improv olympic class notes (by ryloc)

[ryloc]

here are all of my io chicago notes in one place...


ENJOY!

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.1
Date: 5.7.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: 05-08-2003, 12:05 PM

last night i had my first level 1 class at io...

ok, so i didn't expect that charna was going to be my teacher. that was an awesome surprise. and tj's girlfriend holly was also there to observe. she's cool and adds great comments: "emotion breathes life into the scene".

charna started by giving us what io was all about and what we were to expect. she talked a lot about the game of the scene and stressing to take it one line at a time and to ALWAYS be looking for "game moves".

we jumped into hot spot after this. we used to do hot spot all the time in kysoff's free workshop to warm up. and we used to stress that it was to get out of your comfort level and make connections. however, charna stressed that it was a support exercise and that we should edit quickly, and that happened. i never looked at hot spot differently cos it's hot spot, but that made me think.

we jumped into a cocktail party thing with 7 different conversations going on. it took our group like 3 tries to even get it going smoothly. but it was fun.

after this, we jumpeed into 2 person scenes (yay!). but charna put us all in conflict potential scenes and told us to try to agree. i did a scene with len and both of us had been bitten by a snake, but we only had one antidote. i let him have it and it was really fun. there were a couple of really good scenes:

a firing scene between jeff and eric.
a traffic stop with tom and ? (i haven't learned everybody's name yet).
a robbery scene with tom again and ?.

there were some scenes where there was still some conflict, and charna says as long as you agree to play the game, it's fine - and she used the boxing analogy (both agree to fight).

overall my classmates seem really cool. a lot of experience... which i didn't expect. a lot of people were just done with classes at the players' workshop, or second city, or annoyance, and now io is next. it looks like this will be a really fun 8 weeks.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.2
Date: 5.14.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: never (it's in my notebook tho)

we started with a pattern game...
"remember everything that's been said" and repeating things was encouraged.

then we actually did a montage with no suggestion, and charna pointed out that our scenes all had to do with "saying goodbye":

breakup
firing on a mountain top
mailman quitting
dad leaving son
prostitute ?
first day going to school
dancer in hawaii?
mechanic ?

• take everything as if it is the most important thing that's been said.
• you weren't attracted to him or anything, but he was important to you
• take it one step at a time and let it build from there
• slow down and be affected by your partner - listen to what they're trying to say
• someone needs to change in the scene
• the humor comes out of the seriousness of the scene

we finished with a tagout exercise, and charna asked us to have "strong, one-line initiations" following the tags.


i don't know why i ever posted this. i think it was cos i was upset that i had to move classes after this one...

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.3
Date: 5.18.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: 05-18-2003, 11:09 PM (but only part of it...the rest was in my nb)

this morning i went to my level 1 class (that is, my new level 1 class). charna embarrassed me by enlarging my head. this class is not as good as the wednesday class. i'll have to make sure i can hang out with them, at least. they are so cool.

the sunday class is a bit different. there were a few good eggs, but for the most part, it's a less experienced class than wednesday. steven spielberg and winona ryder are in my class, i think.

we did a cat's cradle (interactive monologues) - if you're gonna talk about another person, it might be more interesting to talk to that person. and just when you think you can't do anymore, raise the emotional level.

we did a pet peeve rant after this. i had done this with kysoff a lot, and i'm not so good at it for some reason. we did this and charna was the conductor, weaving us in and out.

we did scenes afterwards, and the only note i wrote down was: "take your time and let the environment help you find the answer/response."

i didn't have this posted either... i guess i was still upset. the rest are all from my other journal, tho...

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.4
Date: 5.25.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: 05-25-2003, 08:55 PM

today, in my level 1 class, we did a bunch of scenes where charna gave us "wants". it was interesting to do because in almost all of them, both characters got what they wanted. we played a little emotional switch exercise. that was interesting, i guess... not my favorite.

after the break we started to do harolds (yay!). some interesting notes from charna:

• "every time a theme comes back, it becomes more important"
• "games - are like a commercial and they heighten the theme"
• "for the first set of scenes, there probably should be no walk-ons. let the players in the scene figure out where it's ging first, then heighten later in the form."
• "in a harold, you get to see relationships over a period of time"

i did a couple fun scenes with patrick about 2 inmates doing community service. it was a good time.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.5
Date: 6.1.2003
Teacher: Paul Grondy!
orignial post date: 06-01-2003, 07:36 PM

today, i went over the hump on level 1 classes. there are only 3 left now! holy jesus! paul grondy subbed for charna today. he was so great! the things he said and how he said them we're more helpful than doing scenes.

he pretty much said that we'll hear a ton of improv advice and have a ton of teachers, but that none of them is "right" and that all of them were "right". it's something that i have been realizing anyway, but you truly can learn from everybody. in fact, molly and josh both commented on a scene and paul said that we should write down what they said if we agreed. he said "only write down what you believe." i liked that.

then he pretty much preached what i've been thinking about a lot lately (which is prolly why i liked his class today so much)... that everything you do on stage is you. he said "all my pirate characters have 5 brothers and sisters like me." then he said that "comedy in a scene brings things that you can't relate to, things that are unbelievable, and things that just aren't real." it may make an audience member say "you don't look or talk like ANYONE i know."

we did a "vroom" warmup and then did a pointing/eye contact/pattern warmup that was just awesome! then we did 2 person scenes and he asked us to keep all unbelievable stuff out of them, and keeping a positive attitude, say 'yes', and risk a boring scene. he said "saying yes moves it into a direction you don't know it was going in... it's more challenging, but more exciting." i liked that too.

he then talked about the "game of the scene". he believes that the "game of the scene is incidental." he would rather see improvisers playing "real". i consider myself a bad game player, even though i get compliments afterward (i just nod and say "yeah, that was a game move."), so hearing that made me happy for some reason. i was all gamed-out and overwhelmed, but the game of the scene will find me. i don't need to go find "it". at least in june 1st, 2003, that's how i feel. sorry, new yorkers.

those scenes that people say they've seen a million times, those are scenes that people aren't playing real, in my opinion. mick napier's don'ts? they're from people not playing real. there is no way you can have a scene that is unoriginal if two people are in it and being real and not playing for jokes. the more details the better, and the more real details the even betterer.

we went into activity and environment scenes after this beacuse "people don't usually go places JUST to have a conversation." when you do activity that inspires dialogue you can fall into some very interestig scene setups... i did a scene with jackie where i was in my car and she was sitting at a vanity mirror, but it totally worked cos we didn't comment on it. there's no way you could inititate something like that naturally. it was wicked fun. there was a scene between josh and matthew where matthew thought he was in a church but ended up being the mother of a child in a kitchen. after a couple of these scenes, paul said "don't get too married to where you think you are or who you think you are or who the other person is until it is said out loud."

we finished up with a follow the object leader. i went last and thought a wallet was a banana peel and thew it in the garbage. *sigh* i love improv.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.6
Date: 6.8.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: 06-08-2003, 05:08 PM

at my class today, charna taught us the invocation, which is actually pretty fun. we also did transformations, which is pretty much sound and movement, but more patient and scenic. i really liked this exercise/game/opener.

we did harolds today, but i'm not so sure i was enjoying what was happening. they were so plot driven. like the second scene dealt with the first. what happen to the teepee stakes? i also really dislike when teachers guide scenes. it feels so unnatural. it feels like they are doing the scene for you. i talked to jesse about this, and he disagrees with me. i think the argument is they can show you another possible route you can take. but i think exercises where players figure these out for themselves is far more valuable.

charna stopped us, and said "ooh, i can see the stories connecting already, do you see it?" yes charna, we see it, and now we're not doing improv. maybe i'm overreacting, but i honestly do not see that much help in something like that. why would someone make choices for someone else? at least when i teach, and if i ever do it again, i don't think i'll make choices for people. they are in the scene. let them discover the fun. instead of contiving it and taking the fun out. maybe it's why i like improv... that no one ever tells you where it's going. but i guess this is class. but wouldn't you rather of those moments where you say "holy shit! i can't believe that kieren made that connection!" than, "damn, we're just following a script at this point" ?? give the students that feeling. that is more important in my mind.

maybe i'm just bitter cos i did shitvomitting improv today. i'd love to blame it on the fact that my scene partner wasn't listening to me and going for jokes and plot... but that's very anti-brett favre of me. i can deal with that. i've dealt with it before. i judged myself and my scene partner and i just sucked. i need to just support and not be in my head. i don't what the fuck happened today. i honestly think ohers think i'm better at improv than i actually am. i like to talk about it, i wonder if that gives a false impression of quality. i pretty much agree with people when they tell me i'm doing good things. i support them, heh. but i have so much room to grow. i can be so much better than i am. and i have done scenes with people that make me look awesome... so that was not me. i dunno.

yikes! i'm a little bitch, huh?

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.7
Date: 6.19.2003
Teacher: Paul Grondy
orignial post date:

i made up my level 1 class last night. thursday nights are taught by liz allen. i was excited to see her perspective. but she was absent and paul grondy taught again. yay! so i have some good paul grondy quotes.

we did the YOU warmup again, this time with 18 people. it's still my favorite. then we talked about what liz taught, then did a great exercise:

2 people face each other on opposite ends of the stage and they start a scene. anytime anyone says a line that goes toward the relationship, paul would ask them to both take a step forward. paul also had people move closer when anyone invented information about the other person or their relationship.

"knowing stuff about each other builds the realtionship as well"

this exercise was great because it forced us to listen to what the other person said and respond to it. and it was cool too, because usually, once the actors got close together, there would be a good ending line. it was very fun!

"treat each line of dialogue as if it could be the "thing" the scene is about."

"connected ideas that get more and more specific build the history of the characters. this is great for 2 reasons: believability, and for callbacks during long forms."

we talked a little about arguments in scenes. the general concensus is that they are not good. but paul broke them down a little deeper. he said there is no steadfast rule, but that "they can be bad, unless there is no hate involved, no meanness, and no frustration with each other. if you're adding scenic info, you're still doing good work." petty arguments are usually no-nos.

"one person saying 'you're right' will end any argument."

"i never get in arguments on stage because it's impossible to insult me on stage."

"take even the negative things as a gift for your character. if someone calls you an asshole, then you just found out your character's an asshole. that's great!"

any information your partner gives you, positive or negative, makes your character better. sounds like a good thing to take away to me.

after the break, we worked a little on harold. mainly on 2nd beats. "the first beats deliver much more than just characters. they also deliver themes, locations, etc." all of this can be used in 2nd beats as well. also, for some reason, i never do this or even think of this... but if you're not in the first beat, you can certainly start the 2nd beat. i stayed out of the next two scenes cos i had an idea for the 2nd beat of scene 1. it worked and it was fun. probably not a good idea to do everytime, but there's a lot of room in my back pocket and it fits there.

he also said that a 2nd beat initiation has to be a little more exact and information filled, especially if you're trying to get a point across where the scene should start. "you also want to start a scene based on what you LIKED or what was GOOD about the first beat."

paul also talked a bit about openers. "it's a time to check in with each other and establish the group mind. it's a time to say 'you ( 8 ) people are important to me.' also, the more you can reinforce an idea or anything in an opener, the easier it will be for everyone to remember." hah.

paul also stressed that we should be aware of "trump lines" (lines that are better or more interesting than something previously said). so don't pass those up. for example, there was a scene about hair on the apartment floor. that's intersting and worth exploring, but then it was brought up that the messy roommate had opened a barbershop in their room... EXPLORE THAT! heh. paul grondy is a great teacher. i'm gonna leave the paul grondy section with his best quote of the night:

"no matter how much i like my idea, i like YOUR idea better."

how perfect is that?

today i got up early and went to io to sign up for level 2. yay! i got into susan messing's class. yay!! i had her for a wokshop at cif last year, and she is so fun and great.

foreshadowing...

[ryloc]

Class: Level 1.8
Date: 6.22.2003
Teacher: Charna Halpern
orignial post date: 06-22-2003, 04:27 PM

today, i had my final level 1 class. charna had us do something that she wanted to give a note on last night to a team. it was a story telling exercise/opener/game sorta like a jinglehieimer. we all were dead and re-living an event that happened in our town. the second one we did was much better than the first. then afterwards, we did two cat's cradles (we've tried this in kysoff a bunch of times and it failed 90% of the time). it was great to see everyone supporting the other scenes and really listening. i'm not a huge fan of fast scene work (*ahem* gary austin harold), but this actually was pretty fun. after this we did a harold and it was walk-on happy. it's weird hearing my former teammates complain about 7 people being too many to perform with. i would give anything to perform with 7 right now. we had 9 in my class thursday, we had 10 in my class today, and zmw has 11. the saint is gonna feel so refreshing with just 4.

i walked away from level 1 a little relieved, but a little annoyed. it seemed to me that charna just figured we'd catch on. and some of us did, but some of us did not. we did not focus nearly enough on scenes. and it seemed to me that she used our class as an experiment. i think she wished that we were the teams she wanted to give notes to, but couldn't for whatever reason. it makes sense because she doesn't want us to make the mistakes they are making, but we didn't make those mistakes. we're making other mistakes that need to be addressed.

i dunno, maybe i'm just a little bitter that she said she'd skip me up a couple levels, then never mentioned anything about it again. i don't know if she realizes how that makes a person feel. i'm thinking, "did i fall back that far?" "am i getting worse?" fuck it. i don't wanna skip any levels. i want to take level 2 with susan messing.

i feel like i'm on my roller coaster again and i'm going in circles.

by the way, today is "bitter sunday".

i was being bitchy again, huh? well, that's it for level 1... it was very non-cohesive, to say the least, but the people in the classes were great.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.1
Date: 7.6.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing!
orignial post date: 07-07-2003, 10:35 AM

yesterday, i had my first class with susan messing. i had her for a workshop at cif last year, and she's even more fun than i remember. like the last time i saw her, she was very "horny" to work with us. she did a little speech at the top about what she wants to accomplish (read: annoyance style), and then we did her queer-zone exercise. then we did some walking while leading with body parts.

we did this with 4 at a time where we all knew each other and susan asked us questions. the first one was great, and the second two were plotty. it's amazing how plot can get in the way of a panel discussion where we simply meet characters. susan said "don't go for plot and don't go for funny, they'll both come."

after our break, we did an environment exercise: 6 people would get up and the others yelled out a location and the 6 would have to immediately do something in that location. and then susan broke the 4th wall and asked the 6 what they were doing or who they were. there was a pizza hut, the end of the iditarod race, inside the vatican, and a pirate ship. on the pirate ship, eliza became the wooden woman on the front of the ship, and it was really cool. my group of 6 went up after this and we got a high school, a hospital, and a submarine. on the last one i said i was captain daniel avery, but i didn't think it was that high of a ranking. i was wrong... the rest of the people saluted me. oops.

susan was talking about how people who don't do environment work are forced to be clever. and that can only get you so far. she was also saying that humor can be found in specific object work as well. we did one last exercise where there was "stunt baby" in a room with a sliding door. we had to go in through the sliding door and use the baby in any way we wanted, keeping in mind what had been established. there were some interesting choices: baby as a hammer, baby as a plunger, baby as a paint roller, baby as a memo pad, baby as an ash tray, baby as a rag. susan would give subtle notes to anyone who was obviously rushing their object work. she said things like, "watch the babies head, it's floppy", or "watch out for the table", or "is that a toilet, oh yeah, there's the flusher". she was so supportive in her notes and so enthusiastic. she made it really obvious that she believes that any choice will work.

susan messing is great. i think i'm gonna love the next 8 weeks. well, i guess it'll be 7 cos next week is del close marathon. i also found it great that just last week i was talking about doing more object work and susan nails it in the first class. if you think your object work isn't good enough, i know a phrase that will make it better no matter what...

"take your time."

one more thing... she said "if you ever feel your improv getting stale, change your shoes." she said that you'd be surprised how much just wearing something that you usually don't can change your characters. that includes looseness of shirts, pants, etc.

she said she loves dressing up and wearing dry cleaned clothes, then rolling around on the ground on stage. i guess it's just something that makes you feel like being a kid again, which improv is an extension of.

my notes start getting better cos i liked susan...

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.2
Date: 7.16.2003
Teacher: Bridget Kloss
orignial post date: 07-17-2003, 05:52 PM

y'know, for this being a male dominated artform, i sure am getting a lot of exposure to great women improvisers. after watching katie rich, abby sher, christina gausas, then being taught by charna halpern and susan messing, i had a makeup level 2 class last night with yet another one: bridget kloss. she was really good.

we started with a warmup where you said your name and did a physical movement with your name (stu stirred a pot of stew). then everyone repeated it. then we went around the circle and did everyone's at the same time, the did it faster, then faster. it was a great way to remember people's names, and it was fast and fun. then we did a focus warmup with "this is a yellow ball" - we had 8 balls at the end. that was fun too.

then we jumped into mirror exercises with only movement. then with movent and a sound (that was supposed to sound like one voice). then we did words. my "reflection" (meghan), and i got into a groove of saying what we were doing. like we flapped our arms and both said "bird". it was actually quite fun and cool somehow, heh. then we did sentences. meghan and i kept saying things like "it's too loud, i can't hear you." we had a little trouble cos while no one was leading, no one was leading - you know what i mean? after this bridget had 4 of us get up and we did 2 person scenes with our mirrors (arms connected and walking and speaking together). it was funny to watch. kinda hard to do (for us).

susan calls this exercise "doublemint twins get fucked in the ass," which didn't phase me after knowing what susan is like. the point of the exercise was that you "need that other person on stage with you." and you need to "stay focused with that other person." it was also good to see that it's far less entertaining when it's noticeable that someone is leading. we took a break after this.

the second half of the class was awesome! it was all monologues. and it was pretty much an opener monologue exercise, however it could be used anywhere in a long form. bridget said that in openers, usually 4 or so people get to do monologues. so she got 4 of us up. i went up cos i'm bad at monologues and want to do the things i'm bad at in class to get notes. she asked us to not all do the monologue on the same thing. so if the first person went and talked about how he didn't like his dog cos he got it in college, the next person should maybe do a monologue about college... and so on. get 4 different ideas out there.

we all went, and when we were done, bridget asked us to do two things...

first, she asked us how we felt either telling the story or actually when the story happened (either one)... then what was the lesson that monologue taught you. then everyone did this.

secondly, she asked us to give the content of the entire monolgue in one sentence. then give the moral of that story in one sentence. she said you could even be cheesy and sesame streety about it and say "i learned...."

so we were the guinea pigs. after people got the jist of it, the monolgues were much better. the goal was to have that moral of the story in your back pocket to use as the button on the end of it. and to tell a real story fueled by the emotion that you either feel now or felt at the time.

"vulnerability hooks the audience in" - it's totally true. the onolgues that told a real story that was emotional were awesome. in fact it was awesome watching everyone tell monologues. the buttons on the end usually made them that much better. in fact, i actually think this will really help me out. it's hard to get a suggestion and think of the point of the story before you tell it, but i suppose it could come out. and she said the more you do them, the easier they get.

some monolgue quotes:

"make the summary general so it can be realted on many levels" and so a good variety of scenes can easily come from it.

"when you add how you felt, it seems that the moral was easier to find"

"stories and monolgues are different, you should aim to get it down to 8-10 sentences" and rambling tends to lose the audience and your teammates.

real. concise. a lesson.

i also noticed a contrast in energy can be fun in monologues. someone did a really somber one, and seth came with a really happy one directly after it and it was really cool.

anyway, it was a really good class and i think it's something that i'll use a lot and come back to. it was also cool to hear that a two sentence monolgue can fuel a longform. so if you have something that relates and it's short, don't be afraid to throw that out there.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.3
Date: 7.20.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 07-21-2003, 12:44 AM

level 2 class today. back to susan (bridget stopped by and she said hello to me). we all got up and lined up in a line and each added 4 dance steps (troy taylor will remember this exercise). then after each person we went from the beginning and did all of them up to that point. susan said some great things that realte to improv and longform as a whole: "if it's dying, recommit". she also said... "be someonel that you'd like to play with" (goes with my whole"be fun to play with mantra", so you can understand that i really liked it).

after the dancing, we did an exercise that stressed object work and being affected by objects realistically. it was called "SUICIDE OR ACCIDENT". i've played similar things with kysoff, but the point of this was to berealistic, so instead of "avoiding choking and bleeding to death", as long as we commited, it was fucking awesome! the audience needs to buy into it. struggle is better than clever. one guy choked to death on gum and his face turned red, molly strangled herself with floss, tom got shot by agry argentinians (AWESOME!!!), i had my intestines spill out on a slip n' side accident, and colin died from a blister playing madden.

susan said some great things after each of the scenes. instead of just putting my intestines back in, she said to be really shocked by it. "you wouldn't argue with a kid about your $500 pen if it was really in your neck." "are you concerned about object work? don't be. just take your time.... you're in a race car, enjoy it! crowds are cheering for you, enjoy that and live in it!" "enjoy every minute of this creation... salivate over the potential." "don't speed through it cos you think your object work isn't good" cos then it won't be.

she also said this line, which i loved!! "walkons aren't being rude, they just want to enter the world you created and play in it. while it may be unneccasary, take it as a compliment."

we did some silent scenes after this given a location. what did i learn from these? something awesome: "what do i do with what i have?" the answer you're looking for is right there. look at what you have and heighten... or explore.

"you are what you promise." the first thing you do is a promise to the audience. "usually when scenes go bad, it's because someone drops their shit cos they think it's not good enough." i used this in the show i did tonight... i'll get to that in a second. but first, one last susan quote: " don't be a frustrated improviser, be a frustrated character." she says such great things... who needs therapy?

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.4
Date: 7.27.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 07-27-2003, 05:56 PM

the stuff i'm learning is happening so fast. i wish i could slow it down. the only way i know how to do that is to take notes, then rehash them here. i feel like i retain it better that way also.

i just hit the hump point in level 2. jesus christ! i'm halfway done already with level 2. i don't think susan messing is the "genetically perfect improviser," like some say about tj jagadowski, but i think susan is an amazing teacher. she often refers to her ability to translate lines, scene moves, and object work into what the improviser is thinking, or trying to get across. and when she does this, she nails it every time. so when she gives notes, it's not just a list of do's and don'ts. it's personal. she tries to get behind why someone did something and explains WHY it didn't work, and what was needed for it to work... which is often a simple "you need to listen and pay attention to your scene partner." you'd be surprised how much that helps everything.

level 2 is susan-titled "characters, environment, and group". so what did we work on today? characters, environment, and group. today we started with a warmup called "blinky." it's pretty much just a follow the leader game. it became a follow the follower game actually, cos you couldn't always see the leader ("follow the follower" is such a great improv term!).

we jumped into 2 person scenes where we were given a location and couldn't speak for a bit. we needed to establish the environment first. then we added dialogue. then susan asked us to change our physicality, but she gave us what we needed to heighten (tippy toes, squinty eyes, buck teeth, nervous tick). she asked us to "try those on and see how they felt." then she added a second one and we continued the scene. alex, jeff, and i did a scene at a funeral home, and it felt so good. we each took turns contributing ideas, and no one was leading or dominating. i love those scenes. i hadn't done a scene with alex before... it was fun, i think she's pretty good. susan said of this exercise: "you all had a character without having to do 'character work'."

after this we worked on flying and lifting each other in the air in different ways. (i know, i know). it was pretty fun. i had to do a "fireman drill" with darryl as the victim. i thought i was gonna drop him. it sounds hokie, but this was all about trust and support. and it led into the next couple exercises.

we did a "Oh Mighty Isis, Shape of __blank___" exercise. we had 7 on stage and we had to become an object as soon as we heard it. eye contact and symmetry was the easiest way to achieve this. in fact, symmetry can help a lot of scenes, we realized. she asked us to ask ourselves, "what does the picture need?"

we jumped right into 'story theater'. it was a narrated game where everyone needed to support. this game really is not so easy to explain, only because individual notes help it so much. and it will be so different everytime. the one thing that helps it out is telling it in the 3rd person and being very descriptive with details. also, as the narrator you need to catch "mistakes" and make them important. so if you say a homeless man appraoched, and two people step up, you need to justify. erin anderson taught us this one at kysoff rehearsal once. it can be it's own game, which erin was trying to get across (we didn't give her enough time with it), but it really is an exercise that heps out group games and just gets your mind on supporting everything that's going on... which is so useful.

we finished the class with some ambiguity games... which is pretty much a group game in a harold. it was pretty fun. we did it with 14 people, so there were a lot of people on stage, but listening was pretty good. she described one that she was part of once, and tom #2 said, "how is that a game?" she explained that you may not know why you're doing something, but you never know if you'll be in a harold and say to yourself, "oh, this is why i did that in the first scene." and also, you may not know what you're playing, but you're playing it anyways. if you sit back and judge, you're left out and you are not part of the group. she said sometimes the people who judge are amazed on how cool something ambiguus can become, so why not contribute... the auddience is already there to scrutinize.

i came up with my own quote while thinking and watching today: about environment: the audience does not need to see it or even believe it's there. but they'll buy it if you believe it's there.

the greatest thing about some improv quotes, is that they can be taken in whatever way you want them to work for you... don't believe me? have a beginner read 'truth in comedy'. then have them read it a year later, and tell me they didn't learn something new. just go ahead and try. it'a all about application. that all being said, here's a bunch of susan messing ones i wrote down today:

• "Turn mistakes into gifts."
• "A scene is about 'A day in the Life' or ' The day the shit hits the fan'."
• "It's mammogram month and everyone's delighted."
• "Questions stall. Why not choose to have that knowledge? Don't rely on another human being to get your needs met."
• "Latch on to someone's physical energy. It'll help you prevent conflict and connect to that person."
• "When you practice a funny voice. That's all it will be on stage."
• "The more real that baby feels to you, the more real everything else can be."
• "If you say a line like 'This is my first time....', you won't be able to relax and enjoy it. You'll most likely need to be taught something, and you put out the vibe of 'I may fuck up in front of you, audience.'"
• "1/3 of your discoveries will be in your environment. Props are important!"
• "Don't plan too much. That dumb secretary might be the smartest one in the scene. Find out!"
• "If there is a slower paced scene, your physicality and actions can speed up the next scene. Change the pace and energy to speed it up."
• "You fuck Harold. Harold doesn't fuck you."
• "Objects aren't 'busy work', make them important!"
• "If you hate what you're doing, do it more. The worse you'll get is a laugh."
• "Once you figure out your strengths, those could become your weaknesses. Never stop learning."
• "If you're in your head, turn the volume down in your head and focus your energy on your friends." <- i LOVED this one.
• "Don't telegraph 'I suck' or 'You suck'."

i heard susan say, "never give notes to each other." the more times i hear this, the more i think it's true. find a coach, or at least an outsider. i think when i was with kysoff, i learned so fast with just joe teaching me. then after we had 19 teachers, i didn't want to learn from them anymore, so i went elsewhere (irc). not only is a coachless rehearsal a breeding ground for debate, it also is a place where conflict *can* happen, and if it does, it replaces learning and, more importantly, bonding.

the more i think about it, the more i like harold. i think it's funny that some montage-supporters look at harold as "pretentious". and some harold-supporters look at montages as "pretentious". i like the freedom of playing many different characters in many different situations and being able to throw them away if i want to. but i love finding out "why" we're showing the characters to the audience. and almost being forced to find out "more" about the character i choose in a harold. that's so great.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.5
Date: 8.3.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 08-05-2003, 05:40 PM

i went to level 2 class today, and it was really fun. i love when i do an exercise or a "game" that i used to do with kysoff, but do them for a whole different reason and focus, and learn from them. we played "1 to 11, 11 to 1", which is essentially 'freeze tag add and subtract', but we focused on long form aspects of it, instead of making it a better entertainment form. i think i could be reminded 10 times a day to "hold on to what you establish" and i'd love it everytime. it's such a great tool to use (thanks annoyance).

Q: "what can i do to make this better?"
A: "do what you do, and that will support what's going on."

so simple, but so true.

hmm, wonder why it was so short this day?

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.6
Date: 8.10.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 08-10-2003, 07:53 PM

i don't think it's possible that i could like levels 3-5b as much as i am loving level 2 right now. susan messing is the best. plus, my class is awesome. everyone brings such cool things to the stage. i really like darryl, big colin, and tom. but we only have 2 classes left.


we did an exercise to hold on to what we establish (again). this is such a great side of improv to work on. before i went up i yawned really big and my eyes were a bit watery. i did a scene with tom and tom on a porch. it ended up coming out that tom's character was raising chikadee's, and he was wearing a rawhide glove (that i didn't know about). i have no idea why, but i asked him if the chickadees hurt his arm hair. he said, "no, they're harmless chickadees and besides, i'm wearing a rawhide glove to protect my arm." i said something about pointy toes, then realized what he just said... so i said, "um, why do you wear a rawhide glove for harmless CHICKADEES?" of course you had to be there, but we both cracked up. i ended up having tears in my eyes before and after that scene.

that scene felt so great. my character's legs didn't work (and should have explored that more), but other than that... it was so fun. susan paid me a compliment, which made me feel even better. she called me a "very good listener." then tom followed, "yeah, i KNEW he was gonna nail me on that - i was just waiting." that also made me feel really good.

ok, now it's time for some susan quotes:

• "if you're on stage, you belong there... and we'll discover why."
• "support hides everything [bad]."
• "turn initiations into gifts."
• "there's nothing wrong with playing yourself, but when someone puts on a character it could ofen lead to you declaring them as crazy or retarded. watch it."
• "you start scenes in your apartment because it's a safe place. the more you start scenes there, the less safe it will become."

we started out by doing an exercise where groups of 8 had to plan a peformance piece on a theme. kind of like a scripted group game. we all were told to clap and agree when someone thought of an idea. it was cool doing it this way, cos we could see how good it felt when people accept your ideas. and also how good they feel when you accept and use their ideas. it was also cool because no matter what, you had to improvise part of it, cos we didn't have enough time to plan everything. and it's amazing how commitment can fake people into thinking you know exactly what you're doing.

we did the porch exercise after this. there were some really funny scenes. i am definitely bringing that one to utah. "it will work if you make all 3 unconnected things important." there was an awesome move by rachel where she was with two redneck guys cleaning their guns. she changed everything (in a good way) by saying, "the manhattan skyline looks so beautiful from here." she put this crazy scenario in nyc! it was hilarious. and like i said after my last entry, i like doing this more and more. if it hasn't been established, it's still open to be anything. why not put a twist? not a gag, but something to make it more intersting or to raise the stakes, or even to lower them a huge notch.

susan is big on noticing when people drop what they had at the beginning. she'll often ask, "person, what was the first thing you said?" and she'll show you how keeping that works. it's such a great way to teach! instead of saying "could or should", she pretty much, by demonstration, says "watch how your choice would have worked if you stuck to it." almost every time, the person says "ahhh" and nods.

we did a YAY exercise where someone says "hey everybody, let's ______". this was pretty fun, but i find it hard to find something to do on some of the switches.

this lead right into a transformation exercise (which is sometimes used as an opener - and is used by graeme in-scene, sometiems). we all start in a location and at any time, when you feel inspired, you can change and go to a new "world". it's almost like a group freeze tag where there are no freezes. some of the transformations were slow, and some of them were instant. some followed sound, some followed movement, some followed stage picture, some followed a word... etc. it's hard to explain, it just had to happen. it was very fun, and kept me on my toes. little colin started one of the transitions by saying, "my money's on the black cock." hahah.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.7
Date: 8.17.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 08-18-2003, 07:13 PM

i had a super great improv day yesterday.

skipping over some stuff about me deciding to go to 24live, seeing 4 square for the first time, and doing a fun zmw show...

level 2 class was great. susan brings out the best possible work from the students. the class had some of the best scenes i've ever seen. literally. as a whole, it was better than just about any show i've been a part of.

we played an exercise called "duck duck fuck you". it was duck duck goose, but you couldn't ever catch the person that tagged you... you had to match their energy instead. and everyone supports. it sent a great message, and while it was very retarted, it set the tone for the amazing class to follow.

the rest of the class we did hardcore scenework. 2 person and 3 person. i did a great one with joe boston where we were in a shoe store and there was an attraction and sadness. we dropped a game to play a new game (that was awesome) and susan said "the first game was important, go back to that while playing your new game"... and let it fuel the new game. i found that eye-opening. i mean, not only do you keep your own shit, you gotta keep the other shit too. if you hate it, do it more... you'll never say "i hated that" if you commit, cos you'll find out why you're doing it.

rest of the journal is susan messing quotes:

• wow, that was an awesome world we just created
• you can't "find" the game. you ARE the game
• exploit every little bit of the idea you create
• if you're affected by something on stage, we'll be affected too
• did you ever hear an initiation and think "uh oh, this is their scene"? ... well, it never is.
• if it lives in your brain, it can't do shit dick. (get it out!)
• 1/3 of your discoveries are in your environment, 1/3 are in your body/self, and 1/3 are in the relationship.
• once you declare that you're moving "rods", patrick can play with that.
• you're only limited by your lack of imagination and fear of looking stupid
• what you do at the beginning is the beginning of something.
• style protects scenes
• relationships can be visual (this one makes so much more sense after the class, but you can take it any way you want).
• we don't get disappointed in what you do, we get disappointed i nwhat you drop.
• anytime you get lost in a scene, revisit and heighten something earlier.
• (for harold): if you love who you are, time will pass - get out there!

"sometimes the problem is their game and if you solve their problem, you end their game" - said randomly by molly, and i thought it was just awesome!

just a great day. i just put visine in my eyes, and i'm gonna get some dinner with sarah and her friends and dave.

i can't believe september is coming up.

this city makes me happy.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 2.8
Date: 8.24.2003
Teacher: Susan Messing
orignial post date: 08-25-2003, 07:22 PM

team building. i've always had an issue with this when i was at kysoff. in fact they just did one yesterday, and i don't know how it went. i find them very insulting, so i took offense everytime it was brought up. i know i shouldn't, and everytime we did one i fuckin' loved it. but it's the principle of forcing people to gather for the purpose of getting to know each other. it makes me think, "why aren't we doing that every time we interact?"

anyway, that being said, i also think that getting to know people off stage is great, but to actually build the team, there needs to be something done in shows or rehearsals to build improv relationship. if off stage relationships aren't being built that mmay not be the fault of the director or teacher. you may be just dealing with dicks. i mean who wouldn't naturally wanna know about the people they share with on stage?

ok, no more bitching about team building... because... in class yesterday, we started with a boot camp warmup and then susan did her own version of a team builder - heh. she got two people up and sat them down. then she went behind the person on the left and said "how about kieran?" then the rest of us applauded and cheered. after the pandomonium, susan asked us what we loved about kieran (these were almost exclusively on-stage things). then she said, "that being said...." then gave kieran a character type to throw him out of his comfort level (sexiest man ever). then she did the same thing for the person on the right. then they did a scene out of their comfort level.

not only did we just cheer for the person, we shot out compliment after compliment. then after susan gave them their "out of comfort level" character, i wanted to watch them so much! and it was evident that everyone thought this way. i was laughing so hard at all of the scenes. one or two people struggled to the point of interruption, but overall, these were among the most entertaining scenes i've ever watched. failure was not an option cos everyone wanted success. so so so so great.

i would have been perfectly content watching the whole time. however, i did have to go up myself. hearing everyone say nice things about me made me want to cry. and then susan said a bunch of nice things, including this one that stuck out: "if you don't remember what you said, don't worry, cos ryan did." she made me very happy. then came the criticism... but, like i said before, susan is an amazing teacher and knows how to say things so they get through. she said "no matter what the scene is, 'ryan' finds his way in there. i've seen ryan as a captain on a sumbarine, i've seen him here and there... etc. i find this most interesting that this happened in a character workshop" *laughter* ... i got her point. heh. so she asked me to play someone who was 6'7" and had a boisterous controllinmg attitude.

i went up with tom, which was perfect. he's so hilarious and susan asked him to "be tom in this scene." so, we pretty much just switched roles, as tom can play hilarious characters. we did a scene at wrigley field and i brought my rottweiler and called tom a pussy. halfway through, we looked at each other after one of our lines and i started laughing. that fucker. tom, darryl, and big colin always make me laugh. i can't help it. the best part is that all three will be in my level 3 (which i just found out starts on sunday!!).

anyway, that compliment and love-fest was the single best 2 hours of improv i've ever had. i felt so good afterwards. i was so emotional. i'll miss susan. she knows that you need to have fun and be fun to play with in order to have good shows. something that i've been working on for almost 2 years now. we were 17 friends just messing around (no pun intended), and the scenes were unbelievably committed and funny.

okay, that's all for level 2. needess to say, i loved it!

[ryloc]

Class: Level 3.1
Date: 8.31.2003
Teacher: Peter Gwinn
orignial post date: 09-09-2003, 05:35 PM

first of all, i realized last night that i scheduled level 3 right in the middle of the first 7 steeler games. oops! i'm an idiot. i've decided i'll improv my ass off to make up for it.

my teacher is peter gwinn... he is a little bit more analytical than susan messing. heh. he seems very fun though. he made it clear that we're gonna pick apart the two person relationship scene. and our class is small, so it looks like we'll get a lot of stage time.

he said improv rules are not "rules" per se, but they just help you play the averages. he also said we should learn to laugh at how bad some scenes are.

fuck it, let's just go through quotes:

• if you are unsure if it's a walkon or an edit, lean towards the edit, cos when you leave and need to come back, it's recognized as improv-ed and it's funny.
• in long form, look for the "rules of the universe", like germans drinking irish beer - and play and recall these rules

• how do you feel about each other or what do you want from the other?
• the "game" of the scene? simple: i do something to you which makes you do something to me, etc. that's it.

• the stakes of the scene? what the characters find important. something is important and it's up to you to find it.
• no stakes = boring scene
• you need to ground the scene... you need to establish how your reality relates to the audience's reality
• you need to tell them what's normal (in your world) so they know what's weird.
• normal people in a normal situation = works!
• normal people in a crazy situation = works!
• a crazy person in a normal situation = works!
• a crazy person in a crazy situation = BORING!
• until we tell the audience what's funny, they're not gonna laugh

• the more specific you are, the more you have to use
• the more definitive and bold you can be, the better... get to the point!
• we are doing things to each other ON PURPOSE! (i like this one - it's fun to think about)
• you should know full well what you are doing. the strongest drive is self benefit. you're competent!

• if it feels awkward giving people names in scenes, do it awkwardly until you find ways to tweak it later to make it more comfortable

• "that was an interesting thing there, let's see more of that" - that was a note about me referring to lighting a thiefs shoes on fire

peter also said there are 4 types of scenes that aren't "relationship" scenes... he said he'd get to them as the class went on, but here are the first two...

1. GENRE SCENES...
not a normal slice-of-life reality... have fun in it!! if Baron Von Mean exists, who else does? play with the convention and also play against the convention.

2. CHARACTER SCENES...
two interesting characters and a slice of their life.

i found these two interesting and i can't wait till i get the other two! peter's fun and he challenges the crap out of me. i mean, i did three scenes that made the class laugh and took a 4x4 and beat me to a pulp. he'll have something for me to work on continuously. should be grueling and fun.

i look forward to being grueled.

[ryloc]

Class: Level 3.2
Date: 9.11.2003
Teacher: Peter Gwinn
orignial post date: 09-12-2003, 11:41 AM

last night was interesting. i was sick and thought about not going to my makeup class for level 3... but i went anyways. the thursday night class is almost twice as big as the sunday class... and i wondered why none of them decided to switch. i found the answer to that after class.

but because the class was so big, they still weren't anywhere near done with the pivot exercise that our class got over halfway done with in the first week. so i watched as their whole class finished this exercise. then i listened to peter talk about what we'll be doing next (giving information), and then i left the classroom. yep. that's right... no improv in three hour class. god, i was pissed about missing all the steeler games, but at least we have a small class and i get stage time and critiqued. yuck!

i did take about a page of notes though:

peter talked about PROBLEM SCENES: these are scenes where someone says a line similar to "you are gonna have a problem with this, but i don't". it's a passive agressive move. it's better to make an issue out of it... for example here's a bad way to do it...

"i put all of your vhs tapes in the bottom shelf"

here's a better way to do it..

"i hid your vhs tapes cos i'd hate any of my friends to see them."

that way, you are both invested in the statement, and it's much easier to be emotional about the other person. but again, this isn't a rule. it's just something to think about. make the reason there's a problem part of the relationship.

he also warned us about REVIEW LINES: this is when a player pretty much states what has happened in the previoes x lines of a scene. something like, "i got my leg amputated and you're talking about my contacts." this kind of statement provides no new information. i never really thought about these before, but i agree it's a good thing to avoid.

peter also mentiond a current improv mantra of mine (that i got from susan: "what's gonna happen in the next 30 seconds of the scene? the answer: look at what we have already." this has helped me so much recently. in fact, since i moved to chicago... "holding on to my deal" has been the single greatest thing for me to think about. maybe it's easy for me to be selfish. heh. no comments, please. but taking that even a step further, and "holding on to the scene's deal" makes so much sense to me. it's pretty much the same thing, but make everything important and think that there's a reason why everything said so far has been said: it's there to set up or fuel the rest of your lines.

now, if i could just get that 'raising the stakes' thing down a little better... *sigh*

last night there was a girl who was "PMSing" and she was fucking horrible to watch. she was so negative and wouldn't listen to a single note. it just drained all the energy in the room. one of the guys actually started a line like this when with her, "i'm gonna throw something out there, and you'll probably disagree with it..." we all laughed.

i've also learned from experience, that you need to leave issues away from the room you're doing improv with. i know in kysoff, that i had some miscommunication with erin at an intermission, and laine was upset that i tried to fix it before we went on stage. maybe i shouldn't have, but i knew that if i could fix it and apologize, that the second half of the show would have been better. i've seen too many long form shows get fucked up by one person that has issues. in fact, i think i've seen enought to know that it may be the most important thing to keep under control. it's selfish in a much more horrible way.

/vent

after the class, their entire class went to mullen's for a few drinks. i looked around and said two things to myself... "ahh, this is why they are staying on thursday nights... how cool!" and "yay! none of them are coming to sunday! our small class rules!" heehee. it was actually really cool to see a completely different dynamic. it was like hanging out with a completely different improv troupe. they did some good stuff in class too. and there were only 4 people who i haven't seen perform. they were pretty damn good. but, i'm glad i stuck with my peeps. we're small, but we have fun, and we're a group. and we all seem to understand the "negativity at the door" idea.

i can't wait till sunday

[ryloc]

Class: Level 3.3
Date: 9.14.2003
Teacher: Brendan Sullivan
orignial post date: 09-14-2003, 08:35 PM

today in level 3 class, we had yet another teacher: brendan sullivan. he stressed emotions.

we did a follow the follower exercise with heightening the emotions which was fun, but kinda unproductive. we did an emotional conducted story also. i got "lazy" and that was pretty fun.

then we went into 2 person scenes while "staying conscious of emotional state of mind"... yeah, it was one of those classes. jeff was back, and he and darryl did a scene about cryogenically freezing a zebra. they created a really fun environment. i did one of the more fun scenes i've done since i got here with rachel. it was a blast.

i love the feeling of doing a scene i'm proud of after being nervous. usually before shows, or before an exercise i get nervous and the preconception side of my brain works really fast. but when i step on stage it all disappears somehow. i hope i can continue that trend. it feels really good forgetting everything and just doing a scene... while still feeling my brain say things like:

"if we leave this apartment the scene is over"
"there's the bed, ok... could the telephone be there? sure!"
"this was gonna be the kitchen, but i guess this could be a dresser drawer"
"oh wow, now i'm wearing a suit! sweet!"

it feels like that nike golf commercial with the slow motion back-swing where it shows all the things someone could think of while they're swinging. then it all disappears and says "just do it," and the guy swings it. i like that commercial.

one thing that brendan said twice, which i thought was a great note was, "if it's your choice to not want to be in the scene or to be bored, then there needs to be a reason why you ARE there." it also made me think that choosing to not want to be in a scene lowers the success of the scene.

he also said, as a sidenote, that "the worse a harold is going, the higher the body count." it was sot of a joke, but he was also serious. this put me lost in thought as well.

i did 2 scenes in the second half of class that were less than awesome.

my team in madden 2004 sucks.