warmed us up using a neutral stance and some stretching, then with a process called African Hunting Dog.

Begins by walking round on stage, and stopping as a group and beginning again (for a while until this gets smooth). Then one person moves and everyone else stays still, passing that focus around.

The side coaching at this point was about doing what is easy, and then looking where someone needs support.

Then we began a soundscape (this is where Jet's quote about grace and beauty comes in).

Slowly 2 people move, then 3. We went to 5 (with 14 players)As more and more people move the sound builds. Then we reduced the number of people moving, the music getting less and less. Finally no one is moving. We ended on a series of deep breaths (and there would 6.5 million ways to end at least).

Really cool warm up.

Next Jet took us through what she calls Stacking to create a character.

Take your body to neutral. Practise going from normal to neutral so this can be smooth.

Then from neutral exaggerate one body part (an elbow, a hip, a knee). Let your body respond to that misalignment, and let the response go right up to your face. Then find a sound that this character would make. Finally a mantra for this character.

I found this much easier than the "lead with a body part" method, although it is essentially the same. When you build a character this way, you always have your character sound to fall back on.

So much wisdom comes from Jet's mouth - a whole poetic life philosophy. I'm going to put it all in my next post!!

Dippin' dots, middle age comeback and 3033

2008-08-04T15:00:00.000+10:00

These are dippin' dots (banana split flavoured). They are small "dots" of ice cream. They taste just slightly plastic (or maybe paraffin). I bought them at the candy store yesterday, although James got me some at the Yankees game back in May. At the yankees game they were served in a small baseball cap made of plastic. With banana split they have vanilla, banana and chocolate flavoured. Very refreshing if slightly bizarre.

Just saw Middle Age Comeback. A crazy duo who seem to specialise in nested loops. Last week they did a time machine thing. Tonight they started by holding up a bank and ended up doing a number of different heists while trying to get breakfast for the hungry guy.

They don't have many different characters (ie each character is mostly just a version of themselves), but they have played 5 - 7 people both nights I have seen them. They (and the audience) tell the characters apart purely based on where the character was standing last time they spoke.

If one of them gets it wrong they make it part of the game. Same deal if one of them uses a malapropism (malapropisms are common here, not sure why). The other one calls it and makes it part of the malaprop's backstory.

3033 was next. Bill and Alex (our week 1 and 2 teachers) were in it. It was a pretty straight narrative (how I discovered treasure and became rich - sort of an improvised Raiders of the Lost Ark). Highly fun. 5 guys tonight.

A great night!!

No wake - photos from this weekend are up

2008-08-04T12:20:00.002+10:00

Didn't take too many today, but
the photos are up from today's architecture tour.

No idea what this photo means. It was a common sign along the Chicago river. There are of course a number of puns about it, which I will leave to those of you who love that kind of thing.

Quite possibly the best steak in the World

2008-08-04T08:36:00.000+10:00

I know pix of food never do it justice, but this has to be one of the best steaks in the world.

Cuts like butter. Tastes divine. And accompanied by garlic green beans and a fresh cob of bread!!!

Of course it's going to cost me around $70 with tip, but I am so enjoying it.

They brought me plates of raw meat and live lobsters to show me what my choices were. The lobsters hail from Western Australia.

Ah, so good!!!

Architecture Cruise

2008-08-04T08:31:00.000+10:00

Well, I spent 90 mins on the Chicago River, and know heaps of interesting facts about Chicago Architecture, Art Deco Chicago (compared to New York Deco), Echo Deco and contextualism.

I finished today a very ordinary novel called "The Boy Detective Fails". After about 100 pages in I have been reading and thinking how I can alter it. "Altering" a book means breaking it up or cutting or tearing or painting it and creating something new.

Fortunately The Boy Detective Fails is printed on a creamy paper with a torn edge. The edges are uneven. Although it's a paperback it's properly bound.

So I'm now inspired to cut into it with an art deco pattern (I have a photo from a building detail here. Who knows if it will work? And if it doesn't at least I will have gotten value for my $14 novel!

Candyality and Bullet Lounge

2008-08-04T05:59:00.001+10:00

This is Candyality (candy + personality). It's one of those by weight lolly shops. Their big draw is that you can get gummi bears by colour/flavour. I bought some vanilla flavoured jelly beans and some caramel flavoured jelly beans.

I am sitting right now near Dock 2 at the Chicago Architecture Foundation's river cruise. I got the absolute last ticket on their 330 cruise.

Saw shows last night at iO (more on that later). Got home round 1230, started sleeping round 1. At 250 the small conversations in the courtyard outside my window became loud music and shouting over the music.

Hereafter is a rant about Arlington House in Chicago, and it's hopelessness. Skip a para or 2 if you need to. I am on a vendetta.

So I asked the courtyard revellers to keep it down. I got smartarse back chat. I asked again the volume went down for about 20 minutes. So I got up and turned on the net and found the front desk number and called them. The staff here do a great passive aggressive thing. The guy said he didn't want to be "the harbringer" (sic) of bad news, so he didn't want to ask them. A few mins later the volume dropped, only to come again. Few minutes later it went up again.

If I were at home I'd have called the cops. Here I don't know how it works. I called the front desk guy, who said he was basically too busy. I suggested he ask them to move to what is kindly called a "media room" here - a 12 inch tv, a $20 dvd player and some lounges, that smells like 75 day old pizza but has the rare distinction of both air conditioning AND being not on the courtyard where three or four hundred people were trying to sleep. "Oh, the media room is a men's dormitory now, so they have nowhere else to party", he said. So clearly the inalienable right to party trumps the innate need for sleep, right.

So I googled ever travel review site that I could, and put my damning opinions on the site.

For the record here are some things that suck about Arlington House.
- bed bugs (I haven't had them but I know of at least 4 people who've reported having them)
- no air conditioning
- only servicing rooms if you know to request them
- kitchen smells of vomit
- no media room (any more!)
- surly staff who tell you nothing that you don't ask for
- common bathrooms have no doors on the showers, so you get out of the shower into the bathroom area
- clothes go missing (now it's my night gown, last week a pair of shorts...)

I looked for other places at 330 this morning, but there's something called Lollapalooza on this week (a Big Day Out style thing), and the Cubs are in town, so very little availability under $350 a day (+15% tax!!).

I can definitely get a nice room for a good price at the airport, but it's 17 miles from the theatre. So who knows how the last 2 weeks will be? (Fingers crossed the worst is over?).

Now to the important stuff. Saw Revolver who did a half hour or so of improv and then Bullet Lounge, with a dream in between and a freeze tag to end.

Both were fine. Solid, but not inspiring. Bullet Lounge were better than last week. There were 4 of them this week (all boys again). It's frantic, constantly changing scenes. This week Lincoln's assassination became 4 guys watching the History Channel and talking about Kant. Leapt all over the place. Maybe needed a little light and shade.

So Architecture Cruise next and more shows tonight.

Second City Improv All Stars

2008-08-03T12:56:00.000+10:00

Took this photo today at the Lakeview Cemetery. I am particularly taken with the name Crescencia. Many of the head stones had a headline - "wife" or "mother" and once "brother". Didn't see "husband" or "father". Don't know why not!

Just caught the 8pm Second City Improv All Stars at the Apollo Theatre.

The audience was mostly 50+, in small groups (sometimes with late teens kids). Theatre holds about 400, maybe 50 seats were empty. Alcohol was available, but not served in the actual room (unlike main stage which I saw earlier in the week).

I was interested to see this show because it's short form. All of the players are long form players as well. Three men, three women, four of whom I have seen in iO shows (so they all could be iO as well). Alex Fendrich, who taught week one of my course was in the show, and Steve Wietner who taught one day for us this week.

The show opened with a little self-promotion - "we have been around for 50 years and we created famous people like Ed Asner, Alan Alda, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Steve Carell" etc etc.

Here's the show they did.
- Conducted story (a shared story like we do the 2 minute challenge, but no elimination)
- Sing it - player outside the scene yells "freeze" and repeats the last line of dialogue spoken - this becomes the first line (or chorus) for a song. This game went on for 3-4m
- Character monologue (single player)
- Shift left (4 players, 4 scenes, they ONLy shifted left)
- the game where you have to change the last thing you said (don't know its name) they used one of those bell hop bells for this
- a series of scenes - began as a slowish spontaneous combustion based on the audience suggestion of radish, and the fact it was misheard, then more generic - no scene was longer than a minute
- Oscar winning moment
- an Endowed Debate. They sent out the 2 debaters, and got an adjective, noun and verb from the audience. From that they formed the debate topic (whether mercurial tarantula should fornicate) their "campaign managers" had to mime the details, while they maintained a semblance of political debate ("I totally support x..."). It was a crowd pleaser which built quite nicely, and then it was over.

No host - players took it in turns to explain the game and oversee the play (to yell freeze for the singing or hit the bell for the new line game).

Exactly one hour. 8 "games".

I am now at iO to give loaded bullet a second chance (wasn't impressed last Saturday). We shall see.

Object work

2008-08-03T08:49:00.004+10:00

These two boys were on their way to the school playground to play ball.
It happens to be the day of a Cubs game. Wrigleyville (around Wrigley Stadium) was choc a block with people. There were so many people leaving the stadium they had actually taken over the road and were stopping traffic from moving.

I came out of my workshop at 3pm and it was like fighting a tide to walk anywhere they weren't walking.

I in fact took a long walk, past an area recommended by my travel guide as pretty (all of Wrigleyville is pretty. I think this one was unique in that the street was more like our Inner West streets - only about 3m wide, houses straight onto the street (sort of English I'd imagine). Also walked past a cemetery and some trendy shops (heaps of 'girl's' boutiques, ballet shops, maternity and baby shops and antiques. And a candy shop. Finally I took a bus home.

And before this afternoon's workshop I had a swedish massage. Heaven!! I took a different route to class (via the El) and got just a little lost. But it's improv: I arrived 20 minutes late and still hadn't missed much.

The workshop was run by a guy called Seth Weitberg. I'm sure you can google him and find a list of his accomplishments.

His take on object work in scenes (i.e. miming objects and doing things with them), is that the degree to which you invest in specificity and realism of your object work is the degree to which the audience can invest in the realism and specificity of your characters. He adds that poor and uninformed object work can be a distraction. (Not sure how much that is true, but it is a pleasure to see it done well).

Seth outlined four aspects of object work:
1. weight and dimension (weight indicated by tension in the hands, dimension indicated by using the object)
2. go slower than you think and go bigger than you think
3. every object is a process (i.e. use it and it will take you somewhere)
4. if that then what else (if I have a Star Wars figurine, what kind of lounge will I sit in?)

Some more wisdom:
- the WAY we hold or touch something gives information about the character
- we rarely pick up or hold objects with all our fingers together (pick up a glass and see), so we shouldn't mime it with fingers closed
- start doing something and you will discover something
- a guy standing clicking a pen is 1000 ties more interesting than a guy just standing there
- we often try to get the feel of an object by imagining it - try instead feeling it then seeing it
- stage time is "adrenalined" time: we have practiced to slow down our words, we need to slow our gestures too
- clowning actually shows an object being created so we can get its size and shape - give the audience (and other players) time to catch up to what your idea is by taking the time to "describe" it
- for slowness of movement, watch Charlie Chaplin (with real objects)
- in improv land we so often do things perfectly. In reality there is often a snag (button done up wrong, sleeve inside out), so take your time and let it stuff up
- make sure not to make the stage smaller when doing object work (e.g. setting up a really small kitchen) - use the fourth wall, and feel free to lean out into the audience to make it even bigger
- physical activity underscores the scene emotionally
- imagine the environment is someone who's dying to know more about you, but can only be told through touch
- choices breed choices
- don't use yoour own clothes on stage, use your "impro clothes", your "impro glasses", your "impro shoes" - which are imaginary and as you describe them physically or verbally - Seth recommends a neutral palette of clothing (no logos, nothing too flashy) for this reason - so the audience can easily imagine it different to what they see

Some exercises:
- Spolin exercise: given an environment, not allowed to move from your chair, find things in the environment (2 players)
- in super super slo mo, 2 players mime a transaction (e.g. I give you a 20 from my wallet, you count change from the till); do it again in super slo mo; then in just slo mo, then 'real time' - get feedback from your partner about the "reality" of it
- using magic silly putty, sculpt something out of it, till everyone gets what it is, then collapse the silly putty and pass it on
- from Mick Napier - make a list of the objects you often find yourself miming in a scene. Make a list of other things you could go for - to build your awareness and expand your range
- in 2s or 3s do a simple task like buttering bread and call out what you are doing at all times. Get your audience to give you feedback on what worked (or not) - especially weight and dimension initially, then further realism issues (e.g. stability of the counter)
- spend some time watching what your hands do when you pick up a cup or drink or make a call - use a mirror or a video camera; then mime it - consider doing object work as you're on the phone to people
- observe routines in the environments you are in (what else is on a bus besides seats and a driver?)
- choose a repetitive action and do it in scenes (folding laundry, washing dishes, sweeping) and practice it till it feels natural; do it also while you are on the phone to friends; once you get good at this repetitive action, add the next step (dry or put the dishes away)
- choose an emotional state and engage with an object in a way to show this (joyfully hold a quill pen). In theory this is what should happen in emotional replays, but we don't always see object work in the set up scene...

Some good actions to practice:
- pouring and drinking water (you usually don't bring your hand to your chin with a cup, but many improvisors do)
- writing
- doors (which side, which direction, what arc? latch or door knob?)
- reading - spend 20 minutes watching yourself reading a magazine - all the intricacies and mechanics of turning a page
- going up stairs and ladders - pay attention to Chaplin again, do some clowning workshops - usually people look up when going up, and lean their weight forward

Some other stuff: Seth says iO scenes are all about relationships; in New York it's all about the game; in LA it's character.... so hmmmm!

Oh yeah Baby Wants Candy

2008-08-02T15:12:00.001+10:00

Here is a photo of the longest row of newspaper vending machines I've ever seen.

You see people buying their papers from these in the movies. Obviously the newsagent concept isn't that big here. Some of these are free (real estate ads disguised as social pages or job ads disguised as band listings). Some of them you pay for.

Just saw Baby wants Candy. Five players, one woman. A four piece band (keyboard, bass, guitar, drums). They were definitely good improvisors first and foremost. There was a little fucking around ("you decide", no you, "no you", dammit, that plot device makes everything not important, "hang on we now have 3 ways to see the future).

Three of the guys were in the Shakespeare last Friday night. The faces of the good players are recurring consistently.

A great night's entertainment, and after they'd done their 1 hour musical, they gave us another 15 or 20, interviewing an audience member and then telling us her life.

Again, they take a lot longer with their set up than we do, but then their scenes do too. It does mean 30% or more of what they do is just retelling, though, which doesn't require much.

Would love to do what they do!!!

Stand up and bricks

2008-08-02T13:00:00.001+10:00

One of the apartment building on my way to the bus stop is being renovated. The Chicago Common Brick company clearly supplied the bricks.

Maybe I should buy a new business name - the Common Consulting Company?

Am waiting to see Baby Wants Candy, the improvised musical at Second City's Apollo Theatre (their 3rd theatre in Chicago).

I miscalculated and didn't have an 8pm show to see (BWC is at 1030), so I saw some stand up in the Studio downstairs - about 30 or 40 seats. I shared the room with 9 other audience. Just like Scriptless at the Bridge all those years ago.

The host tried too hard. The first comic did "white folk do this" stuff which wasn't even clever.

The second comic was a woman, Erica Edwards, and did pretty damn well considering. She mostly talked about growing up in a white neighbourhood, and being single, and her white friends hooking her up with inappropriate men (homeless, dwarves, etc) simply because of their race.

The third guy, Brian Babylon, was very good for such a tiny room. He was a lot less self conscious, had an openness and vulnerability about him. He didn't take it too seriously. It wasn't so much his material as his presence I think. I have seen some crappy stand up, and he saved it!!!

After the show he found me and told me he was trying to make me laugh. I was in fact laughing, just little giggles. His stuff was around also growing up in a middle class family in a white neighbourhood, about sex (ask me about the dolphin move) and Michael Jackson hairdos.

I am blowing my nose every 4 seconds tonight, and coughing every 12 seconds, I probably should be at home in bed (of course it's too hot to be at home in bed). So my laughter was a tad subdued because of that.

I told him that he was great (I said what I just wrote). I suppose that's what happens when there are less than a dozen people in the room, and you can actually see them all!

Musical workshop

2008-08-02T10:09:00.001+10:00

No idea which curse is over. This is a small fabric piece (maybe 10 cm across) glued to a lamppost. The fine print mentions supporting local artists. There is a purely decorative safety pin at the top.

Spent this morning at the Art Institute of Chicago. I went 2 weeks ago but only had 45 minutes.

Today I had 1.5 hours (about my limit at a museum anyway). I saw 27 miniature rooms - some society dame commissioned and managed a project to create American, European and even Chinese and Japanese rooms. So they were 1 inch to 1 foot replicas of dining rooms, drawing rooms, libraries.

The coolest thing about them was that although the focus was on one room, the other rooms which led to it were also fully furnished. Sort of like a back story. So you'd see the conservatory off the dining room (but only through the doorway), or the front hallway, or even the garden through the window. Much like when James and I visited mansions in Connecticut, what they showed you was ok, but what you could glimpse was even more enticing!!

Also saw some cool photography and the impressionist works I missed last time (gotta love The Monet).

Having done the architecture tour and begun a book about the architects of the 1893 world's fair, some of the architectural features displayed at the Institute had more meaning (grilles, iron lace, windows).

And I found 3 Joseph Cornell boxes in the Children's section!!

This afternoon's improv was a musical workshop. Nine students (there was an enrolment fiasco which demonstrates yet again that good improvisors do not always make good improvisors).

The session leader was Dave Asher, who worked in Boom Chicago in Amsterdam (and Josie O'Reilly was the first director he worked for!!).

He is now the resident musician at iO. They have a musical team called the Delltones, which I am yet to see.

He shared their format with us; basically
1. ask-for generates an all-in moving tableau
2. Someone in the tableau sings a chorus (it could be as simple as "drip drip drip" or more complex) and others join in
3. That number plays (chorus, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus)
4 scene 1 begins (using some chorus verse etc format)
5 scene 2
6 scene 3

I imagine they do a second or third beat on those scenes (we only did 20 min sets). And finally

7. Closing number, which ideally brings the themes together

We did a closing today which was basically a madrigal featuring the choruses from the opening and 3 scenes - Dave said he'd never seen it before... And of course he will never see it again!

Warm up games: given a suggestion (eg diamond), create a whole group sound "picture" (with few words if any).

An articulation warm up: Many mumbling mice are making midnight music in the moonlight mighty nice. It's on a minor chord and plays around on 135 of the scale (I could put it on a stave if I had one - I think the tune is less important - just improvise one which repeats).

Ended on blues: the words go:
All: Oh X I got the blues (where X is the ask for)
Player: Line 1
All: Oh X I got the blues
Player: rhymes with line 1
All: repeat rhyming line.

Phil Willis did something similar with us, but it's always good to expand the repertoire!!

Off to a couple of shows now!!

Cubs fan and cool shows

2008-08-01T13:05:00.001+10:00

This Cubs fan car even has Cubs insignia on the car seats. It is parked near the stadium quite frequently.

Just saw 3 great teams do 3 great sets.

The Rebel (9 players, 4 women) were "the intro" team. They did 30 mins of good improvising. Then the Signatures (6 players 4 women) did another 30.

Then they interviewed an audience member and played The Dream.

Finally the Reckoning (whose "experimental" night I saw on Tuesday) did a very respectable 45 mins or so.

Finished on a freeze tag. They play freeze tag to make final gags, and always end on a one-liner.

Worth the bus ride and 2 hrs of my life indeed!

Skybox on Sheffield

2008-08-01T08:26:00.002+10:00

Some of the apartment blocks bordering Wrigley Field have put grandstands on their roof and people can come see the game from there. They charge big money apparently, serve drinks and food and make it a real event. Sky box on Sheffield is one of many.

This afternoon's class was mostly revision. We did what we did all week in short scenes (including having to replay people's scenes). We also played more with opposing energies (in agreement).

Shad says people love seeing people being interesting. The Odd Couple uses opposing energies. He says a scene with opposing energies is like looking through a kaleidoscope. It's interesting, you really don't know what you're looking at, but you want it to keep going.

From this afternoon's efforts I can say once you get the groove of opposing energies, the audience laugh at everything that happens. Of course it isn't that simple, matching energies is so much more easy (well for me, anyway).

We played our first 14 person Harold. As you can imagine, it means 6 people get a guernsey, and the rest just fill-ins. It was quite good fun. And as Chad says we can play in shows for the rest of our life!! Our final show is Friday 16th (very soon!!).

Leprecan

2008-08-01T05:19:00.001+10:00

Leprecan, a brand of portable loos!

This morning we were asked to create our own warm up. We basically improvised a physical floor slapping warm up which transformed into an onomatopoeiac word association game, and then into a circular dance routine, combined with floor slapping, and some counting and then finally singing.

It was a lovely way to warm up now that we know each other well!! (And such low risk if we didn't).

Today's Shadvice has been "people over plot". It's one thing to find a character, he says, and another to answer the question why they are like that. For example a drummer who drums on anything except drums is a fun character. If he's doing it because he is pretentious that's a character trait that's portable into other arenas.

I didn't get to see the TJ and Dave show last night (it was sold out), but most of the class did. It's 2 guys chatting and doing scenes. It was realism or realism within the world (where it was absurd, they played it straight). Looking forward to seeing it next Wednesday.

So today, inspired by their show, we did 2 person 10 minute scenes. It was releasing!
When we dropped the need to advance the narrative, suddenly we could build relationships and environments and leave little offers to mature till someone picked them up. Like little bread crumbs in the forest (but no witch at the end).

My scene was exhilarating to be in (this is why I improvise!!). My note was to give more detail (not my strong point in life) and describe the external world as well as my emotional experience of it (again, not my strong point in the real world). Shad also suggested that while I do the emotion and then justify it (wow, didn't realise I did emotion on stage), I should build to the emotional rather than start with it (he said it earlier in the week too).

If you know the enneagram (a personality styles thing) it divides people by the order in which they work. I'm doing feel-do-think, and they are suggesting think-feel-do (the other option is do-feel-think, I think). Anyway, just as loudly as Shad said "build to the emotion", Jason, one of my classmates said "I wish I could do that".

I was just please to have firstly gotten an idea. Secondly to have laid out some random ideas, and then worked out how to bring together many more of the threads than I thought was possible. I'm even now recognising bits I justified that I was by no means consciously doing.

So it's been "awesome" as my American friends would say.

For your "cool exercises to do" list, Craig from my class practiced Shakespearean language by getting a random object, and then you insult the person on your left using the object as a base, and compliment the person on your right using the same object (thou art like a flower...)

And transitioning from one scene to another in the two person scene I saw the other night - they just exaggerated a physical gesture from the scene to create either a transition space (not scenic) or a new scene. They used bees and angels a number of times (when one thought a scene was ready to edit, as a last resort they switched to flying around until they alighted on a new idea).

Three person scenes

2008-07-31T08:32:00.002+10:00

Thank god for air conditioned buses!!

This photo is two people giving their beautifully maintained collie a drink from the bubbler in Lincoln Park. The dog was just so well cared for, its fur just floated!

Afternoon warm up: Play 30 secs of music, walk around while it's playing, take physicality emotion or point of view from the music (from Enya to ACDC via Mozart).

To prevent over-emotional scenes or prevent emotions from escalating too quickly, do some object work/interact with the environment.

Our exercises this afternoon focused on 3 person scenes. Basically at the end of the course our group of now 14 (one left last Friday) does a 30 minute show. So Shad figured it was an important thing to teach 3 person scene.

So ideas for working 3 person scenes:

Using environment
- 1st one on defines the environment with a generic object (eg oven)
- 2nd personalises the environment (my favourite mug, the curly straw)
- 3rd highlights an emotional trigger in the environment (our anniversary photo, my mother's china)

Using energy matching:
3 people use the same energy (Alex called these parallel characters)

Another one not named:
- 1 gives out some info about their character which makes them vulnerable
- 2 "assists their pain" and agrees that they are right to be concerned about this
- 3 plays in the environment and chips in occasionally to heighten 1's anxiety or agree with 2
- the 1 2 3 can shift through the scene

Using the "buddy up" method
- 2 person scene
- 3rd player "buddies up" with one of the players (so the 2 of them become a single parallel character)

Using a swinging door:
- 1 and 2 in a scene
- 3 talks to the back of 2
- 2 stops conversation with 1, turns to talk to 3 (1 freezes)
- then 2 talks to 1's back and 3 freezes...
Can be initiated by 2 as well (you can "swing your own door" - most effective when you do this half way through a thought or sentence)

Shadvice:
In improv we should never resolve a problem, we should assist the pain

And a Del Close one via Shad who never met Del Close:
If ever you are in doubt of confused or have to make a decision in a scene, just fall down. By the time you get up you will have decided what to do next.

My thoughts: I'm wondering what an opera would be like where the rest of the cast did parallel charcter support singing - essentially each scene would be 2 person scene, and the chorus could just support that by mirroring their gesture, physicality, singing along?? Don't know how or whether it would work. But it would be fun to try!!

Stirs my imagination

2008-07-31T05:17:00.000+10:00

So the photo is the second still life from Starbucks. The brown paper bag has "flavors my senses, sweetens my disposition, stirs my imagination, nourishes my dreams" printed on it. Tall order for a cup of coffee!!

This morning's class was a grab bag. We began in one of the theatres, I assume to enable us to do the first exercise - we warmed up dancing on stage to load music. No Busby Berkeley or Bob Fosse, we danced to Garbage, then Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself, and then we had to tell the story of a Bjork song (something where she goes down to a cliff in the morning before her partner wakes and imagines jumping off a cliff - really not so upbeat).

Some people knew the song, and most of us followed them. Some listened to the words and did what they said, others began an independent narrative (which merged).

The day is about energy - yes anding energetically. Shad's analogy was that a show needs to be like a good album. Do people still listen to albums?

Purple Rain was his fave: different type of song, many high tempo but not the same, every song works a different muscle.

We did a warm up in a circle where the person in the centre did a character monologue (slowly), and everyone in the circle matched the energy, voice, physicality of the character. The centre person revolved so everyone could see. Then someone tagged them out and began a new monologue.

Then we did 2 person scenes, firstly with matching their energy, and then countering it (with agreement).

Shadvice for the day:
- the audience get lost in plot-driven stuff - they can't keep up. But they can follow emotions and characters and their responses. That's significant (even if it's not necessarily true).
- all we preach in this course is energy-matching and love, so when someone takes over your scene or hogs the stage you can love them.

Looking forward to this afternoon's class!

Soy milk and energy

2008-07-31T05:02:00.000+10:00

Photo of my lunch time soy milk. I'm going fewer new places so photos less Chicago-like, sorry!

The Reckoning were impressive last night at their "experimental" show. They invited anyone in the summer intensive to suggest a form for the show. Some guy (Derek I think his name is) invented something he calls the Big Bukowski. It involved a short reading of a Charles Bukowski poem (randomly) from an anthology, followed by a scene, then another poem and a scene till the end.

They got through 5 or so poems. I assume some of the players were testing out new accents or characters because certain people (there were 4 of them, 2 women), brought a similar energy to their characters.

They do their "real" show on Thursday night, so we'll see what happens.

2 shows

2008-07-31T04:56:00.000+10:00

It has just begun pouring. Torrential rain in sheets. In the 5 metres between the diner where I was hanging out between shows and the theatre I got soaked. The air con is on over drive. I am really freezing.

Photo of the shirt of the woman in front of me. I am waiting to see the "experimental" show from The Reckoning. Apparently it's their jam, but they are so good people pay to see them.

This is the 2nd show for the night. The first was a half hour with a two some (whose name escapes me) who were tight - a man and a woman. I'd seen the woman play in an 8 last week and wasn't so impressed. I am pretty much convinced that more than 5 or 6 is just an excuse for too many people to hand back.

Then Cook County Social Club were on. Four guys. Two of then were in the Shakespeare troupe last week.

Lots of great language stuff (as would be expected from people who were attracted to long form Shakespeare in the first place. They were tight, and well-tuned. While they did mostly boy-type scenes I wasn't ho hum as I was for the Saturday show where it was boysy. The Tuesday night 8pm audience obviously demands different things.

So two good shows.

The Clark St Dog

2008-07-30T10:37:00.000+10:00

Apparently the Clark St Dog makes authentic Chicago Hot Dogs. I came here with one of my classmates early in the course.

What makes an authentic dog is an all-beef sausage, a bright unnatural green relish and some mustard, and all the condiments go onto the bun before the sausage does.

It smells pretty good. I can't actually eat any of it. Nor can I eat the other big Chicago thing - deep dish pizza. But it also smells great.

Oh and other thing they advertise on this sign, Philly Steak - tiny strips of steak fried with lots of oil and cheese. Doesn't smell anywhere near as good.

One of the women in my class is allergic to anything grown on trees. She is also foot-phobic. Another woman has no sense of smell at all. The people you meet, as Dr Seuss would say!

This afternoon's impro class was hilarious. Not sure what I learn, but I laughed a lot.

You will remember Shad warned us to remember everything. He reiterated that ominously on return from lunch.

We did mini-shows (4 groups of 3 and 4 players for 15 mins or so). He then named a scene randomly, and got us to do it again. They were never scenes from our own team. It was hilarious.

Apparently the teaching point was that we remember salient parts of scenes - the gestures, the outrageous offers. And Shad suggested that good improvising and using call backs were about having a good memory. It was fun, and the point probably could have been made more quickly. That said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Then in the last half hour we moved heavy objects across the stage (imaginary fridges, pianos, bodies). If at any point we damaged the integrity of the object with our mime we had to restart. Fun, and quite exhausting. Shad says this was the exercise which moved him from acting to improvising as a profession.

This was a preliminary step in environment work which he says has 3 kinds of objects:
- generic objects which define the room - a toilet, a bed
- personal objects - specific to an individual - a Darth Vader shower head
- emotional trigger objects like a photo of Nana or your first dance recital

Tomorrow it will integrate!

Do not play on or around

2008-07-30T04:44:00.000+10:00

Sign on a dumpster, but an ominous warning all around.

This morning's class was all about listening.

First we topped off yesterday with a "real" scene. Shad took us all outside of the room and asked us all to take on "another person" when we walked back in, as if it was first day of class.

We played these characters for 45 minutes. Shad sat in the back of the room. We chatted for a while then began a warm up. People kept asking who the teacher was, one of the group identified himself, but couldn't pull of the status of it. One of the guys got so into it he left the room and went to the admin office and said "our teacher hasn't arrived". The administrator didn't know what was happening, so apparently he had to break character and tell her what was going on. She came in, to her credit, and said a teacher would be here soon, and in the meantime to play "up your butt".

Up your butt is a rhyming game similar to da doo ron ron, except you say "up your butt" between every line. For the sensibilities of one of the more traditional female characters in the room we changed it to "in your hat".

We played wink. We did our "bios". At 45 minutes Shad stopped it. The point was that there were a number of comedic moments which came from just playing people. More entertaining than reality TV. And when we were playing real people we had no moments of hesitation, we gave heaps of information about ourselves, lots of useful detail which could have been useful later.

There is a 2 man show here called "bass-prov" where 2 guys have fishing rods and they just chat all night. Unfortunately it's not playing at the moment. But they just play real people.

Then we did listening games. We sat on the floor and closed our eyes and listened. Later we were asked to reiterate the sounds we heard and the order in which they occurred.

Next we did scenes where we repeated every line in a stage whisper before saying our own.

Then we were told "everything today will come back". We did our scenes with a "scene ruining" offer from both players in turn. Shad then mentioned call-backs (what we call shelved ideas). He said if you use call backs you don't have to be funny.

I assume we'll be asked to bring those scenes back later today.

And some Shadvice: there are 6 ways to end a scene:
- return to the beginning
- high energy out
- low energy out
- all fall in love
- all die
- just leave the stage!

Second City Sketch

2008-07-29T14:03:00.000+10:00

Photo of the diner across from the bus stop cnr Clark and North Ave where I'm waiting to go "home".

I feel ungracious saying it, but the "Best of Second City" sketch comedy suffers from the same disease as most Saturday Night Live sketches I have seen. They keep going until everybody gets it (which is way past the point of funny).

The show tonight was about 70% sketch with some crowd-pleasing short-form improvised games. There were a couple of semi-improvised scenes in each half.

This is the Second City Touring Company, doing their most successful sketches - 6 players, 3 women. The show went for exactly 2 hours.

The cast increased to 12 (5 women) after the show for 30 minutes more improvisation, all short scenes, no handles. Ask-fors were more refined than at iO. Multi-person scenes were still the norm (4 - 6 players in most scenes).

The theatre is probably 300 people at cabaret tables, with waiters roaming during the show. I arrived at 730 and they put me on a WAIT LIST for the 8 o'clock show!

Overall, it was crowd-pleasing stuff, with the obligatory sex and incest jokes. Toilet humour was, however, rejected. The audience was drinking - sort of Scriptless with more people. Well done, but not a show, as Steve J would say, for the afficionados!!

Realism

2008-07-29T11:04:00.000+10:00

A photo of the elevated train line.

This afternoon's class was about realism. We had a fill-in teacher named Steve (apparently the flip side of having experienced players for teachers is that they have gigs to go to).

After some warm ups we had "real" conversations (as ourselves) in pairs. Then Steve stopped the conversation and put the spotlight on each of the conversations in turn, giving the players something unrelated to do (eg fix a car, fold the washing). The idea was to continue the real conversation while doing the action. I've seen it done at jams with characters, but never with "real" conversations. Takes the pressure off the object work. Remarkably it was very watchable.

Steve reminded us of the Pulp Fiction scenes where the hit men were discussing big macs and etc on the way to a hit. This is "real".

Realism he says, is the foundation on which we can build crazy. Stephen King novels spend 25 - 50 pages building up "normal" before switching to horror.

So we then did scenes from our own experience (rather than cliche). We did a funeral, a break up, a confessional, a fight with your parents, a visit to the hospital, being pulled over by a cop. Fortunately none of us actually had first-hand experience of a prison visit, so we skipped that.

After each scene we debriefed what the cliches were (compared to the reality). In the later scenes he got us to "tilt" (my word, not his), introducing something outrageous. For example in the hospital scene a woman's husband is dying with less than a month to live. The husband's work colleague says she'd do anything to help. It goes on for 3 minutes or so. "Yes, you can get me some clothes from home" etc and then "Actually my husband always wanted a threesome". The laugh when it came was HUGE because so unexpected (even though we'd heard the instruction to go all out funny).

Of course it takes a troupe. Even the people who are IN troupes say they find it hard to take a scene that slow and meaningful, to pay out the pay off til it's good and ready. Hmmm, challenge!!

Now at Second City Mainstage to see the Best of Second City, a sketch show, in which our teacher Shad is playing tonight.

Half a golden arch

2008-07-29T05:30:00.000+10:00

I am writing from McDonald's across the street from iO. I wanted air con and quiet to read my new novel (Thursday Next - First among Sequels - John Barnier lent me the first few, now I'm ripping through this one).

The photo is half of a massive golden arch at a Macca's downtown. The first Macca's was in a suburb of Chicago (Des Plaines). I don't think any tour buses go there, but it would be a cool tour - a Fast Food Bonanza tour.

Improvising today has been fast and furious.

Shad, our new teacher, is a bit of an "engineer" in Bill's taxonomy. He first called out each person's name and asked us to tell something interesting or funny about ourselves. That was at least an opportunity to find out people's surnames!

He then explained that the stage is a megaphone. If there is nothing interesting or funny about you there is no reason to be on stage.

Warm up was a Fosse-off (as in the choreographer Bob Fosse). Pairs mirroring gesture and voice across the stage.

This week is all about scenes. We began with
- three line scenes
- three line scenes with a count of 5 between
- scenes where you give information about your character with every line
- scenes where you give information about your scene partner with every line
- touch to talk.

Curious thing was that everyone excelled at either more about themselves or more about their scene partner, and had definite rationalisations about why that was the best choice. Of course it's just a preference (or training).

Then Shad referred to the Inner Game of Tennis, which came down to a single principle - focus on the ball. Our ball for this morning was "make every word count". He promises us 8 balls - one per class.

According to Shad, the formula to make everything gold is:
1. Listen (notice)
2. Make it important
3. Respond emotionally to that importance.

Making every word important morphed into make every thing important (it's Tuesday!).

We practiced the gold formula by doing scenes:
- 2 minutes long but only 3 lines of dialogue
- where every line began "I can't believe you just said that, that makes me feel..."
- where every line began "It's important to me that you said that because.."

Advice from the mouth of Shad (shadvice?):
- words only need to say what we can't say with our bodies and emotions (like a song in a musical, which is all about emotions too strong to express except musically)
- self-awareness gets in the way of our learning (we walked before we could talk, otherwise we'd have told ourselves we couldn't do it), that's why we need to just focus on one thing
- apathy is not a good emotional choice
- passive aggressive is what we do all day, on stage you can cut off their head with a shovel, and they get to play the guy whose head gets cut off - go all out with the emotion

This afternoon a guest teacher, Steve, let's see what he has to say for himself!

Middle age comeback and 3033

2008-07-28T15:00:00.000+10:00

Now that was worth it!

I just saw the 1030 show on a Sunday night at iO theatre.

First a duo called middle-age comeback did a multiple-time machined mind explore where each of them played multiple characters (in fact they also played each character multiple times) going back in time to prevent petty misdemeanours. It was hilarious and challenging (to track where the plot was up to). It was 40 minutes long.

Then 3033 came on just after 11. Both Alex who taught my week 1 and Bill from week 2 are in 3033 (only Alex played tonight though). It was 3 guys. The director was teched, and was really the fourth player in the scene, making musical offers from an the box - in an acupuncture scene he brought in some twilight zone music, and we knew something bizarre had happened.

And after the story had sort of been told he put on Staying Alive, and the players strutted around the stage. When the music stopped they finished off shelved narrative threads we'd forgotten about. Which was delightful!

It was such a good thing to watch. That's what it's about!!

It's just before midnight. Classes are back tomorrow, looking forward to it!

Photo, by the way is of swan shaped paddle boats at the Lincoln Park Zoo today.

Photos week 3 up

2008-07-28T11:20:00.002+10:00

Go check out my zoo photos.

Zoo scapes

2008-07-28T06:26:00.000+10:00

My local "market" (supermarket) sells not only all kinds of alcohol, but a heap of medications - pseudo-ephedrine, anti-histamines, cough and cold medicine.

So having self-medicated this morning with an expectorant to melt the crap sitting on my chest I am enjoying a day at the zoo.

Lincoln Park Zoo is within walking distance of my place. Admission is free. So far I have to remark on the fact that 2 humped camels from China seem to be able to articulate their humps. Or one of them had a broken hump. Either way it looked quite strange.

Felt sorry for the lone kookaburra sitting bored on a branch sharing a room with an Indonesian mynah.

They have a couple of vultures bred in captivity. They are not afraid of people, so the keeper carries a long stick to fend them off.

This zoo, and especially the gorilla house was featured in Return to Me (romantic comedy - David Duchovny, Minnie Driver). This photo shows one of the big primates in the structure they pretended to build in that movie.

The place is full. Of course, on a Sunday in summer.

The kangaroos are on holiday somewhere else, but I saw an Australian marsupial called a Bettong. Like a large hopping rat. Aren't they all?

Bullet Lounge

2008-07-27T15:18:00.000+10:00

Photo of Wrigley Field at midday today. Compare it to the photo a few days ago with about 10 people in it: the foreground is empty in this one only because there is a road there. The place has been crawling with people all day. The game was around 1pm. It is now midnight and people are still drinking. It's not that pretty!! Traffic, normally flows well (5 minutes from home for me by bus) is at a stand still (25 or 30 minutes).

Show no. 2 for the night was a downstairs show at the iO theatre. It was 2 teams, the first 7 people (1 woman) did a fairly standard Harold. They locked themselves into a theme of killing, which didn't leave them many places to go.

Then both of the evening's teams did The Dream. Then Bullet Lounge came on. Tonight they were 5 men, 2 of whom were in last night's Shakespeare troupe.

Their Harold was slightly less standard in format, but a Harold nonetheless.

Highlights included a buck's party where the strippers didn't turn up, so one of the guys put on edible undies and lap danced for the groom, and a group of lisping boys who dared each other to do things, culminating in putting a (former) haemophiliac's face in a fan to see if he would clot. You had to be there, but I am pretty sure I have seen better improv. The play was fine, the ideas just weren't that interesting for me.

Bill did say last week that he stopped playing Friday and Saturday night shows because the audiences wanted the kind of humour which he wasn't interested in playing (balls, sex and gags, I guess).

Some of the audience were giggling all the way through. I am not sure why, but the thing which consistently gets a laugh is when the cast picks one cast member up and walks around with them. I can't quite fathom it, unless it's the risk that they will fall?

So I have finally made it to a 1030 show.

A couple of trends: almost every 2 person scene is face-to-face (both players side on to the audience). When I asked about it they said "connection is paramount". It doesn't always make it easy to see or hear what's going on for audience members though.

And I think I have said before that I'm yet to see a solo scene set up. Different styles I guess.

Oh and one for Steve Johnston: every scene is modern day. And rarely anywhere but America.

Looking forward to Monday when we move on to scene work!!

Whirled News

2008-07-27T12:47:00.000+10:00

Show no. 1 for this evening: Whirled News Tonight.

They have a website with pod casts: http://whirlednewstonight.com

Here's a photo of the ask fors - audience are asked when they arrive to cut out a headline and a couple of paragraphs from real newspapers set up on the stage.

The troupe is 9 people. + a director and a tech director. Tonight the cast is 5. The Director is in the audience (I only know because he was the monologist on Monday's Armando).

A player reads out the news item, and they do a couple of scenes, the first one more or less directly related, and then more and more tangential. So pretty much short form, really.

There are two acts (the first was one hour as described).

The second act was a series of scenes, beginning with a single ask-for ("give me a word") which was "blog". The 8pm show finished on a laugh at 930.

The world's first vertical mall

2008-07-27T08:10:00.000+10:00

Shopping this afternoon. Shorts to replace my lost ones. Shoes to replace my old ones. Shirts because they were nice AND on special. Books because I can't live well without them.

Got a full colour history of modern art for $10. And 2 novels. And a fictionalised historical thing (there's a name for the genre - it's based on fact, but not exactly) called "Devil in the White City" - about a series of murders here in Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair (which you'll remember for the birth of the Ferris wheel and Wrigley's chewing gum).

I shopped in Macy's (they have a discount card for foreigners). And then in the "world's first vertical mall". Highlight would have to have been Abercrombie and Fitch. The store is lit like a night club. The clothes are spot lit. The music is night club loud. And at the front door is a "greeter" - tall, dark, handsome, male, wearing just a pair of jeans, dancing effortlessly. God Bless America!

Back home now to wash and email, ready for tonight's shows. I plan on catching two of them. Let's see how my inner vague works out!

Secretly vague

2008-07-27T04:12:00.000+10:00

So my secret vague side is coming out today.

Woke late and rushed to get to iO for a midday workshop.

It wasn't on. So I am now sitting on the grass in Washington Square park, just across from the Newberry Library. You can see the fountain in the photo.

Newberry had a book fair, but the only book I bought was in their bookshop - a book about handmade books. Looks luxurious and cost me the princely sum of $20.

No Parking when snow over 2 inches

2008-07-26T13:51:00.000+10:00

Damn!!!

I missed Baby wants Candy. I got into the cab of an incompetent, erratic and vague cabbie. We ended up on the right street but 1000 numbers from the destination and on a cordoned off section of the street due to road works. I got frustrated and got out.

So I missed the show because I got there too late!!

Anyway, there is always next Saturday.

The Shakespeare ended well (as is usual with a Shakespearean comedy), and on the obvious double entendre (the Prince can't come). Not bad for $14.

Improvised Shakespeare

2008-07-26T11:48:00.000+10:00

Photo of a "communication" cover (I assume telephone lines). One of my minor obsessions is utility covers and their diversity (I even have a blog of them!).

It's intermission at the Shakespeare. They began with a prepared monologue (which they revealed as prepared in the monologue itself), and asked for the name of a play that Shakespeare never wrote. They got "The Prince Cannot Come".

The players are wearing jerkin-like shirts (with the leather laces at the front), and have rolled up their pants/jeans to reveal (mostly) red football socks.

So far it has been pretty entertaining. 3 nice little sub plots, only one glaring lack of listening (a man declared himself a woman, and his fellow player assumed him a man). They quickly recovered from the faux pas (he has stayed a man), and with total good grace.

Tonight is a 6 man cast. Second (and final) act to come.

Street sculpture

2008-07-26T11:01:00.000+10:00

This is a street sculpture just up the road from the theatre (in my way home).

It's 3 motor bikes half buried in a plant pot. The photo doesn't quite do it justice. And that's the el (elevated train line) painted yellow behind it.

By the way, a couple of interesting Chicago facts: their 1893 World's Fair debuted the first Wrigley's chewing gum. And at the same fair was Mr Ferris' first wheel. It was 3 or 4 times the size of most modern Ferris wheels: each carriage was the size of a modern bus, holding 40 seated and 20 standing passengers!

By the way, the Wrigley of the chewing gum fame are the ones for whom Wrigley Field (the ball park 2 doors from the iO theatre) is named. And a beautiful white terracotta building downtown. There's a photo in my google photos somewhere.

Today has been a lazy day: I flitted over to the English guys' beautifully appointed short-term rental for a party last night. They barbecued (hot dogs) on the roof.

I got home around quarter past two, having drunk nearly 2 litres of tonic (and the gin to match). Nice touch (but a little suss), the 250ml Gordon's bottle is plastic. The label shouts "unbreakable bottle".

Had a massage at 11, and napped for most of the day.

Am right now at an improvised Shakespeare show at iO. I even had to pay for my ticket, since the show will sell out they say. That's a good sign: the show I have most enjoyed the Armando (actually the Armando Diaz Experience and Hootenanny) was also a sell out. I could have seen Harolds for free downstairs in the Del Close cabaret theatre, but I figure I can see hit and miss impro at home! I want to see the good stuff.

So Shakespeare it is. And then I'll grab a cab to the Apollo Theatre to see the Second City show "Baby wants Candy". It's a long-running "rock opera" musical show. Apparently the guy who plays Kenneth in 30Rock is/was in it (he is still on their posters at least. The English people saw it last week and recommended it highly.

So a slow day to prepare my mind for some great impro!!

An observation: maybe because we ask for so many, we Sydney improvisors seem to be differently honed for audience suggestion-getting. These guys just say "give me a word". When they are only using it to begin a series of other things I guess it matters little. Will see what the Shakespeare troupe ask for.

Cul-de-sac no outlet

2008-07-25T08:57:00.000+10:00

Are people unable to express themselves in this street, perhaps?

This afternoon was given over to individual feedback. We each got a chance to say what we loved about people's play, and what we wanted to see more of, and then Bill set a task, and we played 3 scenes to do the task.

For the first time in I think my whole life, I was asked to TALK MORE. So my 3 scenes were pretty easy. The secondary note was to be more calm (less frantic), which I do know, but it was great fun.

Amazing to see people just doing the opposite of their normal schtick. And we got a few scenes not about dorm rooms and frat houses, which was a nice change of pace!

Final Bill-dom of the week (and probably forever): No specific detail is any better than any other. If you like Bill-doms, apparently he keeps a blog on the iO website somewhere (Bill Arnett is his name).

No impro tomorrow, but I do have a well-deserved massage planned. And an additional impro class Saturday for 3 hours.

The Cubs game is on tonight. It changes parking, there are some restrictions on which streets you can turn into. There are people selling t-shirts saying disgusting things about the non-Cubs teams and non-Cubs supporters, and hawking bottles of water for exorbitant prices. Apparently the menus in the local restaurants are double the price with half the choices (I brought my lunch today, so it's all hearsay). Match starts around 7pm. It was 530 when I left the building, and there was quite a crowd already. Back up this way to go to the Brits party in an hour or so, so that will be busy I guess.

Canine bakery

2008-07-25T05:29:00.000+10:00

Just in case your dog is hankering for a croissant or a cream bun. A canine bakery! It's on Lincoln Ave in the heart of Lincoln Park, where I am living.

By the way, Craig in my class says his theatre group made him a care package - food and hand puppets and some vodka - before he came to iO. So Impro Australia has a way to go in supporting its members!! Just a hand puppet is all I'm asking!!

This morning's impro: warmed up with the name and gesture game from earlier this week. We made up new gestures for our names. Once we knew the new gestures, we brought back the gestures from a few days ago. Alternated old and new, then responded to our own old gesture, but the person to our left responded to our new gesture. Nice mind game.

Then most of the morning we played with physicality as inspiration for characters. Began with the chestnut - leading with different parts of the body. Bill being what he's now calling an "engineer" of impro (vs poet or physical player) wrote down the "personality" of each body part; generally people adopted a similar style of character for each body part. Bill's emerging thesis is that getting into character will cause you to lead with a specific part of the body, or leading with a body part will engender a character (ie kind of chicken and egg thing).

We then did characters from a "spastic" body movement (a movement we wouldn't normally make). Scenes were very different in character and theme than yesterday's.

We then used "machines" as an opening - one person taking their machine gesture and sound to inspire a character/scene - then morphing from some gesture within the scene into a new machine, with a new gesture becoming the next scene/character etc. Would make a cool core for a show, I'd say (maybe call it Transformers, or some combo of impro and transformers - transproformers?).

Busby Berkeley was next - we did Hollywood Zeigfeld Follies style dance numbers which were better than any ballet I've seen on a Theatresports stage - basically using the principle of symmetry to guide the cast. With 7 or 8 players on stage, there's many symmetries to explore, and of course some cliches as well. The Bill-dom to accompany it: make a gesture, comfortable that you will be followed (wow, don't you love this universe).

Finished the morning with a "polyscenic mono thematic group exploration". An organic opening using any techniques we wanted to.

Some of today's Bill-doms:
- at a "what next" moment, just tell us more of what we already know - it will take you somewhere
- more experienced improvisors are more different from each other on stage (less experienced players play like each other)
- good improvisors are typically good people (because impro skills are relationship skills)
- this is not funny class, this is art class!!

Till this afternoon!