EXCERPTS

The latest De-classified excerpts from Challenger workshops and rehearsals...

8-9-07- My latest tirades on a return to the basics of Narrative continues... We had a wonderful example of the necessity of narrative last night in a game of SOUND EFFECTS of all things. In SOUND EFFECTS, the primary offer is always the sound effect... it is what HAS JUST HAPPENED, and therefore must be dealt with and should become the new direction of the scene. If a player ignores a sound effect in favor of moving forward, they are flying against the rules of narrative, which are essentially that everything is about what has JUST HAPPENED, and not about what WILL happen.

Also... we improved dramatically in our rehearsals by including a suggestion of PLACE in all of our "ask-fors" last night. Having an offer of a location made it much easier for our players to ground themselves in a scene... Basics Basics Basics! Happy improvising!

8-2-07- A thought on the game "What Are You Doing?" (A player can respond to that query with anything OTHER than what they are actually doing) as a training tool. This game fell out of favor with our group for a couple years mostly because there was a strong argument that by going against what you were actually doing, you were "unlearning" the basics of playing your reality. Still, our best performers had played this game more than any other over their early years and they seemed to develope much faster than the kids who did not train with this game. My theory... it really is a great game to train with. It's like any kind of resistance training in sports... you take that resistance away, and your mind is that much freer and quicker. Bottom line- it's a fun game and great improv training!

8-1-07 - A couple things... First of all it never ceases to amaze me how important trust and confidence is for a performing troupe. We have a very unique situation right now by having essentially two separate groups trying to co-exist on stage at the same time. Our older performers have confidence bordering on over-confidence and our younger performers seem almost scared on stage... very tentative, not seeming to trust one another or themselves. The amazing thing is that neither group looks particularly good with each other. The key to good improv is making others look good around you, and you can't do that if you think you are either worse OR better than the players around you.

And that leads me to my second thought... how do you gain or regain trust and confidence? GET BACK TO THE BASICS OF NARRATIVE! Person, Place, and Problem. Start by establishing a vivid place, then explore the reality of who would be there, how would they relate to one another and what would they be doing. Any humor will come from the juxtaposition of different realities colliding, and that's up to the structure of the game... not you as a performer. The only job for any player, regardless of experience, is to give 100% to your given reality, and you do that by committing to your place and character and DOING and saying what comes perfectly naturally given that reality.

Remember... try not to try to be funny. It's selfish, and often comes at the expense of a reality you and others have worked hard to create. Let the structures be funny... you just have to be dead serious about what is often a ridiculous reality. Try it.

5-20-08 - Yikes... been a while. Last week I had the pleasure of watching Dylan's new group THE CLAY CROWS perform a piece of long form improv. I think they had planned to attempt a Harold, but bailed at the last second... I'm glad they did. Instead, they came up with a very basic, very pure structure of just 5 words from the audience, then off they went simply trying to use those five words somewhere in the scenes. The results were incredible... the best hour of improv I have ever seen, and maybe they were all just having a good night, but I have to believe that not having any games or rules to get in the way allowed them to focus on pure improv... just listening to each other, accepting offers, and fully commiting to their created reality. So I got to thinking...

I like short form improv... I work mostly with pretty young kids, and the games are immediate and fun, and they should entail all the basics of improv if taught right. Still, my kids are not progressing terribly fast right now, and I wonder if maybe the games are getting in the way of the Improv... it's possible.

I'm going to try to create very short versions of long form improv, focusing on the basics of narrative and adding some story elements along the way. My goal is to create an intense COMMITMENT TO THE GIVEN REALITY, especially place and character. Our "Short form" has become "Gag" improv with all it's most negative connotations, and I hope to fix that by creating a hybrid cross between short and long forms. Our goal has always been to create highly theatrical shows, and this might allow us to get away from all the conventional games and come up with something truly our own for performances. I'll let you know how it goes.