Last show, I received an influx of positive feedback! Several people said everyone was on top of their game and no one seemed to have a bad show. With seven people performing, it isn't easy to have a show where everyone shows improvements. I am really proud of our group. We have been working so hard and its paying off. From the beginning of my blog until now, SAC has really re-vamped itself. Our crowd isn't dwindling, but progressively getting bigger. We've been able to attract a lot of new people to the show and we are starting to have a substantial amount of regulars! We have also tried a lot of new games and formats, which is essential to us getting better as troupe. This week Wesley sang a song on the guitar and then called out to the audience to help fill the words in to the song. The crowd really enjoyed it. During rehearsal, we practiced singing throughout an entire scene, but it is really hard to do. However, it's really funny and I thought the group did extremely well. I wasn't that great at singing, but oh well!
The whole improv process is so rewarding. Taking classes, you can't always see the benefits of what you are learning. Or if you study really hard for a test and you still don't get the grade you want, it cant be depressing. I love being a part of an ever-changing, ever-growing group. I can honestly say that I am a ten times better improviser than what I was at the beginning of the year. There's a sense of accomplishment there. I'll be sad when I graduate, but I know the skills and tools I have learned during my time in SAC will always be with me.
In exciting news, this weekend is the Improv Tournament. I am excited to see what works for other college improv groups and hopefully we can get some new ideas. We only have 20 minutes to perform, which will be a bit of a downside from our usual hour performance, but I feel confident that we have improved as a troupe and will be able to hold our own.
My dad's coming to Forth Worth to see my sister and I perform on Thursday... so I am hoping it will be a good show! He always seems to think we are hilarious and shinning stars...but I think he's a little bias.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
I am very fortunate!
In the midst of chaos, in the grind of every day life, your true friends will emerge from the fog.
Last year, my birthday fell on a Thursday SAC show. The troupe was different then. The group was mostly made up of veteran SAC members who had been performing for years and I was the new girl who auditioned and made SAC on a whim. Hardly any of the troupe members even mumbled the words Happy Birthday to me and even if someone else said it in earshot, they just ignored it. SAC was more about politics then and less about making people laugh and having fun ourselves. I am glad it is different now, because school is filled with enough stress, SAC's purpose was to help me alleviate some of that.
My birthday was this past Friday. The group let me pick out the dinner place before we performed and I received a number of warm hugs. At the end of the show, the cast surprised me and sang me an improv birthday song, while bringing out a balloon and a princess tiara. Who knows, if the extra kindness was ensued because my sister is in the troupe now, but in any event it was very special.
After the performance, some of the members came over to my apartment to play a board game and then counted down till 12:00am. I didn't make plans to do anything after SAC and it was a great feeling that my friends wanted to be with me at midnight. I feel very fortunate to have good friends because they are not always easy to come by.
During the actual show, we tried a different format of improv called Long Form Imrpov. Instead of games and scenes that last 3 to 7 minutes, long form can take anywhere between 15 to 40 minutes. It is definitely not easy to do because you have to keep your audience entertained the whole time. Ricky introduced a new game called "Fairy Tale," and we performed it during the show. Ricky was the narrator of the fairy tale. At the beginning Ricky asks the audience for a classic fairy tale story. During the show, the suggestion was "Hazel and Gretel." Ricky then begins to narrate the story and says that "this is the real version of the Hanzel and Gretel fairy tale that wasn't allowed in children's books." Then as performers we act out what ever Ricky is saying, but add our own twist to the story. By the end of the game, the characters must come full circle and have a parallel ending to the actual fairy tale story.
I felt like the game went relatively well during the show. The only dilemma was that we had just practiced the game 15 minutes prior to the show and the suggestion given to us then was "Hanzel and Gretel." So it was hard not to copy the story we had just done. Also, it was hard to keep the energy level up through out the whole scene without their being a dull moment. I know we just need to work on it more as a group and when we do finally get it right, it will be that much more exciting!
Last year, my birthday fell on a Thursday SAC show. The troupe was different then. The group was mostly made up of veteran SAC members who had been performing for years and I was the new girl who auditioned and made SAC on a whim. Hardly any of the troupe members even mumbled the words Happy Birthday to me and even if someone else said it in earshot, they just ignored it. SAC was more about politics then and less about making people laugh and having fun ourselves. I am glad it is different now, because school is filled with enough stress, SAC's purpose was to help me alleviate some of that.
My birthday was this past Friday. The group let me pick out the dinner place before we performed and I received a number of warm hugs. At the end of the show, the cast surprised me and sang me an improv birthday song, while bringing out a balloon and a princess tiara. Who knows, if the extra kindness was ensued because my sister is in the troupe now, but in any event it was very special.
After the performance, some of the members came over to my apartment to play a board game and then counted down till 12:00am. I didn't make plans to do anything after SAC and it was a great feeling that my friends wanted to be with me at midnight. I feel very fortunate to have good friends because they are not always easy to come by.
During the actual show, we tried a different format of improv called Long Form Imrpov. Instead of games and scenes that last 3 to 7 minutes, long form can take anywhere between 15 to 40 minutes. It is definitely not easy to do because you have to keep your audience entertained the whole time. Ricky introduced a new game called "Fairy Tale," and we performed it during the show. Ricky was the narrator of the fairy tale. At the beginning Ricky asks the audience for a classic fairy tale story. During the show, the suggestion was "Hazel and Gretel." Ricky then begins to narrate the story and says that "this is the real version of the Hanzel and Gretel fairy tale that wasn't allowed in children's books." Then as performers we act out what ever Ricky is saying, but add our own twist to the story. By the end of the game, the characters must come full circle and have a parallel ending to the actual fairy tale story.
I felt like the game went relatively well during the show. The only dilemma was that we had just practiced the game 15 minutes prior to the show and the suggestion given to us then was "Hanzel and Gretel." So it was hard not to copy the story we had just done. Also, it was hard to keep the energy level up through out the whole scene without their being a dull moment. I know we just need to work on it more as a group and when we do finally get it right, it will be that much more exciting!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Art simulating real life on stage
After a very depressing few days at the Skiff, I was more than ready for a fun-filled performance. I wrote two articles about an Illustration teacher who was in a coma for 11 days and his family had decided to take him off life support. I don't know if sensitive stories are going to get easier to process as I write more of them, but it is hard to imagine myself being completely numb to heart ache and death.
Sometimes it is hard to collide my two worlds. Journalism and Theater. Although, they do have similarities I have been realizing their differences more and more. In journalism, I must be objective and unattached to stories. In theater, embracing emotions is celebrated and connecting and understand human feeling is essential.
Being a good improviser entails a lot of studying and listening to the world around you. Though most people might think that artists try to separate themselves from the world, good artists in fact, are always observing. What makes improv so funny is when an improviser can portray a character on stage that everyone in the audience feels connected to. Maybe an audience member is reminded of their mother or sister or best friend. That is where the genuine comedy comes from. Characters don't even have to be exaggerated to be funny. When characters are so close to a real personality, that's when they are the funniest.
My goal for this week is to be more observant of people's gestures and the way they carry themselves. I am usually aware of how people are feeling, but I don't always pay attention to how they show these feelings through body language. If that doesn't make any sense, here's an example:
Portraying the emotion "frustration."
Jennifer: tenses her whole body up and cross her arms and legs, but hardly says a word.
Alice: keeps talking at a rapid pace, she flails her arms everywhere and keeps hitting things around her.
Joshua: starts to explain why he is frustrated and can't get a full sentence out. When he can't explain what he is trying to say he stomps his feet on the ground and shakes his legs rapidly and seems very on edge.
See all these (made up) people feel the same emotion, but go about expressing it in a different way. The intent is for art to simulate real life on stage.
During practice this week Ricky focused on doing a scene as if it were real life, as oppose to adding little unrealistic moments into the scene just for the sake of being funny. As easy as it sounds, "be realistic," it is really hard when you are trying to, "be funny." Then... if you don't try "to be funny," will it end up being funny? Then I start dissecting it and thinking so much that it just makes me mess up. In any event, I try to soak in the notes during rehearsal, and hope that what I have learned comes out in my performance. That way when I am performing, I am not stressing myself out about being perfect.
Sometimes it is hard to collide my two worlds. Journalism and Theater. Although, they do have similarities I have been realizing their differences more and more. In journalism, I must be objective and unattached to stories. In theater, embracing emotions is celebrated and connecting and understand human feeling is essential.
Being a good improviser entails a lot of studying and listening to the world around you. Though most people might think that artists try to separate themselves from the world, good artists in fact, are always observing. What makes improv so funny is when an improviser can portray a character on stage that everyone in the audience feels connected to. Maybe an audience member is reminded of their mother or sister or best friend. That is where the genuine comedy comes from. Characters don't even have to be exaggerated to be funny. When characters are so close to a real personality, that's when they are the funniest.
My goal for this week is to be more observant of people's gestures and the way they carry themselves. I am usually aware of how people are feeling, but I don't always pay attention to how they show these feelings through body language. If that doesn't make any sense, here's an example:
Portraying the emotion "frustration."
Jennifer: tenses her whole body up and cross her arms and legs, but hardly says a word.
Alice: keeps talking at a rapid pace, she flails her arms everywhere and keeps hitting things around her.
Joshua: starts to explain why he is frustrated and can't get a full sentence out. When he can't explain what he is trying to say he stomps his feet on the ground and shakes his legs rapidly and seems very on edge.
See all these (made up) people feel the same emotion, but go about expressing it in a different way. The intent is for art to simulate real life on stage.
During practice this week Ricky focused on doing a scene as if it were real life, as oppose to adding little unrealistic moments into the scene just for the sake of being funny. As easy as it sounds, "be realistic," it is really hard when you are trying to, "be funny." Then... if you don't try "to be funny," will it end up being funny? Then I start dissecting it and thinking so much that it just makes me mess up. In any event, I try to soak in the notes during rehearsal, and hope that what I have learned comes out in my performance. That way when I am performing, I am not stressing myself out about being perfect.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Say Something Funny
During SAC practice this week, Ricky focused on some improv fundamentals. Several times when I tell people that I do improv, I will hear remarks like ... "Say something funny. " or "Oh, do you even have to practice for that?" or "How can you learn to do improv?"
Well, like many things in life, natural ability can only get you so far. You may have the gift of natural athletic ability, which enables you to swim faster than most people, but without consistent training your athletic ability will go to waste. You always have to cultivate the seed, even if it inclined to turn into a apple tree, there's always ways to make it an even bigger and better tree with more care. Anyways enough with the analogies. Improv is work. We rehearse once a week for two hours.
Basic rules of improv are as follows:
1. Don't Deny.
If you partner says, "Wow I can't believe you know how to play the piano with your teeth."
You wouldn't respond by saying, "No, I don't know how to do that."
2. Add information. Be specific.
At the beginning of the scene make sure you have established a location, a relationship between you and your problem, and a purpose.
3. Listen.
You are not in this scene alone. Make sure you are listening to your partner so you are on the same page.
Ricky then brought up these rules to think about:
Nothing is ignored.
Nothing is forgotten.
Nothing is a mistake.
I would like to touch on the "nothing is a mistake." Sometimes after a performance or even during a scene, I beat myself up about saying something silly during a scene, but Ricky made me realize that nothing I do can be a mistake. If I trust my partner to help me work out what ever I just said, everything will be okay. The key is to JUSTIFY. If I say something like, "That sure is a big snot fest." My partner could justify that sentence by saying, "Yes, I hate being at company parties where everyone is sick.
When we talked about "nothing being forgotten," I realized that sometimes I forget important information during the scene and it messes me the scene up later. For example, if my partner has established there is a table in front of us, I cannot forget about this table and suddenly walk through it. That is a big no no. Also, if my partner mentions at the beginning of the scene that he is shy, I have to remember that through out the scene and don't say something like, "Wow, it is so great that you sky dive all the time with different celebrities."
After my brain hurt from all the new learning, Ricky told us what the judges are going to be looking for when we compete in the Improv festival in a few weeks.
-agreement
-characters
-ensemble
-listening
-playfulness
-relationship
-support
Ricky said he wanted us to be a "well-oiled machine." I thought that was pretty cool and look forward to trying to be able to pull it off in the next few weeks.
Well, like many things in life, natural ability can only get you so far. You may have the gift of natural athletic ability, which enables you to swim faster than most people, but without consistent training your athletic ability will go to waste. You always have to cultivate the seed, even if it inclined to turn into a apple tree, there's always ways to make it an even bigger and better tree with more care. Anyways enough with the analogies. Improv is work. We rehearse once a week for two hours.
Basic rules of improv are as follows:
1. Don't Deny.
If you partner says, "Wow I can't believe you know how to play the piano with your teeth."
You wouldn't respond by saying, "No, I don't know how to do that."
2. Add information. Be specific.
At the beginning of the scene make sure you have established a location, a relationship between you and your problem, and a purpose.
3. Listen.
You are not in this scene alone. Make sure you are listening to your partner so you are on the same page.
Ricky then brought up these rules to think about:
Nothing is ignored.
Nothing is forgotten.
Nothing is a mistake.
I would like to touch on the "nothing is a mistake." Sometimes after a performance or even during a scene, I beat myself up about saying something silly during a scene, but Ricky made me realize that nothing I do can be a mistake. If I trust my partner to help me work out what ever I just said, everything will be okay. The key is to JUSTIFY. If I say something like, "That sure is a big snot fest." My partner could justify that sentence by saying, "Yes, I hate being at company parties where everyone is sick.
When we talked about "nothing being forgotten," I realized that sometimes I forget important information during the scene and it messes me the scene up later. For example, if my partner has established there is a table in front of us, I cannot forget about this table and suddenly walk through it. That is a big no no. Also, if my partner mentions at the beginning of the scene that he is shy, I have to remember that through out the scene and don't say something like, "Wow, it is so great that you sky dive all the time with different celebrities."
After my brain hurt from all the new learning, Ricky told us what the judges are going to be looking for when we compete in the Improv festival in a few weeks.
-agreement
-characters
-ensemble
-listening
-playfulness
-relationship
-support
Ricky said he wanted us to be a "well-oiled machine." I thought that was pretty cool and look forward to trying to be able to pull it off in the next few weeks.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
She was killed because she moved someone's cheese..uh...
Part of the standard format of a SAC show is a guessing game. The guessing game involves the audience giving three different pieces of input while one of the improviser leaves the auditorium so they don't hear the information. There are tons of scenes where a guessing game can be set up.
Some examples:
Fortune Teller & Client - the client would be the guesser and the fortune teller would have to give clues as to what to guess. Three pieces of information : what will be there dream job? where will it be located? what celebrity will they mysteriously meet?
Airport attendant & passenger - passenger would have to guess that item they are not allowed to bring on the plane? where are they flying to? what celebrity are they flying with?
Police & Suspect -> the suspect would have to guess what crime they have committed, where did they commit the crime? what historical figure helped them in the crime?
Now I have never been the guesser in a guessing game for a show. In fact, I have only even guessed once before and that wasn't even in SAC practice, it was at an improv class I took this summer. Guessing is a lot of pressure. If the other improvisers are giving you clues and you are just not getting it...the game can go on foreeeevvverrr.
Ricky has asked me to be the guesser a couple times, but I always decline. I don't want to mess the game up for the group and thinking about it gets me kind of nervous. This past show... Ricky asked again, and I said..ok! The theme for the guessing was Crime Scene. There is a pretend dead body on the floor and one cop tries to give the other cop clues to guess the three pieces of information.
The information is as follows:
What object was used to kill the victim? (answer: pencil sharpener)
Where was the victim killed? (McDonalds)
What the motive behind this crime? (she moved someone's cheese)
Now things were sailing pretty smootly...pencil sharpener was a bit hard to guess but I didn't take that much time getting it. I breezed through the McDonalds answer. Then came...."moved someone's cheese." Oh my gosh, those words were just not coming out of my mouth. I guessed Goodah cheese, moving company, towing company but not specifically...moved the cheese. In the end i said "moved cheese," and that just concluded the game even though it wasn't exactly correct. My cast members said that it was hilarious, but I felt kind of bad that I couldn't get the answer for such a long time. Oh well, at least I conquered my fear of being the guesser in a guessing game!
Some examples:
Fortune Teller & Client - the client would be the guesser and the fortune teller would have to give clues as to what to guess. Three pieces of information : what will be there dream job? where will it be located? what celebrity will they mysteriously meet?
Airport attendant & passenger - passenger would have to guess that item they are not allowed to bring on the plane? where are they flying to? what celebrity are they flying with?
Police & Suspect -> the suspect would have to guess what crime they have committed, where did they commit the crime? what historical figure helped them in the crime?
Now I have never been the guesser in a guessing game for a show. In fact, I have only even guessed once before and that wasn't even in SAC practice, it was at an improv class I took this summer. Guessing is a lot of pressure. If the other improvisers are giving you clues and you are just not getting it...the game can go on foreeeevvverrr.
Ricky has asked me to be the guesser a couple times, but I always decline. I don't want to mess the game up for the group and thinking about it gets me kind of nervous. This past show... Ricky asked again, and I said..ok! The theme for the guessing was Crime Scene. There is a pretend dead body on the floor and one cop tries to give the other cop clues to guess the three pieces of information.
The information is as follows:
What object was used to kill the victim? (answer: pencil sharpener)
Where was the victim killed? (McDonalds)
What the motive behind this crime? (she moved someone's cheese)
Now things were sailing pretty smootly...pencil sharpener was a bit hard to guess but I didn't take that much time getting it. I breezed through the McDonalds answer. Then came...."moved someone's cheese." Oh my gosh, those words were just not coming out of my mouth. I guessed Goodah cheese, moving company, towing company but not specifically...moved the cheese. In the end i said "moved cheese," and that just concluded the game even though it wasn't exactly correct. My cast members said that it was hilarious, but I felt kind of bad that I couldn't get the answer for such a long time. Oh well, at least I conquered my fear of being the guesser in a guessing game!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Stars of TCU ... oh yeah ... that would happen during SAC
Stars of TCU is a talent show held at the BLUU Auditorium. This was the third year of the talent show and it happened to fall on the a Thursday night. SAC night! We were asked if we could give up our time slot so the talent show could perform, which we did. Instead of mopping around about not having a show to bring our family to during family weekend, we tried out for the talent show! Luckily, we made it!
The line up:
1. Michael Lauck - singer
2. John Devereaux - read spoken word (that is like poetry that flows into a rythmn, he wrote his selections)
3. Senseless Acts of Comedy - awesome improv talent
4. Brittany Zins- singer and guitar player
5. Man with Red Balloon Lets go - Julian Arredondo performing stand up comedy
6. Cassandra Mech - sang a beautiful selection from the play Jesus Christ Super Star and had a piano accompanist
7. Sleep and the Walkers - 4 person band (actually one of our improvisers, Wesley Gentle, is the lead singer and a guitar player
8. Curtis Green - dancer
9. Tim Haperin - singer, songwriter, who sang an original piece while playing the piano
SAC collectively decided that this would be a good place to perform because we could reach a different audience. The talent show was Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately the Thursday show did not have a big crowd. It actually had less people that usually show for our SAC shows. I could not perform in the Friday show because I was in Austin enjoying the sound waves from Austin City Limits, but I believe that was a much bigger crowd with famly and friends.
I was a little apprehensive about mixing into a group of singers and dancers, but I could not have predicted what was going to happen. The group was playing a game called New Choice. Three improvisers are on stage and they are acting out a scene as normal. The twist is, when ever they hear the sound of the bell, they most change the sentence they were saying.
For example: If Ricky said, "I just want to ravish your body with peanut butter." DING
"I just want to play shutes and latters with you until I can't feel my hands."DING
" I just want to take a nap with the vampires who sleep during the day."
I was the designated "dinger." The scene had progressed to a dueling match. Ricky and Wesley were charging at each other and then DING, then they would have to charge at each other in a different way. During the last DING, Ricky decided to charge at Wesley doing a backflip..... oh why why why RICKY!!!!!!! Little did I know he had smashed his face on the ground. As Ricky ran out holding his head, blood ran down his face and all of the floor. I head to take over as host and keep the next game rolling even though I had no idea what had happened to Ricky. The last game went okay, but the crowd was unsettled about seeing someone on stage bleed that much and we were upset about Ricky getting hurt. Once our 10 minutes were up, I ran back stage. Ricky was still kind of in shock and did not know what to do. He lifted his hand off his head for me and...... let's just say...eeeeoowwwwww. He had cut open his head and was pretty deep. I've never really seen blood gush out like that before. Chris Fine, who is a new improviser, volunteered to take Ricky to the hospital while the rest of us stayed till the end of the show. I went back into the crowd to watch the rest of the performances and in between each act, different audience members kept asking me about Ricky. Unfortunately luck was not on his side. He had to wait 7 hours in the emergency room until he was able to be seen. I saw his head on Friday. The stiches almost didn't look real...It looked like he had been playing with make up for Halloween. He had about 8 or 9 stiches, and is feeling better. Last year during Kellye's birthday party Ricky decided to go jump around in a bounce house and...yep...he broke his arm. How did this happen? I don't know. How did he cut his head open in the middle of the performance? I don't know. Why did Ricky thing it was a good idea to do a back flip on hard wood floor? .... I definitely do not know.
The line up:
1. Michael Lauck - singer
2. John Devereaux - read spoken word (that is like poetry that flows into a rythmn, he wrote his selections)
3. Senseless Acts of Comedy - awesome improv talent
4. Brittany Zins- singer and guitar player
5. Man with Red Balloon Lets go - Julian Arredondo performing stand up comedy
6. Cassandra Mech - sang a beautiful selection from the play Jesus Christ Super Star and had a piano accompanist
7. Sleep and the Walkers - 4 person band (actually one of our improvisers, Wesley Gentle, is the lead singer and a guitar player
8. Curtis Green - dancer
9. Tim Haperin - singer, songwriter, who sang an original piece while playing the piano
SAC collectively decided that this would be a good place to perform because we could reach a different audience. The talent show was Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately the Thursday show did not have a big crowd. It actually had less people that usually show for our SAC shows. I could not perform in the Friday show because I was in Austin enjoying the sound waves from Austin City Limits, but I believe that was a much bigger crowd with famly and friends.
I was a little apprehensive about mixing into a group of singers and dancers, but I could not have predicted what was going to happen. The group was playing a game called New Choice. Three improvisers are on stage and they are acting out a scene as normal. The twist is, when ever they hear the sound of the bell, they most change the sentence they were saying.
For example: If Ricky said, "I just want to ravish your body with peanut butter." DING
"I just want to play shutes and latters with you until I can't feel my hands."DING
" I just want to take a nap with the vampires who sleep during the day."
I was the designated "dinger." The scene had progressed to a dueling match. Ricky and Wesley were charging at each other and then DING, then they would have to charge at each other in a different way. During the last DING, Ricky decided to charge at Wesley doing a backflip..... oh why why why RICKY!!!!!!! Little did I know he had smashed his face on the ground. As Ricky ran out holding his head, blood ran down his face and all of the floor. I head to take over as host and keep the next game rolling even though I had no idea what had happened to Ricky. The last game went okay, but the crowd was unsettled about seeing someone on stage bleed that much and we were upset about Ricky getting hurt. Once our 10 minutes were up, I ran back stage. Ricky was still kind of in shock and did not know what to do. He lifted his hand off his head for me and...... let's just say...eeeeoowwwwww. He had cut open his head and was pretty deep. I've never really seen blood gush out like that before. Chris Fine, who is a new improviser, volunteered to take Ricky to the hospital while the rest of us stayed till the end of the show. I went back into the crowd to watch the rest of the performances and in between each act, different audience members kept asking me about Ricky. Unfortunately luck was not on his side. He had to wait 7 hours in the emergency room until he was able to be seen. I saw his head on Friday. The stiches almost didn't look real...It looked like he had been playing with make up for Halloween. He had about 8 or 9 stiches, and is feeling better. Last year during Kellye's birthday party Ricky decided to go jump around in a bounce house and...yep...he broke his arm. How did this happen? I don't know. How did he cut his head open in the middle of the performance? I don't know. Why did Ricky thing it was a good idea to do a back flip on hard wood floor? .... I definitely do not know.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Dramatic Actress turned Underwear Sales Lady
This is Ricky Anderson, SAC's president. He's been in the troupe the longest and has the most experience. I always love going on stage with him because I trust him. That's one of the most important rules to improv -trust your partner-. It isn't always easy to do if there is tension or if the person you are improving with is known to ... talk over you, cut you off, not give anything information to scene, negate everything you try to say, or just stand there. Luckily Ricky does none of these things. We have built a great friendship in the last year and frankly... he's one of the funniest people I know. -----During practice this week, Ricky asked everyone why they did improv. It was a simple yet thoughtful question. We stood in our back line formation and slowly poured a little more of our souls into the group.
"So Katie why do you do improv?"
Well, I never thought I was very funny. I have been doing theater most of my life and have always been type-casted as the dramatic actress who can deliver a good cry. But somehow, I bloom inside the world of comedy. Improv is my expressive outlet each week. When I am frustrated, tired, annoyed, or sad, I pour all of my energy into purging those emotions on stage. I let go, which is something I can rarely do in my every day life. I am not as uptight and calculating. Most of the time I don't even notice the crowd there, because although there is a high that comes from making other people laugh, I do improv comedy for me. Doing things that make me happy has become an important mantra in my life. "Katie, what is going to make you happy?" Sometimes, I am too busy taking care of everyone else, that I forget about myself. However, no one expects me to be anything in SAC. I don't have to be the caretaker, the strong one, or the woman who keeps it all together. I let go. I jump around, make strange noises, dress up, and pretend to be someone other than myself. In one show I can be a western pregnant girl, a gangster rapper with a lisp, a chinese woman who sells sexy underwear. All of these characters and lives I would never get to be or live if I did not to improv. I was surprised at how most of the members in SAC answered the question with deep personal meaning. Improv let some have a group of friends that didn't find them "weird," others found making people laugh intoxicating, and some just could not see themselves not doing improv comedy. I guess that's the beauty of it all. Even with such different answers, we have one unified goal. "To create art."
Sunday, September 20, 2009
"It's Not Mine."
Picture this as my wardrobe for a skit in SAC: One very hot pink dress over my black uniform, two very high pigtails on either side of my head, a cheetah headband with a huge pink bow in my hair...one VERY LARGE baby bump featuring my pregnant stomach, and two moon pies stuffed inside my bra.
One of our improvisers, Robert Slack, rewrote Miley Cyrus' popular song "The Climb," and called his version "It's Not Mine." Basically I was a 16 year old pop singer who gets pregnant and my boyfriend says, "It's not mine." ...classic, and sad, I know.
Beginning of the Song...
I can already feel it. I think I'm pregnant.
There's a voice inside my head goin' "you stupid idiot."
I'll start lactating. Food I'll be craving.
Lost without direction. I feel like puking.
But I. I gotta be strong. And watch Juno all day long.
I'm gonna hear a baby's rattle
I'm gonna change him when he goes POO.
I'll get fat like a piece of cattle.
I wonder what my honey would do.
I'm sure he'll just smile and hug me
Bu I know what he's saying on the other side.
"It's not mine."
Even when I have no idea where one of our troupe members wants to go with a sketch, backing them 100% is half the task. I acted out this song like it was job. Although, my best friend Lauren said after the song was done my boyfriend turned to her and said, "Wow, that just really freaked me out, did that freak you out?" I suppose it was a little ... out there, and maybe it made some people uncomfortable, but oh well, that's just the name of the game in comedy.
DOWNSIDE OF THIS SONG: One verse in the song mentions my intense craving for moon pies and french fries. Therefore, other cast members were feeding these items to me. Now, I had never had a moon pie before, but they are absolutely disgusting and I almost wanted to vomit on stage. Not to mention the stale french fries from McDonald's were not exactly the first thing I wanted to eat. This experience reminded me of a theater camp I went to sometime in high school. I had to do this exercise where they blindfolded me and put something in my hand to eat. What ever was given to us we were suppose to eat it and then make a delicious face and really sell it to the audience. This was suppose to prepare us for commercials or any type of acting gig that would require us eating something we did not particularly like, but as actors we were suppose to "fake it." Unfortunately...I cheated during the game. I know, I know. I should kick my 13 year-old self. But I mean really? Would you want to drink or eat vinegar and ketchup mixed together with who knows what? I think not. I guess I would have been more prepared for my moon pie experience though, which is exactly what recalled this memory.
Overall, our show went relatively well. I think there was a drag in energy though. This week did not seem to be anyone's good week and I certainly know it was not mine. It's always a huge hurtle to perform at the end of the week when you are absolutely exhausted. Sometimes I just get to Thursday night and all I want to do is pass out in my bed and only wake up to eat, but usually an hour or two the adrenaline starts kicking in and I feel much better.
EXCITING NEWS: Jeremy Lamb, an executive producer of the Improv Festival, asked SAC if we wanted to compete in a regional bracket of the National College Improv Tournament in Austin. We would compete against other college improv groups and the winner will go to Chicago to compete in Nationals sometime in spring. We are discussing the possibility of competing this Tuesday. This should be a really wonderful opportunity to grow and learn from other improv groups out there.
One of our improvisers, Robert Slack, rewrote Miley Cyrus' popular song "The Climb," and called his version "It's Not Mine." Basically I was a 16 year old pop singer who gets pregnant and my boyfriend says, "It's not mine." ...classic, and sad, I know.
Beginning of the Song...
I can already feel it. I think I'm pregnant.
There's a voice inside my head goin' "you stupid idiot."
I'll start lactating. Food I'll be craving.
Lost without direction. I feel like puking.
But I. I gotta be strong. And watch Juno all day long.
I'm gonna hear a baby's rattle
I'm gonna change him when he goes POO.
I'll get fat like a piece of cattle.
I wonder what my honey would do.
I'm sure he'll just smile and hug me
Bu I know what he's saying on the other side.
"It's not mine."
Even when I have no idea where one of our troupe members wants to go with a sketch, backing them 100% is half the task. I acted out this song like it was job. Although, my best friend Lauren said after the song was done my boyfriend turned to her and said, "Wow, that just really freaked me out, did that freak you out?" I suppose it was a little ... out there, and maybe it made some people uncomfortable, but oh well, that's just the name of the game in comedy.
DOWNSIDE OF THIS SONG: One verse in the song mentions my intense craving for moon pies and french fries. Therefore, other cast members were feeding these items to me. Now, I had never had a moon pie before, but they are absolutely disgusting and I almost wanted to vomit on stage. Not to mention the stale french fries from McDonald's were not exactly the first thing I wanted to eat. This experience reminded me of a theater camp I went to sometime in high school. I had to do this exercise where they blindfolded me and put something in my hand to eat. What ever was given to us we were suppose to eat it and then make a delicious face and really sell it to the audience. This was suppose to prepare us for commercials or any type of acting gig that would require us eating something we did not particularly like, but as actors we were suppose to "fake it." Unfortunately...I cheated during the game. I know, I know. I should kick my 13 year-old self. But I mean really? Would you want to drink or eat vinegar and ketchup mixed together with who knows what? I think not. I guess I would have been more prepared for my moon pie experience though, which is exactly what recalled this memory.
Overall, our show went relatively well. I think there was a drag in energy though. This week did not seem to be anyone's good week and I certainly know it was not mine. It's always a huge hurtle to perform at the end of the week when you are absolutely exhausted. Sometimes I just get to Thursday night and all I want to do is pass out in my bed and only wake up to eat, but usually an hour or two the adrenaline starts kicking in and I feel much better.
EXCITING NEWS: Jeremy Lamb, an executive producer of the Improv Festival, asked SAC if we wanted to compete in a regional bracket of the National College Improv Tournament in Austin. We would compete against other college improv groups and the winner will go to Chicago to compete in Nationals sometime in spring. We are discussing the possibility of competing this Tuesday. This should be a really wonderful opportunity to grow and learn from other improv groups out there.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Oh the adventures of SAC.
I always have to anticipate something blowing up or just going plain wrong. Considering the fact we perform in the BLUU Auditorium, we have to compete with several activities to keep our time slot at 9:00pm. But every once in a while, even when we have the auditorium reserved, things don't go as planned....
At 8:00pm last week, I promptly show up in my light blue tie and black dress pants and shorts, and what do I see? A PARTY GOING ON IN THE AUDITORIUM. There's hundreds of people, loud hip hop music blasting from huge speakers, and I think COOL! WHERE CAN I JOIN THE DANCE PARTY? Then reality sets in...I don't think this huge fiesta is for the members of SAC...who are these people? Why are they in the auditorium an hour before show time?! How do we get them out? AGHHHHH!!!
Now, I'm not talking about a few hundred CALM students tapping their feet and bopping their heads to the music as they gracefully sit in the auditorium stadium seating. I'm talking about everyone UP FROM THEIR SEATS, CLAPPING, BREAKING IT DOWN, AND GETTING CRUNK. There are signs and confetti everywhere and lots of lots of body odor. WHAT WAS GOING ON????
We learned that the multi-cultural fraternities and sororities were having an event and a certain someone...who is the head of coordinating activities at the BLUU...who I will not name...but who may happen to always ACCIDENTLY forget to tell SAC what is going on...came up to our president Ricky Anderson and me, to say that this event was scheduled to be outside, but he wasn't sure if it was going to rain, so he made the EXECUTIVE decision to make the event in the auditorium. -PS. it didn't rain!-
Oh now..that's just HILARIOUS. You mean that even though a YEAR AGO today SAC gave the BLUU a calendar of all the dates we needed the auditorium, and even though they APPROVED IT, and this was not one of the dates we had CONFLICT with, this (unnamed man) just EXECUTIVELY decides to give me a heart attack. Well that was just great. Because not only did I have to be pushed by the crowd to the front, but when they promised to end at 9:00pm. They definitely did not.
Luckily, most of our audience waited outside while we desperately tried to tackle the massive amounts of people. Not to mention, this 40 year old man (who said he was their advisor), who had some how grabbed the microphone that we needed for our show, went power crazy with the MIC! He's rapping and making jokes and just living up the spotlight. At 9:20 with my ever so polite manners, my 5'2 self walks up to this 6'6 350 pound man, to kindly hand over the mic to me. He says he's not done using it...I walk away cringing as I watch him put his whole mouth on the mic and spit all over it....yuck.
UPDATE: This week show, we were told we had to perform in the BLUU Ballroom, where the stage only fits 3 out of 7 performers, and we have to re-work all our technical equipment. Now, what's so funny about this scenario is that absolutely NOTHING was going on in the BLUU Auditorium. Not a single sole or even a mouse could be seen.....that certain BLUU Auditorium man who makes such great executive decisions..watch out. You are not on my favorite list.
At 8:00pm last week, I promptly show up in my light blue tie and black dress pants and shorts, and what do I see? A PARTY GOING ON IN THE AUDITORIUM. There's hundreds of people, loud hip hop music blasting from huge speakers, and I think COOL! WHERE CAN I JOIN THE DANCE PARTY? Then reality sets in...I don't think this huge fiesta is for the members of SAC...who are these people? Why are they in the auditorium an hour before show time?! How do we get them out? AGHHHHH!!!
Now, I'm not talking about a few hundred CALM students tapping their feet and bopping their heads to the music as they gracefully sit in the auditorium stadium seating. I'm talking about everyone UP FROM THEIR SEATS, CLAPPING, BREAKING IT DOWN, AND GETTING CRUNK. There are signs and confetti everywhere and lots of lots of body odor. WHAT WAS GOING ON????
We learned that the multi-cultural fraternities and sororities were having an event and a certain someone...who is the head of coordinating activities at the BLUU...who I will not name...but who may happen to always ACCIDENTLY forget to tell SAC what is going on...came up to our president Ricky Anderson and me, to say that this event was scheduled to be outside, but he wasn't sure if it was going to rain, so he made the EXECUTIVE decision to make the event in the auditorium. -PS. it didn't rain!-
Oh now..that's just HILARIOUS. You mean that even though a YEAR AGO today SAC gave the BLUU a calendar of all the dates we needed the auditorium, and even though they APPROVED IT, and this was not one of the dates we had CONFLICT with, this (unnamed man) just EXECUTIVELY decides to give me a heart attack. Well that was just great. Because not only did I have to be pushed by the crowd to the front, but when they promised to end at 9:00pm. They definitely did not.
Luckily, most of our audience waited outside while we desperately tried to tackle the massive amounts of people. Not to mention, this 40 year old man (who said he was their advisor), who had some how grabbed the microphone that we needed for our show, went power crazy with the MIC! He's rapping and making jokes and just living up the spotlight. At 9:20 with my ever so polite manners, my 5'2 self walks up to this 6'6 350 pound man, to kindly hand over the mic to me. He says he's not done using it...I walk away cringing as I watch him put his whole mouth on the mic and spit all over it....yuck.
UPDATE: This week show, we were told we had to perform in the BLUU Ballroom, where the stage only fits 3 out of 7 performers, and we have to re-work all our technical equipment. Now, what's so funny about this scenario is that absolutely NOTHING was going on in the BLUU Auditorium. Not a single sole or even a mouse could be seen.....that certain BLUU Auditorium man who makes such great executive decisions..watch out. You are not on my favorite list.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Our First Show
Senseless Acts of Comedy has been my creative outlet for the past year. With six main stage performers and two alternates, I tried out without considering the possibility of being casted.
Me?...Good at making up scenarios and situations without a script? Impossible. ......Or so I thought.
Somehow, I was cast as a main stage performer. Every Thursday at 9:00pm in the BLUU Auditorium, I would be creating art. Practices were long and challenging. The group had a lot more experience with improvising and I often struggled with wondering if I could hold my own. The weeks pasted on, and show after show, my skills improved, but I still felt unsettled. In the middle of the year we had a sudden change in leadership. Two of our improvisers and our host had been offered a professional improv gig outside of TCU. The performance was the same night as SAC...they made their decision.
Thinking everything would fall apart, we had to recast and do it fast. Things were looking pretty gloomy, but all of sudden I was surrounded by new faces and we were all working together to put on the best show possible. The rainbow definitely came after the show. The group dynamic actually became better and I felt less nervous and 100% more confident in my abilities.
This year is the beginning of a new SAC. We advertised heavily by giving away free popsicles during lunch time. I also talked to countless numbers of freshman during the activities fair. This would be real test if SAC would survive this year. The activites board said we needed about 60 students to show up or we could not keep our space in the auditorium. I nervously shook my legs back stage, hoping the room would be filled and more importantly hoping that we could make a whole lot of people laugh.
Most performances, I try to completely forget that there is an audience in front of me just ...waiting. Waiting for me to say something funny, waiting for me to have nothing to say, waiting for there to be awkward silence proving improv can only be done by actors in Whose Line is It Anyways? ...It's definitely worse when my boyfriend or close friends come to show. If the audience is made up of strangers, they won't have the same expectations of me. I won't have to face them when I leave the stage.
We had about 120 students show up! Pretty good, for the first week of school where most students can't think of anything but hitting the best party.
Me?...Good at making up scenarios and situations without a script? Impossible. ......Or so I thought.
Somehow, I was cast as a main stage performer. Every Thursday at 9:00pm in the BLUU Auditorium, I would be creating art. Practices were long and challenging. The group had a lot more experience with improvising and I often struggled with wondering if I could hold my own. The weeks pasted on, and show after show, my skills improved, but I still felt unsettled. In the middle of the year we had a sudden change in leadership. Two of our improvisers and our host had been offered a professional improv gig outside of TCU. The performance was the same night as SAC...they made their decision.
Thinking everything would fall apart, we had to recast and do it fast. Things were looking pretty gloomy, but all of sudden I was surrounded by new faces and we were all working together to put on the best show possible. The rainbow definitely came after the show. The group dynamic actually became better and I felt less nervous and 100% more confident in my abilities.
This year is the beginning of a new SAC. We advertised heavily by giving away free popsicles during lunch time. I also talked to countless numbers of freshman during the activities fair. This would be real test if SAC would survive this year. The activites board said we needed about 60 students to show up or we could not keep our space in the auditorium. I nervously shook my legs back stage, hoping the room would be filled and more importantly hoping that we could make a whole lot of people laugh.
Most performances, I try to completely forget that there is an audience in front of me just ...waiting. Waiting for me to say something funny, waiting for me to have nothing to say, waiting for there to be awkward silence proving improv can only be done by actors in Whose Line is It Anyways? ...It's definitely worse when my boyfriend or close friends come to show. If the audience is made up of strangers, they won't have the same expectations of me. I won't have to face them when I leave the stage.
We had about 120 students show up! Pretty good, for the first week of school where most students can't think of anything but hitting the best party.
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