me, from here to there

[Sammy]

Here I am. Let's see where I go.

[Sammy]

It feels so either/or to me.

Either I can be a performer or I can be a producer/director.

rephrase

Either I can be a good performer or I can be a good producer/director.

I've learned I can't do both for the same show, or either separately on the same night and do both well. My mind isn't wired that way. Either I'm meta-thinking big picture macro or living in-the-moment micro.

Like a light switch, not a dimmer.

And now I'm afraid that it might extend to my improv in general.

I think I can be a rock solid full-time director or a rock solid full-time performer, but because I don't commit fully one way or the other, I feel I'm middling at both, especially the performance-side. Divided energies and all that.

What to do?

Commit harder to both?

Fully commit to one?

goddammit

[Sammy]

To be honest, it feels like I'm letting something go.

(That sounds dramatic, no?)

I'll play some side gigs here or there, but I've decided my main focus will be on directing for a while.

Right now, my directing slate is light:

Big Yellow Bus: More of a stewardship than true direction. I've decided to to issue myself a challenge this year: no repeating a form--once it's been done, it's off the table. I'll keep track here as things progress.

"Project X": Just leaving the station. I'm going the route of establishing a fluid style of play as opposed a rigidly set form. The basis of our work will be transformational, not psuedo artsy organic transformations/morphing but more the straight up one-scene-can-snap-into-another-scene internal edit. I'll also keep track here as things progress.

Joe Bill Directing Workshop: Starts this Saturday. Even though I have much experience with sports coaching, being coached/directed on improv ensembles, and practical experience sub-coaching and directing around town, I see it as part of my improv education to round out my training in a class specifically geared to the director side of things. Notes from classes will be posted in here.

Open Court: I'll probably drop in every so often to guest coach/play as the mood strikes me. Not a real directing gig, but still worth mentioning.

Potential Directing related stuff:

Second City Directors Program: Still torn on it. The practical experience would be great, but ultimately it leads down the road to sketch/revue directing and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Longform improv is what I dig working with most, but maybe the slipping into the sketch pool will give me perspective.

Playground Incubator: I've been angling for an Incubator ensemble for 2 1/2 years. At this point I doubt I'll ever get one. I wouldn't be surprised to be offered one after I've firmly committed to other projects and don't have the time simply because that's would be the ironic resolution for a long-running saga.

Well, the decision's been made. Time to walk the walk.

[Sammy]

This year for Big Yellow Bus, I wanted to give myself and the core cast a mini-challenge. So, I decided that we would never repeat a format. One and done. With a regular ensemble with a weekly show, it would be quite the task after a while, with a rotating cast of varying skill levels, it becomes a bit daunting on my end; it has to be easily digested in the few minutes I have to explain the format, distinct enough that it doesn't feel like I'm repeating myself and within the reach of the cast's overall ability...plus it still has to be a vehicle for good improvisation.

BYB, to date--

January 5th:

ACT I
-Modified "dualoge" opening run of scenes
-Performer A steps forward, gives very brief monologue (4 - 6 lines)
-Performer B steps forward, gives very brief monologue (4 - 6 lines / may or may not be inspired by A's monologue)
-Slip into 2-person scene with those characters
-When scene is done, cast edits into another dualogue
-Repeat until entire cast has cycled through 2-person scenes
-Open it up to follow themes, ideas, tangents, explore characters and their worlds

ACT II
25-minute rapidfire montage based on ACT I

Post Mortem: some hesitancy to jump in with second monologue, some of the dualogue scenes were clunky as characters were forced together as opposed just being together (as was my intent). Act I was a bit hung over from the opening scenes, Act II cleaned it up with the ramp-up of energy and increase of editing speed by cast.


January 12th:

ACT I
Modified Dinner for 6 format
-Ensemble enters in pairs, with each performer getting a suggestion
-All performers sit in chairs, around a "table"
-Extended 8-person scene set at dinner, with pop out scenes to other parts of the house

ACT II
-4 2-person scenes, each spotlighting a couple. Performers may choose to show the couple at any point in their relationship (just meeting, at the dinner in another part of the house, in the future, etc)
-Single all ladies scene
-Singe all male scene
-Run out, weaving together everything we've seen

Post Mortem: A bit clunky getting the chairs set up and getting all the suggestions, but once the show started, the cast really tore into it. A little wacky, loosey goosey slipped into the end of Act I and suffused Act II, but the characters were well drawn and the audience very invested in them.


January 19th:

ACT I
Basic Mosaic format
-Extended 2-person source scene
-"Chapter" of scenes based on source scene info by cast
-Return of 2-person source scene
-Another "Chapter"
-Return of 2-person source scene to end Act

ACT II
-Opening 2-person scene based on themes/ideas from ACT I
-Series of scenes based on new source scene
-Once elements of first Act start to get weaved in/called back, begin a run out

Post Mortem: With a cast of 2 men and 7 ladies, I cast my 2 males in the source scene and let the ladies riff on them (Rebecca Hanson and Lisa Linke are goddesses). Act II was "all play" so it was freer and looser, but not as focused at the end as it could have been.

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

January 26th:

ACT I
-Audience picks 5 numbers between 1-20, which correspond to 20 tracks of random music on CD.
-Each song inspires performers on stage (approx. 30 secs of song played at top of scene)
-After those 5 song inspired scenes, remainder of first half pulls from those scenes.

ACT II
-3 more random songs chosen
-3 more scenes
-Riff on new stuff until callbacks start, then run fast and furious til lights

Post Mortem: A little fast and loose by the cast since it was the last BYB for a pair of performers leaving town. Very gamey and high energy and a rollickin' good time. In the second half, I pretty much pimped one performer into callbacks (via music) because his song and character were just so much fun for the audience and performers. The audience was also full of "muggles" there to support their friends in the Performance Workshop, so it was very interesting to see what they reacted to versus the normal improv audience.

I've done this form previously, limiting the song-inspired scenes to 2 people only, but I didn't want to inhibit the performers too much at the top of the show...but I also knew that with so many gamey and strong players, all of whom would be amped up for farewell show, that I would have to establish some guidelines. So in my pre-show chat I emphasize three points:

->Make strong choices, but use them to serve your partner (i.e. don't make a strong choice and then blow away/ignore your partner).

->Once you are edited, shut the fuck up. Don't try to squeeze one more line in as you fade to sidelines. Once you get swept or tagged, shut up and get off the stage. I didn't want people slipping out half-mumbled lines in as they slid to the side.

->On the sidelines, no sidebits/whispers/chatter. Sometimes folks get so into the show, they forget they're doing a show where the audience can see and hear everything and get a little loosey-goosey.

All very rudimentary points to re-iterate to the cast, especially one chock full of strong vets, but I felt it couldn't hurt to reiterate some basic etiquette to keep them on the same page.


Coming soon: Joe Bill Coaching Workshop notes and Project X rehearsal notes

[Sammy]

Saturday night. A time for drinking, no?

No.

Well, not tonight. Not a big loss since I drank pretty much every other night this week. Ah, the life of a functioning alcoholic improvisor.

Tonight was for work.

E-mail solicit and begin edit for Playground Director List 2.0

E-mail PG General Auditions info to PG membership

E-mail profcom peeps on profcom biz

E-mail folks on other profcom biz

Call folks re: profcom biz

Edit Pilot Membership combined applicant info for e-mail on Monday

Check on feedback for recently wrapped Performance Workshop

Begin work on setting up March and April Performance Workshops

Re-confirm peep for Deuces Wild gig at Mullen's

Update this goddam journal

Add in the PG Membership meeting and Joe Bill's coaching workshop and it's been a rather full day.

One day I'll amputate that weird ambition I have and just be a regular joe-schmoe improvisor. That'll be a great life I think.

At least a more rested one.

On a less hectic note, I had to turn down a directing gig earlier this week due to a time conflict. Ditto for a sub-coach gig. Hopefully the directing ball is starting to gain momentum...

* * *


Two very different experiences:

A little over two weeks ago, I trotted out Deuces Wild at Ginger's Ale House. DW is my side gig where I book a guest slot somewhere and then pick-up some improvisors I've never played with to perform. Rene Duquesnoy and Rex Graff and I ended up performing to handful of other improvisors in the backroom of a bar on a Monday night. We did a simple Roadtrip form: the 3 of us in a car for a single 25-minute scene. It was a rock-solid show full of both character moments and hilarious bits.

Just last Tuesday night was Chris Alvarado's final "final" performance in Chicago (he had a bunch of "final" performances in his other troupes in the run-up to his to very last night). A pick-up group was thrown together and we inflicted drunky, sloppy, bitty and horrible improv upon the sizable Playground audience. Not art by any means, yet still entertaining to the audience apparently.

I had fun at both shows, different types of fun to be sure, but fun nonetheless. I guess I hate the fact that the PG show was a high(er)-visibility fuckaround while the Ginger's gig was something I am proud of and so few folks had seen.

Man, I really wish more people had seen that gig.



* * *

BIG YELLOW BUS

February 2nd:
ACT I
-Dan Carr, our guest musician, provides inspiration with his songs.
-Basically a modified Armando format with Dan as Armando...a fuckin' hilarious Armando. Seriously, he should go on tour with his guitar and songs and become a rockstar.
-Breakdown: Source/Chapter1/Source/Chapter2/Source/Chapter3

ACT II
-Source/Scenes/Call back run

Post Mortem: Dan's songs carried the piece. First act was a little argumentative (nerves?) and it was damn tough to follow up such crowd rockin' music. The second act suffered from poor editing--it was only 20 minutes, but felt much longer because BYB was sans it's 2 sharpest editors and everyone else played too politely. The scenes were decent, but would have been much better with tighter edits. The BYB crew is going to have to compensate and start filling in for what we've lost recently in the core cast. Still a decent a show that the audience enjoyed and the performers had fun doing, but the Maintenance Crew and I were a bit tough on ourselves about what was(n't) done that night.

* * *

I totally promise notes from Joe Bill's class and Project X soon! And this time I mean it!!

[Sammy]

PROJECT X

Intro
Tired of waiting to be assigned an Incubator team and missing the fun of directing a group, I decided to put together a small ensemble of 6 folks to work with. Since most them have never directly worked with each other, or with me as a director, I ask them to commit to just a pair of 2-hour rehearsals to see if this is something they want to commit to. Since I'm the one who put it together, I cover the rehearsal space costs and tell 'em not to worry about the typical $5/head you pay out to the director--how bull would it be if **I** put them together and then obligated them to pay me?


December, 4th - Trial Rehearsal #1
This rehearsal was all about getting them up and playing. I wanted them to mix it up and get a feel for each other. Also, I wanted to see how they worked together as a group and look for individual strengths and weaknesses. Due to scheduling, I only get 5 of the 6 folks at this rehearsal.

What We Did:
Check in Circle

Ultimate Warm Up
Briefly run several warm-ups in row--ZipZapZop, Red Ball, Big Booty, BippityBippityBop, Knife Throw, etc.--have the performers to start with any one and allow them to switch to any other one midstream. Not about speed or trickery, but concentration and focus.

Slew of Scenes
Performers form a backline, director calls a performer's name, they initiate a scene immediately and someone joins them. Director calls scene and another name. Quick warm-up to get the scene juices flowing.

Rock n' Roll Freeze Tag
Freeze tag...only every line of dialogue must be sung, rhyming very optional. Stolen from Craig Cackowski...here are his notes from a workshop he did: "Embrace the queerness. Commitment, energy, diving in, matching your partner's tone, using repetition, being unafraid to make yourself look ridiculous. Those who aren't afraid to look silly look way cooler than those trying to look cool."

We then knocked out three different forms:

Montage

Living Room
Performers sit onstage conversing as themselves. Whenever inspired by the conversation, performers may initiate a scene on the opposite side of stage. Fellow performers call scene as needed and resume conversation.

Shotgun Personals
Random personal ad from Chicago Reader read aloud, performer gives monologue as the person who wrote personal, series of tagouts exploring that character and their world. Reset to new personal ad when run of scenes is done.

Wrap Up:
Good first rehearsal. Everyone worked well together and, more importantly, truly enjoyed playing with each other.


December, 11th - Trial Rehearsal #2
Argh! Only 4 of 6 could make this rehearsal. I lost my notes from this rehearsal, but residual scritch-scrath in my memobook...

What We Did:
Check In Circle

Ultimate Warm Up

Multiple Pattern Game

Slew of Scenes

2-person scenes (longer 3 - 5 minute scenes)

Montages (three 12-15 minute montages, each with a different focus)

Wrap Up:
A little tough with only 4 people, but it was a fruitful 2-hours. Today I did a little more side-coaching and note-giving than the previous rehearsal so they could get a feel for how I approached the work.


Interlude:
During the break, 5 of the 6 decide to commit to the Project. I'm sad to lose #6, but excited that I have a solid 5 to work with.


January, 8th
Our first "real" rehearsal. D'oh, only 3 of 5 make it! We push on. During our chat, I tell 'em I'm not looking to create a form with them, but rather a style of play. Whatever their group sensibility takes to is where we'll go. We'll rehearse till we feel we're solid with whatever we're doing (no matter how long it takes) and then put up a show.

During our trial rehearsals, I noticed how well they transitioned from scene to scene, so I decide for a week or two to try some transition work with 'em ala JTS Brown/4 Square.

What We Did:
Check-In Circle

Stretching
Each performer leads a stretch

Rap Machine
Circle up. 'A' chooses a "hip hop" song sound like 'wikkiwikki' and shares it with 'B', so A/B say wikkiwikki simulataneously. B chooses 'mmmmDROP!' and shares it with C, so B/C say "mmmmDROP!' together. Go around the circle until every pair has a sound. Start the pattern going around the circle, after a few passes, performers can start reversing the pattern and sending it backwards. The quicker the better...and funnier.

Slew of Scenes

1-3-1
Standard 1-5-1 or onion peel, but with three folks. Did it three times to give everyone a shot at being the solo starter.

3 On
10-minute montage with 3 players always on stage and using internal edits to move to new scenes.

Flip Flop
Give 3-person scenario, freeze it after established, have them start second 3-person scenario, then let them flip between the two different scenarios at will -- "Congressmen at Congressional Hearing" / "Students eating lunch" or "Slumber Party" / "Soldier's Camp." Done so they could get the feel of flipping between scenes on a line of dialogue, physicality or emotional point. Done twice.

3 On
Revisit, this time giving a little more time to play and try the new things we just learned.

Wrap Up:
Even though there were only three, the energy was high and work exceptional.

Random notes I scribbled down, either topics we discussed or notes to myself for later:

- No sweeps. Morph!
- Things that lend themselves to transitions? Lines? Sounds? Physical? Emotional?
- A-B-A-B
- A-B-C-D-C-B-A
- Pop outs/Ghosting/Juxtaposition - seeing another scene's physicality *oh-so-briefly* in the middle of current scene if inspired
- Maybe one scene is metaphor for another?
- (regarding group scenes) General scene choice is made for you by the group, specific character choice is made by you.


January 15th
4 of 5 at this rehearsal. It amuses me to think that we still haven't had a full boat yet. Since 2 of the 4 weren't at last week's rehearsal, it's a catch-up rehearsal for 2 folks and an opportunity to get some reps in for the other folks.

What We Did:
Check In Circle

Slew of Scenes

1-4-1

Flip Flop

Pair of shows
One show was with all 4 always on, one show was any time someone entered/exited the scene transformed.

Wrap Up:
Everyone is one the same page now. Thank god...

[Sammy]

PROJECT X (cont.)

January 22nd
It took four rehearsals, but finally the entire group is in the same room at the same time. We discuss what we've been doing and I ask if they want to follow it for a bit. We decide to keep exploring the transitional stuff. My goal today is to work a little bit on character physicality and commitment--with a smaller ensemble, each person is going to be onstage more and needs have a greater range of characters to bring to the table as well as act as their personal cue to remember scenes ("Oh, yeah, I was a hunchback in this scene"); also, because transformational stuff leads to unorthodox/weird situations, I want them to do solid relationship scenework while still committing and heightening the weirdness.

Check In Circle

10 Minute Warm Up
Give them 10 minutes to do whatever they want to do to warm up. Let them decide and execute the warm-up process by themselves.

Match/More
Match: Form a backline. Performer A steps forward. B steps forward and initiates a physicality, A must match it as closely as possible. Cycle through several backline performers while keeping A onstage with each matching lasting 10 - 30 seconds. During one of the matches, have the performers begin a scene. After scene, have a new performer be the matcher and repeat.
More: Same as Match, except onstage performer must bump phsyicality up a notch ('do it more' / 'heighten the physicality' / '150%'/etc.). Again, during a cycle, cue a scene up.
-->Usually I do Match/More/Double, where I do a third cycle of heightening, but they were so physical and energetic that were out panting an tapped by the end of More. I like doing this one because it breaks performers out of their own 'go to' physicalities (or lack thereof) and reinforces the concepts of commitment and support.

Weird Scenes
A series 2-person scenes with the instruction that the performers' should attempt to make them the weirdest, silliest scenes EVER.
-->After every scene, I'd ask the performers to rate how weird it felt on a scale from 1-10. Almost always they felt they could have personally gone even weirder. The folks on the outside loved the whole-hearted commitment and strange sense of logic even the most non-sequitor of scenes had. I brought this one in because I want them to be comfortable with the crazy shit that might happen in a transformational and be willing to invest in it, even it seems to make no sense (yet, if ever).

Pair of Shows
Naturally, the first show was thoroughly influenced by all the weirdness we had focused on that day. The second one less so.

Wrap Up:
A hilarious and silly day. It was nice to see that no one felt uncomfortable doing any of the weird scenes and held onto their shit.

January 29th
Today, I was going to put some tools in our toolbox. They know that their style will be transitional work, but I thought I'd offer some things they could play with in a show if ever inspired to. Short-term plan: Show them some of the things JTS Brown did. Long-term plan: Let them create and explore their own tools that fit their own sensibilities.

Check In Circle

10 Minute Warm Up
This week, I gave them the caveat they couldn't do any pre-established warm-ups--it had to be an original. They basically did an 8-minute organic Harold opening which satirized Harold openings and it was probably better than most Harold openings I've seen.

Dialogue Loop
During the Weird Scenes of the previous week, a Dialogue Loop was created. We played with that a bit. First, we did a scene where each performer spoke only a single line of dialogue and anytime they spoke, they could only say their line. Then we expanded it to 2 lines each so it went A1-B1-A2-B2-A1-B1-etc. in a loop. Then we expanded it to 3 lines each. At all times, the line readings were not static, but dynamic and allowed to be affected by the performers emotion and intent. And since this was not a Time Loop, the scene was still progressing forward even though the dialogue was "locked."

Best if lines are short and direct. Best if lines directly speak to you or the other person (i.e. not fluff lines about nothing at all, but strong relationship-oriented lines with "I" or "You"). After looping through the lines a couple of times, treating all the lines as a communal pool of dialogue open to either performer was an interesting/accidental discovery.

Flashpoint
We then played with playing a scene through and jumping back to decision point in the scene and playing an alternate outcome then jumping back again for a total of three different outcomes. It helped to cue up a few lines before the decision point to clue your partner(s) in and/or if the flashpoint was not major decision but a minor one played for effect (i.e. Clerk's reaction to robber pulling a gun versus co-worker's reaction to being offered a cup of coffee). Making each decision clearly distinct from the others was also a major part.

Sliding Doors
Just like the movie. We see both outcomes of a decision and internally bounce between the two different scenes. Again, having a each branch be distinct from each other was important.

Wrap Up:
2 hours chock full of scenes and discoveries. Ideas were quickly picked up on.


February 9th -- BYB dry run

Back when I did the BYB guest schedule in January, I didn't realize I had scheduled 4 of the 5 ProjectX performers for the same show. That night, I decided to break the cast into platoons and put all 4 of the PX folks in the same chapter with Pat O'Brien. They would get about 12 minutes to themselves and their only directives were "all 5 always on, transformations to move between scenes"

They rocked it out. They comfortably moved between scenes, jumped on the patterns of the scene and even bookended the chapter with the original scene. And smack dab in the middle, they had a total non-sequitor scene where they were just farm animals just hanging out in the middle of the stage, doing nothing except chewing cud and making the occasional squawk. Hilarious.

A solid trial-by-fire for the performers, great feedback from peeps in the house and something for me to look at and analyze.


February 12th
Since we can only rehearse twice in February due to Festival commitments of the cast, our two rehearsals will be 3 hours long. I'm a little nervous pushing a small group that long, but I don't want to lose any momentum. Today would be about just doing a ton of scenes and transitions i.e. getting their reps in since we skipped last week.

What We Did

'Show Notes'
Briefly ran down the work they did on Thursday. I asked them what they enjoyed about the show, what they thought worked and any general observations before I did my notes. Briefly, what I pointed out:

Camp - Great patience at top. Built scene brick by brick. Everyone had strong POV, gave gifts to others.
Phone - Great commitment and group physicality/emotion.
Farm - Awesome commitment to be just animals and let it sit there. They had HUGE improv balls.
Phone2 - Way to let scene evolve.
Face - Great individual choices.
Camp2 - Nice bookend.

General notes - Totally like "7 dwarves" - everyone immediately agreed and committed to what a scene was about, but each person made specific choices for themselves i.e. as if you were the 7 dwarves in Snow White, you all jumped on being dwarves, but each had your own take (Sneezy, Sleepy, Doc, etc).

10-minute warm
This week's instruction was to commit to the warm-up, no matter what it is. Don't half-ass it. If you need 10 to get ready, use it and commit to it. Again, they did a very organic, transformational piece to warm-up

Check In Circle

Slew of Scenes

Rock n Roll Freeze Tag

1-5-1 twice

10-minute piece

15-minute piece

40-minute piece
Our first full-length piece. It was interesting to see them adjust to a longer set with exponentially more information and potential. In none of the pieces did any of the 'tools' we've been messing around pop out. Which is fine. They're there if we ever decide to use them, if ever.

Wrap Up:
We chatted about things we wanted to work on in future rehearsals and booking potential gigs down the road. When we first started, I told them that I'd rather rehearse for months on end with the occasional workshop show at the Playground to work out kinks before doing a run in the fall...but we'll see how that shakes out as we progress.

* * *

PS
Burt, I will write for you soon.

[Sammy]

Dear Burt,

Last week was my birthday. I turned 33.

God. That sounds so foreign to me. 33. Not old...foreign.

Sometimes, I still feel like that excited 27-year-old who rolled into town with no job, no home and barely any cash. I just had enthusiasm and a deep love for this amazing improv thing. I still feel that way when I'm sitting in the booth and watching my friends rock it out on stage or when a couple of us trade bits over beers afterwards. And when I'm directing and something beautifully unexpected blows me away, it feels like it's all new and shiny and pure potential.

And sometimes I feel like a jaded asshole of an improvisor who's seen hundreds of improv ensembles and thousands of improv shows who wants to rip apart his seat and fling it at the half-assing, clueless performers on stage before grabbing their director and screaming in his face, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN REHEARSALS?!" every time I see yet another banal montage with uninspired work from "veteran" ensembles.

It's a rough go of it sometimes, Burt.

I love what we do, I hate how some of us do it.

Let me admit some of my assholery right now. Are you having a super crappy show, to the point I feel like I'm being physically assaulted by your improv? I'll stop trying to analyze the show or pretending I'm onstage with you, considering what moves I'd make, and I'll let my mind wander--I actually run scenes in my head rather than watch your show. And if a couple of shows in row tank? I'll start texting my friends or take a quick walk around the theater or go stretch my legs in the dark recesses of the space just to stop the hurt on my improv heart you're laying on me. These are my coping tools. And I'm sorry if you see me out of the corner of your eye and I hurt your feelings, but sometimes a person just can't take any more.

And you know what? Here's something else...if you're on an ensemble that's done the same form for years on end, please stop considering yourself a good ensemble. Why? If you've done Harold or a Documentary or a Close Quarters or whatever form for years and years on end, I hope to God that you're actually good at it because all you've done is the same fucking thing week in and week out. And don't give me the "we're exploring and mastering it" bull. After a certain point, your ensemble needs to move on from the safe confines and familiar rhythms of your current form and get back to being uncertain and scared and invigorated and enthused. That's what improv is.

Ugh, sorry, Burt. Got a little angry there.

How about some things I got cookin' I'm hyped about?

The Playground General Improv Auditions
I got the go ahead to create and run the first ever General Auditions for the Playground Theater. It's an audition specifically aimed at experienced improvisors who are looking to be recruited by veteran PG ensembles. The performers, who would normally skip the newbie Incubator audition, now have incentive to audition while PG ensembles now have a pool of seasoned performers to pull from to round out their rosters. Win - Win situation for both performer and ensemble. Also, it gives the PG Theater another point of entry for non-affliated improvisors who want to become PG members. And between the large pool of Chicago performers and the impending IO cuts, there'll be plenty of folks who are looking for another opportunity to play...

BYB in March
I'm gonna be more experimental in the forms I choose for the BYB shows in March. It could be four absolute failures. Who knows? Regardless, it'll challenge the BYB regulars and excite/terrify our guests.

Indie Night
Sorry, Burt, I really can't speak much about this. Not yet. Give me a day or two to shore up the details...

Man, I'm still got other topics I want to tee off on. But I know better. Best to let them rest. For now.

(bepositivethinkpositive)

But maybe it's good that some things still piss me off, Burt. Usually it's a combination of the altruistic "this is something that should be done" and an angry "this is something that must be done" impulses that get me revved up and rarin' to go. And whether or not things work out, at least I stepped up and tried to make something happen, unlike 99% the folks who would rather complain and judge and not do jack to remedy the situation.

(bepositivethinkpositive)

Man, I'm in a fiesty mood today. I think you're goading me on, Burt. Stop it.

I guess it's the lack of vision, initiative and personal accountability that gets to me in the improv world. You have the world's most dynamic and creative workforce at your disposal...but God help you if you're depending on them to organize themselves and act in an effective manner.

When it comes to my improv projects, I accept blame 100%. I accept all responsibility for anything that goes wrong, or even less than ideal execution. Too often, it feels like folks will pass the buck or blame things beyond their control. I'll take the hit because when it comes down to it, I'm in charge. No one else is to blame.

If only my personal life were as structured and motivated as my professional life.

It's a shambles, Burt. Shambles!

Got a huge tax return a couple of weeks back. I have no idea where that money went. Credit cards are maxed out. I'm avoiding creditors. My room is a fantastically disgusting mess. My health is a bit dodgy. And I'm pretty sure my workplace wants to fire me...

...and I don't care.

If only all the improv stuff I did actually paid. I love Lady Improv but Mr. Reality is knocking hard on my door.

(bepositivethinkpositive)

It seems like such a long time since that Level 1 class, huh?

Take care, Burt.

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

February 9th:

ACT I
-Dan Carr, our guest musician, provides inspiration with his songs. This week he brought his electric guitar to play.
-Again, a modified Armando format with Dan as Armando, however this week I assigned "styles" to the two first-act chapters, each of which had its own mini-cast of 5 performers. Chapter 1 was all group scenes with transformations (as mentioned in the PX notes). Chapter 2 was go!go!go!go! fast-moving improv.
-Breakdown: Source/Chapter1/Source/Chapter2/Source

ACT II
-Dan opened and then after riffing with some new material, cast runs it out once callbacks start dropping.


February 16th:

ACT I
Dan provides "mood" music for the tops of the scenes at the beginning of the show on his accoustic guitar. Performers use music to influence their scenic/character choices.

ACT II
Dive right in and go. Dan joins cast to improvise in second half.


BYB Post Mortem:
By the third musical BYB, I'm a little mentally tuckered out; without a set cast and regular rehearsals, it feels like there's only so much I can really try without overwhelming anyone. I have ideas galore, but I'm also trying to do right by my cast and the audience. I told Dan he gets to create the format for his last show, so I'm interested to see what he comes up with. He bandied about a narrative form the other night, so I'm thinking that's what might pop up next week. To be honest, I'm looking forward to March: my casting is going to be much tigther and I'm going to have a freer hand with what I do.

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

February 23rd
One act show (approx. 35 min)

-Dan Carr had a conflict, so we were sans musician
-We did Shotgun Personals: Performer steps forward, I read a random personal ad from the Chicago Reader, performer gives a monologue as the person who wrote the ad, we see a series of scenes (using tag outs) with that person exploring who they are. When we feel the scene run is done, a performer steps downstage, I read another ad and repeat the process. At some point, we begin a run-out.

BYB Post Mortem:
A rough, rough show. It would be easy to blame the casting or a house stultified by the opening act, but it really boiled down to no big choices being made and a monotony of energy. It happens. Life goes on. As part of the "one and done" policy, this format has been retired.


Experimental March begins! Yay! Since this is my last month before my temporary hiatus, I set the cast lists without a general call to the PG population--I want to be able to take some chances with forms and cast size that I usually couldn't take due to the open nature of the Big Yellow Bus. It may not truly be "crazy experimental" form-wise, but it will be experimental style-wise.


March 2nd
One act show (approx. 45 min)

My cast of six shrinks to four, two ladies and two gentlemen. Unpeturbed, I brief them in the warm-ups: One act with one scene in one location. The performers are given permission to at any time deliver a soliliqouy or an aside to the audience. The four of the them jump on the form and own the audience with a double date gone bad in a Pizza Hut. From top to bottom a great, great performance. Possibly one the best BYB shows ever.

BYB Post Mortem:
Succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. I get a few questions about why the cast was so small since BYB can easily field 12+ performers every week, but I explain my reasoning and now can point to this show. Sidenote: when a general call for performers goes out, approximately 30+ improvisors can perform on a given date. Talk about scheduling headaches...


BYB housecleaning takes place. Several BYB Maintenance crew have conflicts as ComedySportz or TourCo or directing gigs eat up their time, so they become BYB pensioners--folks who are more than welcome to play in the BYB if they have the free time, but are no longer expected to be there on a regular basis. Losing 4 folks in a short period of time forces me to reassess what the cast has and what we need. I also tell myself to avoid the trap of trying recreate what was and focus on what can be. Two folks I was considering adding to the cast, finalize their invites on the strength of the four-person show.

March 9th
One act show (approx. 45 min)

The gray and drizzly weather inspires me. In the warm-ups, I tell the cast we'll be doing the 'Black Out' -- again one scene in one location, but entirely in the dark...with the random contents of a shoebox available to them. (Offhand, there were various flashlights, a candle, candy, books, loose change and a glowing toy sword among other things in the shoebox.) Again, another great show.

BYB Post Mortem:
I feel like a little bit of a cheat since we did the "one scene" thing last week, but with the wrinkle of the black out and random objects, I felt it was enough of a twist to get away with. I couldn't get the theater totally blacked out (dammit) but it was dark enough to where the light sources actually mattered.

[Sammy]

PROJECT X

February 19th / March 5th / March 12th / March 19th:

On February 19th, as part of our continual exploration of transformational work, I introduced the performers to the opening I did with Courtesy Sleeve. They really dug it and liked having an opening to fuel the show. We decided to follow it further.

The next week, I broke down the opening and showed them various ways to pull from it for physicalities and sounds, taking them "as is" or sliding and transposing them into something new. We also looked at some Calvin and Hobbes cartoons Andy Carey brought in, all of which showed Calvin's imagination as a transformational/metaphorical device. We used those to inspire our work bouncing between a pair of scenes where one was a metaphor for the other.

The following week, we worked on moving from the opening into abbreviated pieces--slowly gearing up show lengths from 10 minutes to 15 minutes to 25 minutes. At the end, we did a breakneck 10-minute piece to re-establish the sharp energetic pace we had lost while experimenting with the artsier stuff in previous weeks.

Last week, was a brief rehearsal due to low numbers, but we worked again on attacking the edits--keep scenes moving and don't linger in the organic transformations and use it as a stalling device. Pace and momentum were the watchwords for the two pieces we cranked out.

So, basically they're doing a variation of the Courtesy Sleeve form except with an emphasis on full-cast scenes and keeping things moving. In our IO show application, I pitched the show as Mission:Improvable's Trip meets FourSquare.


Today:
IO gave us the tentative dates of Thursdays at 10:30 in the Del Close Theater, starting in mid-May. 4 years ago, Courtesy Sleeve debuted on same stage in mid-May. As I was typing that last sentence, TJ Jagodowski's Flintstone Midas commercial aired. TJ was the original director for Courtesy Sleeve for that run.

I can't stop smiling.

[Sammy]

CHRYSALIS CLARK (formerly known as 'PROJECT X')

March 26th
A solid rehearsal that ends with running a full-piece that was just brutal to watch for me and do for them. Ouchie. I'm not fazed. If you're not failing in rehearsal, you're not trying hard enough. I'm glad we knocked out a full-length stinker because we turned it into a lesson to learn from: what didn't work? why wasn't it working? what do we need to do? etc. Nothing teaches you more about executing a form than when it fails.

During team biz chat at the end, the group decides on a new name: Chrysalis Clark. Chrysalis after the transformative work we do, Clark because if you take the first initial of all the performers (Chrissy, Lauren, Andy, Roger, Kirk) it spells Clark.

April 2nd
With three rehearsals, including this one, until the Playground show, I decide to break down the opening 10-15 minutes of the show this week and work on whole-show dynamics next week.

As the first 10-minutes of our show has gone, the rest of the show has followed. If we start out slow and tentative or not flowing from scene-to-scene, it carries over into the rest of the piece. So, I decide to a couple of things:

#1 - I likened our style of play to an Improv Shark, if the piece stops moving, we suffocate and die. Move to live. The Shark may intentionally slow down, but it can never stop moving.

#2 - We're going to run the first 10 minutes of the show, the opening and initial round of scenes, over and over again. I want them to feel how to hit the ground running from the get go.

#3 - Since none of them have ever seen the piece from my perspective (the audience/director p.o.v.), each time we run an abbreviated piece, one of the performers will sit out and watch with me. Afterwards, they would get to share their observations with the group when I gave my superbrief notes.

It went swimmingly. Totally sweaty and stinky for all involved, but swimmingly nonetheless.

From the inside, the performers got to feel the pace I was pushing for repeatedly. From the outside, they finally got to see the piece in action and see how cool it looked from opening to transition work. They also learned what was satisfying as an audience member as compared to how it felt to do it as a performer. The big things I wanted to do today was A) get them attacking the opening third of the show and B) to couple the kinesthetic with the visual and meld them into a practical learning exercise. Done and done. All in all, an intense rehearsal that paid some nice dividends

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

March 16th
One Act (approx. 45 min)

Very simple premise, get a location and then jump around doing scenes in the various areas of said location. Our suggestion was the United Center, so we saw everything from the bleachers to the skybox to the locker room to the parking lot and much more. A loose, silly show.

March 23rd
One act (40 minutes)

I loaned out my two male BYB performers to the opening act (who was short people). I had the five ladies left and we did a "slumber party": the lights were off and the women surrounded the audience--kind of a one-scene, surroundsound Bat. I forgot to tell the audience to close their eyes, so part of the illusion was probably dispelled by that. I also wanted the performers to pretty much almost be on top of the audience, but it wasn't as immersive as I thought given their positioning. The show went fine...and I think the women in the audience dug it more than the guys. I think there's something to this format that bears further exploration when I have the time.

March 30th
One Act (40 minutes)

Andy Carey's parents were in town, so I deferred the format to him. He wanted to do a living room, so boom, we did a living room. It was my last Big Yellow Bus (excepting CIF week) for a couple of months. Some Thursday night downtime does a body good

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

Ah hilarity...my hiatus from the Big Yellow Bus hasn't been much of one. For two of the last three Thursdays I was at the Playground to check out the opening Incubator ensembles for profcom (professionalism committee). Last night I ended up at the Town Hall drinking till late with a few BYB peeps. And I've spent the last couple of days getting a cast together for the CIF-week BYB. So, maybe May is real beginning of my BYB hiatus

Next week looks like a fun cast, bringing together some out of towners and Chicago peeps for a little mix-it-up make 'em ups.

Out of Towners:
Asaf Ronen (NYC)
Adrianne Frost (NYC)
Kevin Robbins (Toronto)
R. Kevin Doyle (Honolulu)
Jeff Hawkins (LA)

Chicago peeps:
Lisa Linke (Playground)
Kat Gotsick (Playground, ComedySportz, IO)
Nick John (Playground, IO)
Andy Eninger (Sybil)
Rene Duquesnoy (Playground, DSI)

Looks like funtimes for sure!


CHRYSALIS CLARK

4/9
The previous week was literally the opening 10 minutes over and over and over. This week we tried extending that energy into the whole piece by running 10-minute, 25-minute and 35-minute sets. There was a point where my mouth hung open at an amazing sequence: the opening series of scenes, a scene where a minor line was jumped on by the ensemble and lead to time travelling, physically moving backwards into scenes (in reverse running order no less), running the scenes with a new POV and and alternate outcome and then at the end of the entire sequence snapping to new material to continue the show without missing a beat. I stopped taking notes and just watched, stunned. It was one of those moments where you think, "Man, I wish I could claim I had anything to do with that as a director, but that was all them."

4/16
Easter Sunday, but we were all in town and had the Playground to rehearse in. Handy, since our PG show is this week (tonight as I write this). We play with tech, see what works and what doesn't. Run a few pieces and an exercise. Things are a little off. I remember from directing Sanford that I never feel I got to do everything I wanted to do before the group took to the stage. I got that same feeling that day. Not the best rehearsal, but we learned from it. They're performers who will deliver in the clutch, so I'm not too worried. But I am. Because I'm worrywart.

After this show we have three rehearsals until our IO run begins...

[Sammy]

BIG YELLOW BUS

Well, it's official, my hiatus is interrupted. The current showrunner has to bow out for May, so it's back on me to schedule and take care of BYBiz next month...


CHRYSALIS CLARK

Packed house on a Friday night. CC went up second. Some first show jitters--a bit tight and slow off the get go, but the group picked up the pace and relaxed about 10 minutes in; they actually felt like they were playing, not performing. It was generally well recieved but we knew we were probably at about 80% of our potential. I was pleased since it was the first time they did the piece in front of an audience and there are certain things that no amount of rehearsal can give you except putting it up in front of people. On Sunday, we touched base about the show, what we learned and what needed to do. We all agreed it was a solid first step and boded well for the impending IO run.

[Sammy]

I moved here here.