Billy Merritt's Improv Dance Party Pt2: The 5 Stages of Improvisation -
By applying the Kubler-Ross model on the five stages of grief, it might be easier for you to find out where you are in your Improv Development.
1. Denial: [shock] This can’t be improvisation I’m seeing, it must be scripted. They must have “go-to” jokes, do the same scenes over and over,…
I’ll be teaching a week long intensive class at UCB Theatre in August. It’s going to be in the afternoons 1-5pm, August 6-10th. It will cover a variety of topics like improvising from the gut, la rondes, character wheels, weird Harolds and more. It’s going to be posted today on the UCB website and should be open for registration in about 20 minutes.
NYPD’s stop-and-frisks of kids as young as 12 (!) break my heart.
Line Learner, iOS app for actors
Because I’ve had these discussions with my nephews about this word (but the French version of it)…
I would replace the bottom right “are you sure?” with “by ‘gay’ do you mean awesome or great?”
Date: 6/17/2011Time: 3-7 pmCost: $50Come learn new techniques of scene and game in this new master class from Greg Hess and Mark Raterman. Greg and Mark have performed with Cook Co. Social Club, the Second City touring company, Improvised Shakespeare and My Mans, among others. They promise you will learn something.To sign up, email: upstairsworkshop@gmail.comClass size is limited.
Applications for my class are due on Sunday -
I’ll be teaching an improv performance class at Upstairs Gallery in June and July. This class is going to be awesome. I decided for this class that I should have an application process. I’m accepting applications until Sunday, then coming up with the roster by Tuesday.
Keep in mind that if I get enough people, I may open a second class on Sundays. So if you can’t make the Saturday class, but could make a Sunday one, please apply and note that in the application.
Feel free to send me a message via facebook or gmail (ircmullaney in both places) if you have a question.
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overpricedandtrendy asked: There seems to be a tendency in the UCB - I can point to direct quotes by Roberts and Besser - to think of improv as sketch that doesn't happen to have been written yet. In my mind this comes dangerously close to Sahlins' view of improv as a writing tool. Your interview on the UCBTNY podcast is the only instance I can find of someone talking specifically about what is special to the medium of improv. I felt this discussion was glossed over and I wondered if you would care to expand on the topic.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with shooting for great sketch comedy. My personal tastes in improv are different. I like improv that looks like great theater or great performance art or great movies. But I also enjoy watching improv that looks something like great sketch. To me, the common denominator is the great part.
Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of improv that looks like it’s trying to be bad sketch comedy, the kind which is full of jokey jokes and broad wacky characters and scenes that sell out the truth trying to make the audience laugh. I think that’s when I like to steer students more towards the kind of acting that you might find with a great theatre company or great film. And when people are having trouble with group games and openings, that’s when I start encouraging them to do things that look like performance art.
I do think that great improv is something unto itself. When improv shed the idea of telling stories and instead embraced forms which followed patterns and sought connections between seemingly unrelated scenes and characters is when it became something new and special. A great Harold is nothing like a great play. What’s ironic about this topic is how improv, specifically Del Close’s ideas about improv, profoundly affected the way people do sketch comedy. The shows at Second City started to become far more interesting to me when they started looking like Harolds. The ones I’ve seen lately are pretty awesome and I wouldn’t have a problem with improvisors trying emulate those shows.
Does it come dangerously close to Sahlins’ view of improv as a writing tool? Sahlins wasn’t wrong because he thought improv was a writing tool, he was wrong because he thought that was all it was. He didn’t think improv should be done for a paying audience. He didn’t think it was an art form. That’s where he was obviously completely wrong.
Right now, I’m working on a show for the Directing program at Second City. The director is trying to emulate the process that is used at Second City. Instead of writing a lot sketches, we pitch a lot of ideas, improvise those ideas in rehearsal and then re-improvise them in front of audiences at open mic and in guest spots around town. If we even use a script, it’s late in the process. Mainly we beat it out and set the out line. It feels very different from improvising in a Harold at UCB. And it’s very different from the type of training you get there.
I like this piece of advice for improv scenes from Will Hines.
Someone says you’re late for dinner —- admit it, then justify why you are late with a philosophy. Don’t blame it on traffic or your boss — that’s deflecting. Even if it’s a reasonable excuse, you are deflecting the gift. Don’t be surprised to learn you are late. Own it — it’s a gift.
(via improvnonsense)
A: “You cheated on me!”
B: “I did. It’s the best way I know to test how strong our relationship is.”
or
A: “You praise your child too much.”
B: “You’re right. My child is stupid, so I praise him a lot because it would be too awful to be honest with him.”
or
A: “I saw you kill him.”
B: “I wanted you to see, so you would have no doubt what I’m capable of.”
A: “It had nothing to do with him?”
B: “It’s a more powerful statement when the victim is random.”