Bovine Metropolis Theater

I was teaching a class at the E.P.A.  Like a lot of my clients they want an improv workshop so that they can work on their presentations skills and also work on how to think on their feet quickly.  I teach them improv exercises and they tell me how it applies to their work.  It’s fun for everybody.

I was teaching a Spolin Game called “Seeing a Sport”.  This is a very basic improv game.  You have 5 or so people watch the same imaginary game from a bleachers.  They have to watch the game and watch each other in order to “sync-up”.  They all have to focus on the exact same thing for it to look real to the audience. When they are together, seeing the same game (i.e. the same ball) then the audience can envision it easier and get past it.

This is all accomplished with no direction from the instructor or any declaration by a single player on stage.  They just have to find it and figure it out as a group without talking about it.  When they are done I asked them “How did you do this?”

I have heard the same answer 50 times.  “I watched the people next to me and took my lead from them and then passed it on to the person next person.”

Each person has to focus on the people to the right and left of them to make this look good.  Everyone also has to have a sense for the big picture.  “When is a point going to be scored?”  ”What is the environment like?”  These focuses are secondary to watching what is going on right next to you, but they are still of extreme importance.

Dealing with change in a work environment is the same way.  If you are too focused on what is going on in the economy or at the senior level you start to lose focus of the work at hand.  And the work at hand is what grounds you and keeps you working.  However, if you are too focused on the work at hand you may miss the big picture.

We do “long form” improv here.  This is a series of improvised scenes, in some forms the scenes need to have a cohesive through element (or a theme) emerge.  This is the hardest challenge for most improvisers.  Finding the balance between the micro focus of being in the moment on stage and the macro focus of discovering “what it is about” while watching the other scenes.

This is how you must deal with each moment on stage.  You must be focused on what is going on right here, right now, while being open to the big picture.  If you focus too much on the big picture you get lost.  Like those rides in Las Vegas that only move 6 inches at a time, but they show a movie (big picture) that makes it seem like you are flying or on a rollercoaster, or whatever.  If you focus on the picture and let the little movement effect you then you get a scary ride or in my case nauseous.

My advice to players is focus on the moment.  Make choices that move you forward and connect you to the others around you.  When you are not on stage, don’t analyze.  Watch, listen, and be open for the big picture to appear.  Like the Magic Eye, you just have to let go for the picture to come to you.  Sometimes the harder you try to see it the less it works.

The concept of ”getting the big picture” without analyzing it is dealt with phenomenally in Gerd Gigerenzer’ “Gut Feelings”.  In short and in my opinion, it’s about not looking too deeply at the details and the numbers, but trusting that your head gets it.  The more you analyze it the more you remove yourself from the big picture.  This is what we have to do in improv during a long form set with a theme.  We have to let the theme appear to us without over scrutinizing.  When you start thinking too much about it, you not only will have a harder time getting what the theme is really, but you have started thinking, which disconnects you from the moment.  Which means you have stopped having fun.  And improv is all about FUN!

How my students at the E.P.A. said this is relevant to them is that if they focus too much on the “big changes” at the top levels of their organization they get anxious and lose focus of what need to happen at their everyday work.  They still need to see what is happening at the top levels of the organization as well as the bottom level, but the focus must remain with what is happening at this moment and connect with the people right below them and right above them.

The amazing thing about improv is that when everyone focuses on the moment and is aware of what is happening around them, without over analyzing it, you get a dynamic form that can turn on a dime and everyone is on board.  It becomes a super-reactive environment where changes can be made and adapted to very quickly.  That is the kind of thing that improv training teaches improvisers and companies.

Bovine Metropolis Theater - 1527 Champa Street, Denver, CO 80202 - 303-758-4722

To find out about our corporate training workshop, visit us.

While sketch comedy might at first seem too planned to be commonplace in an improv theater, the Bovine’s dedicated players and laugh-wielding directors manage to turn even a focused medium into a celebration of spontaneity. At every stage of the sketch show’s birth, even criticism is creative.

As I watched the rehearsal for the Bovine’s upcoming sketch show, “A Shot of Spring (With a Twist),” I saw the channeling of raw talent into a focused beam of laughs and merriment. It is improv on paper, fine-tuned into the finest comedy it can be. Come and witness the completion of the creative process, which is certain to saturate your day with fulfilling laughter and a good time for all.

 - Jen Janes, Intern Extraordinaire

Until I came to the Bovine, I never enjoyed voting. Whenever I have to vote for something, be it a person or an issue, I generally do so with a sneer. Let’s face it: voting is hard.

This sad fact of democracy is not true at the Bovine. At the Battle Royale on Tuesday nights, the vote is easy to understand, and a pleasure to cast. Rather than the lesser of two evils, the Battle Royale presents a choice between hilarious and hysterical. After two valiant teams perform for their adoring audience, picking the champion is only difficult because both teams represent a platform of hilarity and spontaneity.

Even under heat and pressure, battling teams are in it for the fun. With the power of the vote behind you, you too can come and witness the Bovine’s take on democracy at its finest.

- Jen Janes, Intern Extraordinaire

I am asked by my students why we do not ‘teach’ more.  We do have a ton of classes here, but we go through exercises and students are asked what they got out of it.  We then ask if they noticed this or that, but they are not taught that “this is improvisation”. 

In this, whatever you learn from an exercise or a class is what you needed to get from it.  I look at every exercise and I see so many lessons that it could teach.  It is like a multi-vitamin.  It has so much in such a small package.  But your body on takes in what it needs or can process at the time.  This is true of improvisation.  If I told you what I got out of an exercise it is the same as extracting all that other good stuff and saying all you need is vitamin C.  Your body may crave folic acid.  I see what this exercise teaches about scene work.  You may see how you created a character with ease.  If that is what you learned that is what you needed.  I don’t know what you need.  All I do is give you the exercise, you do the rest.

I show you the exercise.  You teach yourself.  You move toward improvisation on your own path.

You need to find your own way of letting go, of being present in the moment.  If you try to do it my way then you are forcing something unnatural to you.  This gets you thinking, judging and fretting, not improvising.  We want you to play, your way.

However, if you are thinking, plotting, planning, controlling, etc. I will call you on it to force you to examine your behaviors.  Make you try to let go and stop forcing your thoughts on everyone.  Just like I want you to find your improvisation, I want others to find theirs and that is hard when you are being dominated on stage.

Once you start letting go and accepting the moment and moving forward, you start finding “your improvisation”.  Usually it is just a flash at first.  A sense of vertigo.  “I didn’t know what was going to happen next”.  It is a powerful moment for some.  The rush of letting go of control and yet still being responsible for making something happen.

The first few times you feel this it can be scary.  We are taught to control ourselves and make sure we get the “desired outcome”.  Letting go of that seems counter-intuitive.   However the more you do it, the more you crave it.  Like a roller coaster ride, the more exhilarating the more you want to ride it again.

So, if you can trust yourself enough to let go, you are in for the ride of your life. 

Your Ride, Your Life.

Eric Farone - Artistic Director

 This Blog and $1.89 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, here goes.  People ask me “How do you define improvisation?”  This is my long, overdetailed answer. Enjoy.

Improvisation to most people is people getting up and taking suggestions, coming out and being funny.  And for the average spectator that is all you need to know.  What most folks don’t know is that some people consider that the improv community is split into two camps, ’Short Form’ and Long Form’.  Short form being games played on stage.  Going to the audience frequently for more information to start new games.  Those of you who have seen “Whose Line is it Anyway” have seen game improv (short form).  The other side of the division in the improv community is long-form.  Long form can most easily be explained as improvisations that take one suggestion, normally have multiple ideas generated from the original suggestion and are scenic in their orientation Like Del Close’s Harold.   An improvised play could be considered a long-form. 

Short Form and Long Form very in terms of format and content.  The difference is very easy for the audience to see.  You might say one looks like entertainment and one looks like art.  I do not differentiate along the lines of short form and long form.  I differentiate between Improv and Improvisation. 

Improv is providing entertainment through quick thought and steadfast well worn gimmicks, control and pre-planning. 

Improvisation is the art of accepting the unknown gracefully without judgement.

These two entities are different, but have many things in common.  They both are created in the moment.  Both are un-scripted.  They are two different sides of the same coin.
There are always moments of improvising in improv and unfortuately vice versa.  They are mirrors of each other.  The same and opposite.  You can’t have one without the other.  

Improv  

Improv is the art of making up character, scenes, and games in the moment to entertain the audience.  Improv needs an audience. Improv can also be described as the art of making people laugh. Improvers can learn their art in front of an audience.  It has no script.  It relies solely on the person on stage and their ability to make people laugh.
Let’s compare Commedia with the average improv game played today.  In Commedia the actors knew what the next scene was and what was it’s importance in the overall context of the play, everything else was filled in by the performers.  In an Improv game the actors know the structure of the game and the rules, the performers fill in the rest.  In Comedia, characters were physical and used well worn bits to aid them in filling out scenes.  In most Improv games the bigger the character the better and there are set gimmicks in most games that some performers discover and use again to elicit laughs.Players who improv with a goal in mind, fame, success, being funny don’t mind having an extensive list of gags and prat-falls to through in whenever they can fit them in.  It helps them be more “successful” when they improv.  Truth be told, comedia dell’arte was built upon this method.  Actors had characters with set routines that they could call upon and adapt for situations when they were in trouble in order to keep the interest of the audience.  They would tumble, sing, play instruments anything to entertain. 
This type of entertainment is lower risk, but even in this type of comedy there are true moments of improvisation, moments where no one knows what is going to happen next.The entertainment that uses established gimmicks, pre-planning, jokes, directing of scenes, gags or using quick thinking in order to be successful I call “Improv.”

Improvisation  

Improvisation is the art of gracefully accepting the unknown and accepting it as part of the known.  It is done in everyday life.  Theatrical Improvisation is the art of making up characters, scenes, games and story in the moment for the sake of going into the unknown.  It has no script.  Improvisation does not require audience (although it flurishes with a live audience).  It relies on the person on stage and their ability to go forward into the unknown without fear.

When you are improvising, even at the most basic level, there are moments when you come off stage and think, “What just happened?”  The moments that you were not thinking about what should happen and yet everything came together effortlessly.  These “magical” moments that grow out of the moment, are generated from pure improvisational moments.  When no one knows what is going to happen next, and everyone still moves forward, that is what I call “Improvisation.”  The funniest improvisational scene can not be explained because “you had to be there.”  It came from the moment and lived in the moment.  The life of it is over before I tell it.

Does this mean that improvisers are not funny?  No.  It just means their focus is not on what behaviors produce laughs.  Their focus is reacting to gifts given to them on stage.
So why improvise, when you can do improv and go for the joke and just have fun?  Improvisers focus is on the scene and creating a shared focus sounds like hard work.  For people like me, who love laughs, the laughs are richer and deeper and longer and laugh louder if the humor comes from the scene.  If improviser is not humorous, they can still be engaging.  In this way improviser does not fails often as an improver.  If improver goes for a joke and fails there’s nothing but silence, what is called “crickets,” so called because the silence is so deafening all you can hear is crickets.

If an improviser goes for a joke the scene is ruined.  The reason is, is that the improviser derives the humor from the situation.  The improviser negates the scene or makes the scene a joke by commenting on it from “outside” the framework of the scene.

The other reason people choose to improvise, is because improvisation can be a hearty meal that satisfies.  I remember going to an improv show with some friends that we thought was so funny.  After the show we decided to go for drink.  We sat around talk about how funny the show was, but as we told the funny parts didn’t seem funny anymore.  We forgot more and more “bits” as the night went on.  Until the next day, when I got up, I couldn’t remember what was funny about the show all.  I went back the next week and saw the same jokes and lines.

Improvisation relies on everyone trying to attain an end with no one forcing it.  Much like a Ouji board everybody is pushing, no one is directing and messages appear.  Improvisation, when done properly, can leave you with that same feeling of “how did that happen?”

To paraphrase Viola Spolin; Improv goes for the “Ha Ha” and Improvisation goes for the “Ah Ha”.

At the Bovine, we always strive for those “Ah ha” moments in our short form (game) improvisations and in our long forms shows.

 Eric Farone - Artistic Director