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.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
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.
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