Unsolicited Advice
The day the new teams are announced, there’s a lot of space taken up on the web for the newly cast: congratulations and what not. But nothing ever really gets said to the people who are cut. I’ve been thinking a lot about that today, so I decided to offer some advice to those people.
1) Feel your feelings
When I was cut from Harold Night, I was devastated. I felt like my greatest dream had been taken from me. I was really sad. Then I was really angry. The important thing to remember is that it’s okay to be angry or sad or whatever you’re feeling. And it’s also okay if you want to take a break from the scene. Give yourself some time to process.2) Don’t panic
After the initial shock wears off, you are probably going to want to talk to someone, a teacher or the AD, and get a full postmortem on why you were cut. I do not recommend this. It will only send you into a deeper tailspin. Yes, it’s possible that you could get back on a team and yes, the AD/teacher might have some advice, but you know, deep down, what you could work on. Don’t weigh yourself down with someone else’s criticism. It’ll just send you into your head.3) Pretend this is it
Ask yourself, “if I never got back on a team, what would I do?” Whatever the answer is, that’s probably the best thing you can do right now. If you love improv, you’ll find a way to keep doing it. If you decide you’re done, that’s okay too. Remember, “you are what you love, not what loves you.”4) You are a talented and worthy person
Otherwise you’d have never been cast. Remember this. It is true.To those who were cast, congrats. To those who were cut, I got your back.
Chicago Improv Practice Group
A couple years ago, when I first moved back to Chicago, I started a Meetup group for actors and…
Hump Night News
I have a bunch of things to announce about Hump Night. First off, we will be extending at least…
Second City BoatCo Auditions in NYC
Hey NYC, please reblog to get the word out
Second City Theatricals is seeking actors for ensembles on Norwegian Cruise Line ships. A ship-specific audition will be held at the Magnet Training Center in New York City on Thursday, May 16th, 2013. Audition will be completely improvised. Performers should be a graduate of a conservatory-level program (such as Peoples Improv Theater, Upright Citizens Brigade or Magnet Theater).
Interested performers should email a headshot and resume to auditions@secondcity.com ON Wednesday, May 1st. Please include “Second City Theatricals – NYC – May 16” in the subject line of your email. Performers not following these guidelines may not be considered for an audition slot. Callbacks will be held on Friday, May 17th.
Second City performers are contracted for 4 months at a time.
The Second City was founded in Chicago in 1959 as a hub for sketch and improvisational comedy, and has held a contract with Norwegian Cruise Line since 2005.
Send us your feedback on CIF16
We hope that everyone who participated in this year’s festival had a great time. We tried many new…
Yes please! We want your feedback. What did we do right? What did we do wrong?
Musical Stairs
Etiquette for starting an improv scene
Perhaps you’ve been a part of something like this. It’s time to edit a scene on stage. One player starts to make a sweep edit, and everyone else hesitates before joining them. Finally someone joins from behind at about the same time that the first player waves for someone else to join them. Now there are three people in the scene. They each make fumbled initiations. and the scene continues to stumble forward as they try to make it work.
Or perhaps you’ve done this. You walk on stage and start doing some activity. You say nothing. No one joins for a really long time, perhaps because they can’t make sense of what you are doing. Finally someone does come on stage and immediately says something that contradicts what you have created. You freeze up because you are not sure if you should drop your initiation or say something that clarifies what you were doing and hope your scene partner can make sense of it. You are both extremely frustrated with each other, defensive at notes and begin to plot how you can get the other one kicked off the team.
Maybe you have done this. Continue reading
Let your scene partner provoke you
You’ve probably heard that if you react or behave in a particular way in an improvised scene, you…
![nicclee:
improv-is-easy:
I coach a lot of improv, and I have a crush on someone who is on one of the teams I coach, so I’m wondering what you would do in this situation. Is there any way to appropriately act on it?
This can be tricky. I truly believe it’s bad behavior to ask out someone you currently coach. It’s like a teacher asking out a student — unprofessional and unfair, since there’s an educational relationship involved which you might be taking advantage of.
Fortunately, there are some steps you can do. I hope you can follow this advice!
First, stop coaching the group. Be professional about it. Even though you’re probably great at coaching, you can no longer be objective about it when you’re crushing on one of your clients.
Second, ask the person out. Now that you no longer have a professional relationship, there’s no conflict of interest in asking them on a date. G’04 it!
If they say yes, enjoy! (If it’s me, I’M DOWN.)
If they say no, accept it with good grace and move on.
In either case, don’t resume coaching the group. Even if they seem OK with it, even if you seem OK with it. In 99 out of 100 cases I’ve seen this go sour too quickly and too easily.
On a personal note (since you asked), I’m very wary of dating within the improv world, although I have made exceptions to the rule (four or five times in 10 years). The trick is deciding when the person actually is an exception vs. when we just really want them to be that way.
I tend to follow the advice of Barney Gumble’s bar napkin:
Your infatuation is based on a physical attraction. Talk to [them] and you’ll realize you have nothing in common [outside of improv].
Also, some wisdom from Jill Bernard’s 3am Improv Thoughts:
You’re probably only attracted to them because you spend so much time together deliberately being vulnerable.
And a quote from me!
Just because they’re hilarious and talented doesn’t mean you’re compatible romantically.
Dating is a minefield, and it’s even trickier when it’s within the improv world, but it’s one we should enter with hopeful hearts when it feels right… which is to say not when you’re being paid to help them improvise better.
Good luck! Now quit coaching my team and ask me out!
Ask improv-is-easy a question!
Great advice, Kirk. I wish I had this problem. Or I don’t? Improv! Dating! Gah!
There is some good advice in this, but I can’t help feeling that it’s a mistake to quit and ask her out.
Are your feelings for her a distraction from coaching? If the answer is no, keep coaching her. Be professional, don’t ask her out. Be cordial and friendly, but don’t go out of your way to do social things with her. For example, don’t stay out til 4 am drinking at a bar with her.
If it is intense and distracting, it’s not fair to her or the team you are coaching. Tell them you need to take a break. Do not ask her out right away. Let time pass. And then maybe at a future date test the waters. At least 6 months, maybe longer? It depends on how long you coached the team I suppose.
But in general, I’d say, get outside of the bubble of improv and meet people who don’t know you as their coach, their teacher or that funny guy on stage. Don’t get a reputation for hitting on people they coach or have recently coached. Trust that if she likes you, that she won’t disappear if you stop coaching her and that six months down the line when you are on more equal footing, something good can begin.
P.S. I think this stuff is hard and I have not always followed this advice.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/eed2f4f37daf2120d74a72bfc9ea43c8/tumblr_mlej63WOLr1r7rvi5o1_500.png)
I coach a lot of improv, and I have a crush on someone who is on one of the teams I coach, so I’m wondering what you would do in this situation. Is there any way to appropriately act on it?
This can be tricky. I truly believe it’s bad behavior to ask out someone you currently coach. It’s like a teacher asking out a student — unprofessional and unfair, since there’s an educational relationship involved which you might be taking advantage of.
Fortunately, there are some steps you can do. I hope you can follow this advice!
- First, stop coaching the group. Be professional about it. Even though you’re probably great at coaching, you can no longer be objective about it when you’re crushing on one of your clients.
- Second, ask the person out. Now that you no longer have a professional relationship, there’s no conflict of interest in asking them on a date. G’04 it!
- If they say yes, enjoy! (If it’s me, I’M DOWN.)
- If they say no, accept it with good grace and move on.
- In either case, don’t resume coaching the group. Even if they seem OK with it, even if you seem OK with it. In 99 out of 100 cases I’ve seen this go sour too quickly and too easily.
On a personal note (since you asked), I’m very wary of dating within the improv world, although I have made exceptions to the rule (four or five times in 10 years). The trick is deciding when the person actually is an exception vs. when we just really want them to be that way.
I tend to follow the advice of Barney Gumble’s bar napkin:
Your infatuation is based on a physical attraction. Talk to [them] and you’ll realize you have nothing in common [outside of improv].
Also, some wisdom from Jill Bernard’s 3am Improv Thoughts:
You’re probably only attracted to them because you spend so much time together deliberately being vulnerable.
And a quote from me!
Just because they’re hilarious and talented doesn’t mean you’re compatible romantically.
Dating is a minefield, and it’s even trickier when it’s within the improv world, but it’s one we should enter with hopeful hearts when it feels right… which is to say not when you’re being paid to help them improvise better.
Good luck! Now quit coaching my team and ask me out!
Great advice, Kirk. I wish I had this problem. Or I don’t? Improv! Dating! Gah!
There is some good advice in this, but I can’t help feeling that it’s a mistake to quit and ask her out.
- Are your feelings for her a distraction from coaching? If the answer is no, keep coaching her. Be professional, don’t ask her out. Be cordial and friendly, but don’t go out of your way to do social things with her. For example, don’t stay out til 4 am drinking at a bar with her.
- If it is intense and distracting, it’s not fair to her or the team you are coaching. Tell them you need to take a break. Do not ask her out right away. Let time pass. And then maybe at a future date test the waters. At least 6 months, maybe longer? It depends on how long you coached the team I suppose.
But in general, I’d say, get outside of the bubble of improv and meet people who don’t know you as their coach, their teacher or that funny guy on stage. Don’t get a reputation for hitting on people they coach or have recently coached. Trust that if she likes you, that she won’t disappear if you stop coaching her and that six months down the line when you are on more equal footing, something good can begin.
P.S. I think this stuff is hard and I have not always followed this advice.
