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Emails after the Improvathon

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008


There were a flurry of emails after the 24 hour improvathon.   I grabbed them and posted them in order of receipt.  I have removed everyone’s names, but I was so moved by the emails I wanted to post them:

 

Eric and Bovine Crew…
I’m waiting for my flight back to

Madison this morning and just wanted to drop a line to thank you for your fantastic hospitality and flexibility in allowing me to perform as part of your Family Tree Fundraiser Improvathon.
Performing in a new setting - with unfamiliar people - who have been performing for 12 hours straight was…  awesome!
From “AIDS Turtle” to “Tazer my a**hole”, I really enjoyed the chance to perform with such gracious, talented and creative improvisers…
If any of you happen to be in

Madison, WI - please look us up.  We’d love to return the favor.

 

That was the best bonding experience I’ve ever had in all my years of performing.

 

It all feels like a dream..and Brian was there, and Michael and Kathleen and Nanna, and Steve and Dave and Keith…..I am in awe of you all.

 

It certainly does feel like a dream.  Yesterday (Sunday) seemed viewed through a filter.  A filter of support, connection, love and laughter.  A lot of laughter.  Looking forward to seeing everyone Thursday and Saturday.I feel like a kid who just returned from a week of summer-camp and is going through fun withdrawals.

 

My brain feels a little different like mooshy but in a good way.  A couple thoughts/responses to people yesterday rolled out in a strange easy way, not just effortless but completely un-managed.  I like brunch too, but it was too late by the time I got it.  hollandaise.  egggggggs.   I love you guys.

 

I had so much fun with you guys. At times I was pretty delirious laughing my ass off, and it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time…And I have fun a LOT.Thank you guys for being you, and welcoming me so warmly into this amazing group.

Sunday was hazy and felt like the day after finding the girl of your dreams and she didn’t exactly reject you but left room for interpretation of her door slam at the end of a tear filled argument about Diet Coke versus Coke One. I can’t even begin to know all the ways I was touched by the time we were playing. Man, it was pure and had a theme of unified anarchy. Many times I sat in awe of what took place on stage  and wondered how what just happened, happened. Smoove.
Throughout yesterday I caught myself laughing without any apparent reason. My wife would ask what the deal was and I would try to explain the Russian family or “why we had all been called here tonight”. I loved it all and am so grateful to all for your time and openness. So many incredible things happened. I feel like something happened to all of us that has no explanation but that we all know.
Special props to our fallen sister. She went out at the top of her form and took one harshly. It was unintentional but I think that a message is buried within: had she been in a group hug at the moment of contact, the injurious blow’s power would have been spread out over us all. A lesson for our futures. (Hope you’re okay!)
Love to all.

 

Thanks!  Sorry I missed the rest of the ‘athon thanks to my Marsha Brady incident.  I went home and kept icing it, and I didn’t wake up horribly disfigured. Today it feels numb, like I got a shot of novacaine.
Up until that point, I was having fun!  I think I might have been wearing a wizard’s hat when it happened. Perhaps I angered God.

 

Hey everyone!  I haven’t joined in on the whole 24 hour commentary so far, but I did have a fabulous time.  I felt so sleep deprived, and I am pretty sure that I’ve forgotten about 80% of what happened on stage.  But that 20% is totally worth it!  I’m finally feeling like I’m back to normal, which is great.  Turns out I’m someone that requires a

LOT of sleep…

Posted in Michael Traylor, Keith Rains, Cindy Laudadio-Hill, Nanna Ogburn, Eric Farone, By Author, Shows | No Comments »

Keep The Main Thing – The Main Thing

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

This week we went over more scenes and songs, well a song.   It’s sometimes hard to judge a cold read, especially if the humor is in the stage direction.

If something isn’t working or if there’s potential but it’s not really coming together the main question is what/ who is the scene about.  What’s the essence and what’s noise.

I went through a phase where I watched Bishop T.D. Jakes.  He’s a preacher from TX.  He would wear calf length suite jackets with a dozen buttons, stroll/ march/ dance across the sanctuary, carry a cloth to wipe the sweat off his face and head and get the parishioners out of their seats dancing and testifying.   A true showman; like James Brown in the Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood receive their mission from gad.  Bishop Jakes would start to preach and people would get excited and he’d ask “Am I talking to anybody”, the crowd would shout, he’d shake his head turn his back on the crowd and say “There’s no one here that wants to hear this message Tah Day”, the crowd roars, he turns back facing the crowd “Can I preach”, crowd screams, “Can I talk to somebody (he starts stomping his foot) one person, is there one person here that wants to hear this message”  crowd loses its shit.

Anyway, my main Bishop T.D. Jakes prostyletized that people need to keep the main thing – the main thing.  Keep the essence lose the noise.

An equally awesome Bishop is Bishop Don Magic Juan whose sister wrote “From Pimp Stick to Pulpit – It’s Magic” about his life.  Chuuuuch.  I was recently reminded of the phrase Chuuuch and how awesome it is and how it didn’t really catch on.

We also brainstormed show titles.  We tried to come up with as many ideas as possible.  People shouted out ideas and Vivian scribbled them on a white board, no judgment – everything went on the board.  After a series of voting we narrowed the field to four.  Eric and Denise will give a green-light to one and we’ll think of a tag line to go with it.  One of my favorite titles is from a second city revue: “Slaughter House Five Cattle Zero”.

Chuuuuch

Posted in Michael Traylor, By Author, Performing | No Comments »

How improv informs writing

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Writing can be such an unnecessarily formal term.  As improvisers we’re all writers.  The creation of something from nothing is the essence of writing.  Putting pen to paper is the facilitation.  Duh.

I was recently cast as a member of the Sketch Development Squad.  I’d like to put up a sketch journal about the process of putting on a Bovine sketch show. 

We’re now on our third week.  The first week we came up with our theme/ premise.  We brought in sketches and looked for commonalities.  All the sketches dealt with relationships – surprise.  Relationships are inherent in good scenes so where do we go from there?  Through discussions the idea of a fake self help magazine was brought up and agreed on.  Using magazine headlines from Men’s Health, Cosmo, Oprah, Self and pretty much most women’s magazines that tell you how to become a better you in a belittling way which, I believe, enhances the collective neurosis of the “weaker” sex will be used as a genesis for sketches.  I don’t really think women are the weaker sex.   

The Onion is brilliant with its fake news: “Bored sea captain marries crew members to each other secretly”, “Area Mom: I finally learned computers” or “Cricket located”.  Our goal is to present a fake self help magazine.  After we agreed on the idea Eric paired us up and sent us to collect headlines from said magazines.  Elizabeth and I went to 7-11, others went to barnes and noble, tattered cover etc…  Forty five minutes later we returned with headlines:  “How to deal with a man crush”, “You know you’re grown up when”, “How to survive moving in together” and “Live like you’re on vacation” to name a small few.  So rich with comic potential right?   

Second week we brought in scripts .  We also welcomed folks who weren’t able to make the prior week’s rehearsal.  We improvised for about an hour and if a scene had legs those performing the scene were sent to write it up.  After improvising we did cold reads of the scripts based on last week’s headlines.  Hilarious.  Notes were given and those with potential were noted.  The cutoff for scripts is, I think, the second week of July so it’s creation time.  

Last Saturday we worked on music.  I wasn’t there so I can only report based on what happened in my imagination:  It was awesome.  Not only was the music rehearsal awesome but a fire-breathing dragon challenged a magical saucepan to a dunk contest on a nine-and-a-half foot rim.  Guess who won?  It was the saucepan. 

The title of this blog is how improv informs writing.  Like I said “writing” is essentially the capturing of an idea.  Improv is, semantically arguable, where ideas come from.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a business memo, screenplay, birthday card, comedy sketch or ransom note using improv can help.  Next time you have to write something play mental ‘new choice’ where you write down five or ten ideas without stopping and pick the choicest one.  If you’re stuck on a scene in a play write it several different ways.  When outlining, free associate and pick the best ideas.  This method was also covered in most seventh grade creative writing courses and is a featured article in “No Sh*t Magazine”, but since we already have all the tools we need for life, I thought I’d point out the obvious.

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