Two Oh Two

I've noticed that professional bloggers, or the bloggers that I like the most, tend to not do the sort of "hey, here's what I did this past weekend" sprawling-catch-all-entries that I tend to do. I'm going to try and focus every post on one thing.

If the pic located to the left of this text hasn't already caused you to start skimming this blog for a mention of your name or a TV show you watch, I will let you know that this entry will be about my new class at the UCB. It's Improv 202, advanced game study, and it's taught by Joe Wengert of Reuben Williams (Saturdays @ 10:30).

For the first time since my graduation show almost a month ago, I feel confident in my improvabilities. I've been in something of a rut in 301, not horrible but not living up to my high standards. I was freezing up in scenes a lot, only for a second but that second always seems like an entire Lord of the Rings film to me (crazy long with a slow intensity that is unmatched). I also hate hate hate how I always seem to go straight to 10, or 11, or Crazy Town (population: me), or Henry Rollins level shouting. I know that game and good scenes come from real connections with your partner, but for some reason I expedite the process in class out of fear of getting edited quickly and not finding something before that. Lame.

Wednesday night was great. I had the same problems for a while but after listening to Joe's critiques and notes, I did what I consider to be my best scene in a long time. The suggestion was vintage and me and my scene partner did a nice scene about all the crap we were selling at our yet-to-be-opened vintage store. It had a nice game, real characters, and it made Joe and the class laugh. Spot on. It was great to feel successful, up to my stupid standards.

I knew this class was going to be great and Joe is a great instructor. Reuben has been my favorite improv team since I got back to New York and Joe has to be one of my favorite improvisers. So, good to learn from him. I've been lucky with teachers, as they've all been great. Seeing Shannon in Fwand is always spectacular and makes me want to work harder.

Some incredibly esoteric notes from Wednesday to remember:
- The scene is never about the crazy snake, it's about how the characters feel about the crazy snake
- Once you have your first weird thing, step away from it a bit, go about working at the Taco Bell or whatever; you'll come across the next move naturally and the audience will appreciate it more than if you just keep hitting the game over and over again
- It's hard to start a scene with an argument since the only heightening of that is insane crazy yelling land. Plus, most everyone goes through their day trying to not argue or have a confrontation, so it's realistic to not argue.
- Try not to do characters that are fooling people. It's much more fun to see people who are genuinely into what they are doing.
- Try and parallel the crazy stuff to something in real life, like a crazy meat cleaver using chef who serves things on tires and his 'apprentice.' Treat the apprentice like an intern or a daughter, some relationship that the audience can identify.

I'm sure there are more, but these are mostly the notes I was given and the ones I try to commit to memory.

More next week!