Class October 4, 2006

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures from this class, so this will be a pretty short post. There were 18 people who attended with 3 of them new to our workshop and new to improv. Once again, the new players were quite good, enthusiatically jumping up to participate, and making some great choices on stage.

My favorite opening lines of the night was given by Mark: "Mom, I'm home! The cops let me go."

Recital September 30, 2006

Here they are: the 15 screen shots I've collected from last night's recital. I laughed almost as hard replaying the video as I did during the show. I tried to pick out a representative frame for each piece, and the only games I missed were those that didn't really look good in a single, static image - like Tag Out Story.

Opening and Warm Up

I was pretty pleased with this opening shot, until I realized I was missing Andy, Victoria, and Mike. They get enough exposure from Caught in the Act, so I'm glad all the other players have a good clear shot (well, and me of course). From the left we have Neil, Justin, Marika, Eric, Alan, Scott, Patricia, Allegra, Teri, and Ben.

Pillars

We had two great volunteer word-givers from the audience. Mike and Neil were given "laundromat" as their starting location, and at this point, the word "twit" was given out to be applied to Neil. I think our volunteer word giver surprised and embarrassed herself. Neil, on the other hand, is in a pretty typical pose.

Story Story Die

This is the start of the piece, so everyone is still in play. Andy is starting off, and he had been given something like "ineffectual evil" as his emotion/attitude. Victoria, Eric, Alan (from behind), Teri, Patricia, and Ben round out the players in this frame.

Irish Drinking Song

Teri, Victoria, Patricia, and Andy belted out this song about Irish immigration in the 19th century ... oh no, wait. This one was about NASCAR.

I have it on good authority (well, the one Irish person who attended the show) that this isn't really an Irish song.

Really?!

Alphabet

Mike, Justin, and Scott were given the set up "prison camp". At this point in the scene, the warden (Scott) is trying to get on with a pottery class while the prisoners are spending a lot of time talking about escaping.

Almost all of the letters in the alphabet were used in this scene, although I do not guarantee that they were used in the order they are normally given.

Open Scene

Andy and Allegra had "nurses" as their starter. So, of course Allegra was stealing drugs (and anything else she could get her hands on) from the hospital. In this frame, Andy, the holy and pure co-worker, has discovered that she has tracks on her arm.

Our shows are all about providing life lessons for the kids.

It's odd how many scenes that night involved drug abuse in one form or another. Not normally a theme for us, they weren't particularly out of place. Just noticeably different.

Surprise Lines

Marika, Allegra, and Ben were given "train station" as their location. I think the surprise lines were delivered fast and furious, just like they should be. It was a good scene.

My favorite surprise line was "I'm 64". I just found it delightfully mundane.

Puppets

For me, this was the funniest scene in the whole show. It was physical, situational, and Neil played his positions with some wonderfully simply but appropriate lines. From left to right, we have our volunteer puppeteer Mark, players Scott and Neil, and our second volunteer Kelly. By this point, Kelly was lost in hysterical laughter and was basically rough-handling Neil around the stage. Scott continued to set him up, and Neil just played out lines that addressed the wacky poses Kelly was putting him in. I finally stopped the scene because I couldn't breath anymore.

Emotional Zones

This scene had the funniest single line of the night. In this shot, Teri is showing a cow's tail to Eric and Andy. The setup was a cattle drive, and Eric's character had been preparing steak for dinner. But, Andy's character was a vegetarian. Teri's character, trying to be helpful, said "...try this tail, it's almost a vegetable".

Hmm, it was MUCH funnier in the show.

Continuing Scene, Changing Genre

In this shot, Victoria, Scott, and Neil are playing their scene as a Film Noir. The setup was the location "amusement park". I love the way Victoria is just vamping it up. Look at that pose...and in sneakers!

This scene went on to be about incest. As I mentioned before, we are nothing if not educational.

Expert Panel

Sorcery was the topic for this expert panel made up of Justin, Allegra, Ben, and Marika. Neil did a great job as MC. In this frame, Justin is discussing finger painting and sorcery. Allegra's character is trying to hit on Ben's character, and Marika is contemplating being 300 years old.

My favorite moment during this scene was when Neil dealt with a question from the audience that was off track. He claimed there was a technical violation because the asker hadn't raised her hand, allowing him to avoid the having to get an answer to the question. Nice!

Open Scene

Eric and Mike were given "hairdresser" as a profession, and in this shot they are discussing the Parisian Finger Cut.

I liked the physicalizing that occurred during this scene. The chair helped a lot as both players got in and out of it throughout the scene. Eric was really expansive in his miming. It was wonderful to watch him dunk his head into a water bassin while washing his own hair.

By the end of the scene the two characters had switched roles, with Mike's character giving Eric's the haircut.

Step Out Musical

At this point in their scene, Victoria, Andy, and Allegra were dancing their way off stage in the final number of the musical.

Their scene had involved a mother that had "tried everything" to raise her kids, like abandon one and spoil the other. They finally came together at the end and this final group song was about teamwork. It involved a lot of stomping and train noises as they worked their way off stage. It really worked much better on stage than it sounds from this description.

Really.

Switch Dubbing

I'm sorry this frame is so blurry, because this was one of the cleverest moments of the night. Eric had timed the rhythms of my calling "switch" for this scene, and he set up a big kiss just before I switched him and Victoria into the scene. So he was celebrating his success before a big smooch on stage with Victoria. Nice.

Final Bows

Okay, in this somewhat blurry shot, captured from the video of our final bow, I've gotten at least a smidge of every player's face. From left to right: Patricia, Mike, Justin, Eric, Scott, Teri, Ben, Victoria, Allegra, Marika, Alan, Neil, and Andy. All are taking a well deserved bow at the end of a very successful show.

Class September 27, 2006

Wow! We just topped last week's attendance with 22 people in class last night, including me. Four of the players were brand new to improv, and they still jumped up and participated in just about everything. The camera got passed around a fair amount. There were at least 4 people that I saw taking pictures. I'm trying to keep the total number of pictures in a post down to a reasonable amount, so I'm looking into how I can provide a slide show utility. There are a lot of fun pictures, even after I throw out all the really blurry ones.

Victoria, Ben, Scott, and Marika are in a Continuing Scene, Changing Genre game. It probably goes without saying that they are in the middle of a Mystery.

Teri, Neil, Brian, and Dustin are playing the same game, but from the looks of this picture, they are performing as a Children's Show.

I like the expressions in this picture. Mark looks scared and Karla looks really mad at Eric's Dad (sorry, I don't remember his name). Mike just looks lost. The location was a drug store, but I believe that this segment was being played as a mystery.

This was one of my favorite moments of the night. I don't remember the location, but Betts, Jim, Patricia, and Allegra are performing this part of the scene as a light opera. It was a very fun piece and just look at those expressions.

Here, Andrew, Scott, Justin, and Eric (son of Eric's dad), are also performing in a Continuing Scene, Changing Genre (I had clear pictures for all 5 iterations of this game, so I was able to cover everyone in a picture!). I don't know if this is the part where they were performing an Opera, but that was certainly the most memorable genre!

Even though there were a lot of other great pictures from the night, I wanted to include this shot because I think it's just a sweet capture of these two very funny women.

I think we had a very full night, and we also had a chance to prepare for the Recital this coming Saturday. Don't forget, the show starts at 8:00, this Saturday September 30.

IT WILL BE FUN

Class September 20, 2006

I want to thank Andy for grabbing the camera and taking these shots. Last night was a big class, with 21 people including me. We still got everyone through 5 games, separate from the warm-up exercises.

These pictures don't capture everyone, but I picked out 6 that I think represent the class pretty well.

This was a panel of knitting experts. The players are Allegra, Ben, Marika, Scott (one of the two), and Neil who played the MC. They had a pretty good range of characters, although I think the favorite was Slash (Scott), a parolee who made his knitting needles from toothbrushes in prison.

What was wonderful about this scene was how all the players kept endowing an event that had been offered in the initial introductions by Mary Beth (Marika). There was a horrible knitting accident in 1998. Rather than focusing on the external event, they made it affect each other in an immediate way. Lot's of feelings and support. Nice.

The second panel consisted of experts on snowflakes. Scott (the other one), Diana, Sharon, and Eric were experts, and Jim served as MC. I think Julie Langsrom (Sharon) from Minnesota ("don't you know") was the best played character since she interacted enthusiatically with everyone. But Starshine Zephyr (Eric), who was searching for his personal snowflake, was quite memorable.

We don't have a shot of the third group since Andy was in that one (oops, flaw in the system).

This is the fourth panel of experts. Mark, Rosey, Brian, and Karla played experts on lollipops. Allegra was the MC, although she didn't make it into the shot. Mark is explaining how his character survived a horrible lollipop accident.

Now we have a couple of shots from the Irish Drinking Songs. I don't remember the topic of this one, but Victoria, Ben, Allegra, Patricia, Karla, and Jim were setting the bar pretty high for the following groups.

Here, Rosey, Scott, Scott (yeah, both of them), Lisee (oh man, I hope that's spelled right - I'm already sorry for screwing up the pronunciation of her name the whole night), and Teri. Somehow, I had the 4 brand new players teamed together for the song. Luckily, Teri served as an anchor. They all did great, especially for the first time.

Actually, the new players were great all night. ALL of them were quick to jump up on stage when given the opportunity. ALL of them actively participated in the scenes without overwhelming them. I've been pretty impressed with the caliber of new players coming to the workshop.

This last shot is from one of the Entrances and Exits games we played at the end of the night. The setting in the shot is a police station, and a police officer (Patricia) is trying to get the confessed murderer (Teri) back to her cell. Another officer is off stage (Lisee), and the interrogating police sergeant (Scott) was basking in his good police work.

We went a bit late, but I think the night was worth it.

Recital Scheduled

It's official. We have Jefferson Hall reserved for the next class recital. Here are the specifics so that you can start letting friends and family know: Date: Saturday, September 30, 2006 Time: 8:00 pm until 9:30 pm Location: Jefferson Hall, 1525 Santa Barbara Street

I passed around a sign up sheet at the last class and I'll continue signing people up at the next. If you don't have a chance to sign up and would like to participate, please contact me.

Irony?

Here's the thing: I'm not sure whether this is an amazingly ironic moment, or a setup by a very clever improvisor in the workshop. We rent a small performance space for our workshop, and I usually arrive a couple of minutes early to start setting up. Last week I unlocked the door, and there on the stage was a table with a lovely vase of flowers. Not thinking beyond the fact that I had to now clear the stage, I moved everything to one side and the class went on.

Afterwards, as we were clearing up I put the table and vase back on the stage. At that point, several much more observant players in the class pointed out that this was a physical representation of my classic Yes And talk. That description appears in my previous post on the subject.

Well, we were all impressed and amused so we took several photos. I even mentioned at the end of the posting for lasts week's class that there was a special picture which deserved its own posting. You can see that picture at the top of this post.

However, in the interim it occurred to me how this was all a bit too perfect. Like maybe it was a setup. Perhaps someone who's heard my talk a few too many times (anyone who's been in the class more than a month) realized how damn funny it would be to put a table with a lovely vase of flowers out for me to accept and perhaps add something.

So, which is it. A beautiful cosmic coincidence, or a funny setup that I didn't even get until a week later?

Either way it's damn funny.

Class September 13, 2006

Isn't that a great shot of people just having a good time on stage. And to think, they're all singing. Very cool. It was a big class on Wednesday. Eighteen people showed up ready to risk it all on stage. I was number 19, and we filled the room with some fine short form work. Three were brand new to improv, but each of them enthusiastically jumped up to participate, even for some games that were new to me.

Inspired by my search for websites with game listings (see my previous post), I brought several new variations on games we normally use for the workshop. I think they worked out really well, especially for such a large group.

In addition to new players and some new games, we also debuted our new curtains. I planned on posting an image as I was building the damn things, but they took so long I never had a chance to stop and photograph them. I think they'll work out fine, but there are a couple of tweaks I still want to make. I'm such an engineer.

Okay, that expression on Scott's face makes this scene work for me. I believe he was playing a horse, although during this replay scene there was a critical beat when the horse lifted it's leg. Hmm, I guess we're more urban than I realized.

And Victoria made her triumphant return after her adventures in house remodeling, moving, and a trip to the Burning Man event. We missed her, and she came back ready to play. In fact, in this scene I believe she was playing an octogenarian who couldn't quite make it to Burning Man.

You know, I don't remember what was actually happening in this scene. but, I like just making up what might have been happening.

What I like about this shot is that it doesn't involve me doing push-ups. It was one scene, okay. Don't ask.

Once again, a very good night of improv work. I'm always happy to have such enthusiastic new players, especially when they're dragged in by their relatives and on their honeymoon. But, that's a story for another time.

Class September 6, 2006

There were a lot of great photos from the class last night. Thanks to all the players who picked up the camera and took shots throughout the night. I picked out a set that I believe covers everyone who was at class. Early on, we did an exercise where the dialog could not be about the environment. Here, Alegra, Eric, Marika, and Patrick were at an archeological dig, but discussing Allegra's blindness.

Her hand is on his leg. Really!

Same exercise, but here Geof and Mike are discussing the lousy gifts they got their mothers. At the same time, they're firemen cleaning up after a big fire.

Sol looks rather pained during this Irish Drinking Song, but Ben's just happy it's not his line. I think Phyllis finds Sol more amusing than my directing (yes, that's my hand).

Oh yeah, Neil and his new haircut. Sweet.

Teri seems amused by his last line in the Irish Drinking Song.

I liked this shot of me directing. It looks like I'm about to give some dynamic bit of stage direction or wise advice.

This is Eric and Jim during a Three Line Drill. I don't remember what the scene was about, but I love Jim's face in this. A very enthusiastic response.

No, Patricia is not flipping off the new guy, Geof. That's her index finger. I think she was actually miming the polishing of her fingernails since she was playing a prostitute being saved by a friend.

Okay, I loved the colors in this shot and the looks of sheer boredom. Teri is in the reddish orange, Andy in green, and Allegra in light blue. I believe I was discussing a One Act that they were going to perform, and I had clearly captured their imagination. As I recall they all did quite well.

I like this shot because both Phyllis and Justin were clearly having a good time.

For some reason, I kept calling Justin by the name of Travis at the end of the evening. I don't have a good excuse, I was just wrong. Sorry Justin.

So that was the evening, and it was a good one. There's another shot that we took just after the class, but it deserves its own post, later.

Class August 30, 2006

I want to thank Mikki for snapping pictures through this class. I had a pretty good set to chose from. We had a particularly good night, and it was nice change to have an experienced set of players. I love having new folks come into the workshop, but it's also good to have a small, experienced group.

Here's a sample set of pictures.

I liked this ABC scene between Sol, Teri, and Lily. Teri was the counselor as the other two argued over who needed to be seen first.

Ah, the smoking scene. I believe this was also an ABC scene between Andy, Ben, and myself. The setting was a cigarette factory, and Ben was the quality inspector. Luckily, the picture where I was licking the cigarettes was too blurry to publish.

The songs were particularly good this night. That's Andy, Abbe, Karla, Teri, Jim, and Patrick belting out the Irish Drinking Song. I was directing, and that's the back of Ben's head.

This is the start of a 3 line drill, with Andy preparing an emotional setting for Patricia's opening line.

You may have noticed that there aren't the usual curtain panels on the edges of the stage. There's an amusing story behind the missing curtains, but let's just say it was my fault that we now have the opportunity to build some fresh new stage settings!

Class August 23, 2006

I brought the camera ... really, I did! It was broken ... no, really ... ask Andy

Rats!

So, no pictures this week. Really unfortunate because there was some great physical work. I think just about everyone came up with interesting characters for the Class Picture scenes, and several had great physical traits. And, Emotional Zone kept everyone moving, so the stage picture really held our interest while it kept changing.

Okay, and now for my favorite line of the evening (or at least the most notable). Eric threw this out in the middle of a Repeating Scene Changing Genre game:

I been through you like a man with a cream puff in the big one

I believe it was delivered in a Film Noir version of an office scene

Class August 16, 2006

Well, no photos from this class; I forgot the camera. Ah well, next time. We had 5 new players show up this week. They came with a variety of stage experience but not much improv. That made for a pretty fun class, although with 16 people in the workshop right now, our range of experience is pretty broad.

We did a few more large group pieces, including 5 Letter Word, Switch Dubbing, and Entrances & Exits. My favorite line for the night (and I appologize for not writing down who delivered it):

My Aunt likes the suppositories

Class August 9, 2006

Another large class, this time about 16 people. And, the camera became a group tool that anyone could pickup and use to snap a shot or two. So, we had a pretty good selection from the class. Early on, we went through an exercise of hitch-hiker, and this is a shot of Metro, Patricia, and Scott.

I don't remember what characteristic Patricia brought into this round, but I appreciate Scott's sneering driver.

I included this shot of Allegra, because I wonder if she's like this when just driving around town?

Plus, I really dig the red racing stripe on the shoes.

I found this shot in the middle of a group of scene pictures, and I think I just like Andy's noggin. You can see Karla in front and Mike behind, with a half shot of Patrick's head. I'm going to assume that Mike is just squinting, and not sneering at what he's seeing.

And just what is Colby doing there, under Andy's chin?

Okay, this one was shot during a Pillars scene, with Scott and Mike as pillars.

I'd say that Shirley is desperately trying to not react to Jim.

Metro is delivering the next line of an Irish Drinking Song. I think Eric is swinging a beer stein, rather than taking a swing at Metro. Patricia and Patrick are preparing for their lines and yes, that is my hand, directing with a speed surpassing the capabilities of most digital cameras.

There were some other pictures, but I think that's a pretty good representation of the class. Thanks to all the players who picked up the camera and shot a few.

My favorite line of the evening was Ben's, who in response to his partner saying something like "...look at you striding in here all full of yourself" responded with "Yes, I do like to stride".

Class August 2, 2006

Pretty big class on Wednesday night with 16 people. Five were new to the class, and most of those came with no improv experience, so we had a night of good, basic work. Andy grabbed the camera, so we have pictures from actual scene work from this workshop! This first one shows Jim and Allegra during a Switch-Dubbing scene. Andre was off stage dubbing Allegra, and Patrick was dubbing Jim. I believe this was a Paraguayan film, involving a beauty shop and a barber. I'll let you figure out the roles from the picture.

The second shot shows Mike, Allegra, and Eric (one of the new players) in an Entrances and Exits scene. I don't have many notes on that scene, although I believe there was a ficus plant, a knife, and a light involved.

Unfortunately, most of the other shots were pretty blurry. I selected thesetwo as the most interesting of the acceptable shots.I think the new improvisers did remarkably well. They were all willing to get on stage and try whatever I threw at them, so there was a lot of trust between the players. We held off of any of the more advanced, open scene work, but that had as much to do with it being such a large class as anything else. We'll try to work in some of the open scene work next week.

Class July 26, 2006

Look! A picture from the class! If only it were an actual picture from an actual scene. No, I have to admit that this was posed. Thanks to Ben and Karla for taking pity on me when, after the class had just ended, I once again realized I had no pictures. Damn. Anyway, we had a fine class, with 12 folks making a bunch of improv goodness.

For the three line drill, my instruction was that the opening line had to be something that the player had actually said or heard in his or her life. We were to start with that bit of reality and see how the scene would open. VERY COOL! Some of the best scene starts occurred, with really powerful lines and strong reactions. And the wants that the players found were great choices. I'd say that I wanted to see every scene all the way through.

We'll try this exercise again sometime.

Oh, here's another candid shot.

Class July 12, 2006

We had a fairly big class last night; 15 people total. With that big a group, we don't get a lot of open scene work done, but I think everyone is really improving on the three line drill. I find myself wanting to see more of the scenes fully played out. Depending on time and size of the group, I'll do more of the three-line-drill to full-scene exercise. Once again, I brought the camera, but did not take a single picture DURING the class. I snapped a few with people after class, but someone made a very good suggestion that I hand off the camera at the beginning of class. Let someone else shoot pictures. Next time.

Actually, speaking of next time, I'll be out of town next week so Victoria will be teaching the July 19 class. I hear nothing but good things after she teaches (uh-oh...) so plan on attending.

Class July 5, 2006

So, last night the class started off with a surprise birthday celebration for me. Thanks to everyone who participated in setting that up. It was very thoughtful and a complete surprise. And, the Kettle Cake was particularly tasty. Out of the 12 players, we had one brand new player, and one who was last with us a couple of years ago. We tried to convince them that we don't have cake every week, but I think WE all started to wonder 'why not?'

One of the new players from last week returned this week, which is comforting. I don't think we're all that intimidating.

Once again, no photos this week. I tried some shots with my cell phone but was unimpressed with the results. I'll try again next week.

No particular line of dialog stood out for me, but all in all it was a good class. I was getting a bit tired at the end - crashing from a sugar high?

Class June 28, 2006

A fun class with three new people attending. I always like having beginners, because it forces us to go back to basics, and gives the more experienced folks the challenge of really supporting a fellow player who may be struggling. One of those improv basics - Save your fellow actor, don't worry about the piece. I planned on taking some pictures for the new website (still in process) and even brought my camera. After warning everyone that I'd be taking shots, I promptly forgot the whole thing and never even brought the camera out. Drat - next time.

My favorite line of the night came during a 5 letter word scene. The suggested word was CRUDE and at one point Allegra used the line Unctuous Bastard! For everyones edification, I got the following defintion from Dictionary.com

unc�tu�ous (ngkch-s) adj.

1. Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness: �the unctuous, complacent court composer who is consumed with envy and self-loathing� (Rhoda Koenig).
2. Having the quality or characteristics of oil or ointment; slippery.
3. Containing or composed of oil or fat.
4. Abundant in organic materials; soft and rich: unctuous soil.

We learn so much from our fellow improvisors.

Caught in the Act Show Coming May 15th, 2006

Okay, it's been some time since I've gotten back to this, but it's not for a lack of class activity! We've continued to meet each week, and the turnout has been great. The last couple of weeks, we've been averaging 9 players. The big news is that Caught in the Act has a show scheduled for Thursday, May 15th. We'll be at the Loise Lowry Davis Center starting at 8:00 pm. That's at 1232 De La Vina, at the corner of Victoria. $5 at the door. Should be fun, and it sounds like it will be a big crowd.

Class March 19, 2003

Well, although we were scheduled for Classroom B last Wednesday, we ended up in C (we traded with another group), and it was probably just as well. It keeps us further from the bookclub, and less likely to disturb them (they said both nights of our workshops were fine for them). And so, we have passed our probation and have reserved our place there at least through September! That's right, we have a semi-permanent home at the Unitarian Society for now. Although I took pictures Wednesday, there were only two which weren't blurry, and both were of Jim, Mark, and Dave (those photogenic guys), and both were from the same game. I decided not to post them yet, but will start collecting these one-off pictures for a collection page. Despite our lack of photographic documentation, it was still a pretty fun night. We even got through a couple of one-acts. Okay, they weren't the best of the genre, but it's been awhile since we've even attempted a one-act, and it was nice to try and get through the form. Much like the song, this is something everyone will get better at with some practice.

Class March 12, 2003

Last Wednesday's class was at our new location, the Unitarian Society. Although a bit small, and I don't know that we've got the layout quite right yet, it will be nice if this can evolve into a regular location for us. Before I talk more about the last class, this next one (March 19th) will be at the Unitarian Society, but we will be in Classroom B. It's closer to the main entrance area, and for those that came on Wednesday, you passed it just before going into the back. I'll post signs again, but it will take fewer, since you will probably see us from the sidewalk. The bookgroup in classroom A said we weren't a problem, but that was when we were in Classroom C. Classroom B is right next to them, and so we'll see what happens this time.

I posted some pictures from the class at the web site, but the quality is much lower than the original set. I suspect the camera, so I'll go back to the original one, next time.

We had a good mix of pieces, warming up with Character Intro's, then Pantomime Box, and One Word Story. We played 5 letter word, Standing-Sitting-Bending, Assigned Quirks, and 1st Line-Last Line. And the two Songs we did this week were great! We got a fair bit of long-form in also, with a 3 Line Drill, Montage, and even a bit of a One Act. A pretty good class, actually.

And welcome to Susan, who was new to our workshop, but clearly experienced with doing improv. Some good work, and she was the first one up for just about every piece! Also, welcome back to Chuck who we haven't seen for about a year now. He's still got game. Rounding out the group was Andy, Chris, David, Jim, Mark, and Mike.