Soccer is like Improv?
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011I didn’t think so until I read this blog.
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/code-words-for-2011-play-happy/
Enjoy!
Eric
Archive for January, 2011
On the Spot is Exhilerating with its feet (mostly) on the Ground
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011The realization came to me how much a performer articulates to be understood. To do so, the improv performer has to know the human experience and be down to earth to experience it. How else can the performer take a suggestion and integrate it into a scene of everyday society? Within this integration comes a sort of looseness and flexibility in order to utilize the suggestion from the audience effectively. The performer has quite the job to make the suggestion relatable, understood, and entertaining to the audience. What a thrill it must be to take everything about the human experience and articulate it so well, that entertaining with the suggestion is a sort of creative rush all on the spot where every breath and every second counts.
The Improv Hootenany! will open your mind no matter what
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011What a way to break up the stress of the work week by going to the Improv Hootenany! on a Monday night! Watching 3 teams taking several suggestions from the audience expanded my mind and put me in a sort of vortex of a room of high creativity. My mind was stretched into the realm of play with several games. Comedy is so creative and real at the same time, that the Improv Hootenany! really opened up different ways of thinking. The intricacies of the games utilized with several games seemed to give me a mental blast for the coming week. Watching the Improv Hootenany! is like doing mental yoga. Thank You!
Life as a Comedy: A Biography
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011Watching the intervals of someone’s life flashing before his very eyes through the use of comedy improv was amazing to watch. The bell of inaccuracy was only rung once and to see such talented improv artists take someone’s life that they just met and being given information to work with was incredibly beautiful. Beauty ,in the sense, that improvisers really have a deep understanding of human character. Studies of personalities, people watching, psychology and overall experience must be utilized in every improver as the scenes they presented were so successful.The performers present the ingenious of being in touch with the child of the past and were able to take this strangers life and act it all out from the beginning to the present. I believe it takes a lot of intelligence to present this strangers information and to make the information cohesive and entertaining to the audience. This skill of improv presented is almost beyond thought, and more of a mixture of intuition and creativity.
Improvisational Styles
Saturday, January 8th, 2011To some paintings are just paintings. To others they break painting into styles, such as Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, etc. To some improv is just improv. To me there is a big difference between different styles of improv. And just like art, I have my preferences, but there is no “right” style.
In my last post I wrote about the differences between “Improvisational Theater” and “Improv Comedy”.
Form is what sets improv theater apart from improv comedy. We are not stand ups doing improvised jokes. We are players doing improvised theater.
Some people have asked me to further explain the difference as I see it. I think both most improvisation plays for laughs, but I think the mindset can be very different between the two styles. So here is what I think are some of the different mind sets, in very general terms:
Improv Comedy is static.
Improvisational Theater is about change.Improv Comedy is about little moments, or big moments downplayed.
Improvisational Theater is about BIG moments, or small moments blown out of proportion .Improv Comedy is about thinking.
Improvisational Comedy is about feeling.Improv Comedy uses wit, cleaver word play, ideas the players have thought of previously to get the laugh.
Improvisational Theater uses character’s honest reactions to elicit a reaction.Improv Comedy utilizes patterns, games, black outs and one line scenes.
Improvisational Theater is based on the discovery, relationship, and change.Improv Comedy there are no characters. The player is always the same personae in every scene.
Improvisational Theater players have different, unique characters based on some aspect of the players personality in each and every scene.Improv Comedy the goal is laughter.
Improvisational Theater the goal is connecting to the moment, the feeling, and other players.Improv Comedy the environment is a way to get a laugh.
Improvisational Theater the environment has an effect on the relationship in the moment.Improv Comedy players will call out the ‘mistakes’ on stage to get a laugh.
Improvisational Theater players will build on and enhance “mistakes” to make them truth.
I have seen pure Improv Comedy, but it is rare to see pure Improvisational Theater. Even in the structure of an improvised play, it is often too tempting for the player to get the quick laugh at the expense of the piece. Most long forms are a combination of the two styles.
To some Improv is just Improv, but when I see (or perform) moments of Improvisational Theater it always stays with me. I can remember every beat, reaction, and line. They linger with me like great art, beautiful music and amazing food.
What style do you like?
Comments on our Blog
Saturday, January 8th, 2011Hi Folks,
We want your comments on our blog. Unfortunately we are getting bombarded with hundreds of spam comments a day.
If you would like us to read and post your to comment to our blog, please just make sure the word “improv” is in your text somewhere and we will make sure to publish your comments.
Thanks!
Mgt.
Improve Improv
Monday, January 3rd, 2011An Open Letter to the Coaches Council:
I am very excited about the New Year and what we are doing this year with the Coaches Council. I want to get us all on the same page for the new year. In the last couple of years Denver has seen an explosion of different venues for improv. It is wonderful. As the number of improv spaces increases we need to make sure that the quality of our shows increases at the same time. Our job on the Coaches Council this year is to Improve Improv.
We need to improve the experience for the audience.
We do this by making sure that the audience is getting what it came in to see. On ‘Hoot’ nights and ‘Throwdown’ nights, they are coming in to see their friends and family perform improv in a fun, professional environment. They need to see their team get supported and set up for success. The house teams need to be warming up the crowd, setting the professional timbre and getting them excited about the evening to come. For “Improv Royale” the show needs to be a funny, slick, professional, and an amazing high wire act. Organized and professional with no nets and no failure. “Improv Royale” is and needs to remain the best night of long form improv in the region.
I think that we do this by not only giving them lots of playing time, but by having our teams use a form to play around and through. A form gives the audience a point of reference to hold on to and understand. Form is what sets improv theater apart from improv comedy. We are not stand ups doing improvised jokes. We are players doing improvised theater. A beginning, middle and end is something that every theatrical production has and is the bare minimum of which a form affords us. It is what separates house teams from a collection of people trying to make funny. It lends credence, function, professionalism and a level of theatricality to our sets.
Improve the experience for the players:
We have graduated over 500 improvisers and counting, we want to nurture new talent and people coming up, move players who are on fire to Thursday night where they can play more, and encourage plateauing players to brush up and develop skills. Our Coaches Council is our vehicle for all of this.
- New players coming up; we have auditions every 3 months to get new players and players moving to the area who are serious about long form improv a place to play, exhibit and develop their skills. We need to set a standard for them to emulate and strive to achieve.
- Reward great play; players should all try to get better on stage and some will skyrocket and shoot off the stage. It is our job to ensure that the players who are rocking get moved to Thursday nights where they can play 3 times a month with the best players in Denver. Getting players who are having fun and entertaining audiences more stage and letting hot players move to nights where they can shine with players of a similar caliber is the best reward we can provide.
- Objective feedback and challenging plateauing players; Many players have no idea how they are doing on stage. They think they are great and all we see is them thinking on stage, or they think they suck and they are doing great, or they are just having fun and they are lighting up the stage. Our job is to give honest, objective feedback to all players, but especially the ones who need more classes and to let go. We need to try to coach these folks to “success”. If our coaching fails we need to get advice from other coaches and if that fails we need to match the player to a team that reflects their level of play. Sometimes being the best player on a struggling team can build the confidence that coaching can not. Sometimes players just need more time in the classroom. It is our job to improve everyone’s experience, the players, and the teams, and the audiences through honest, objective review and feedback.
Improv the Level of Coaching
Over the last 10 years one of my focuses has been on creating a culture of mentoring and coaching. You are part of that culture now. We need to improve our skills as coaches, we need to bring in more coaches and generate a culture of helping players (without getting to a place where players give each other notes). I want us to read, take classes and give each other coaching tips, so that we can provide our players a fun, supportive place where they can get better at their craft. Our job is to bring in great coaches, develop great coaches and become great coaches. We need to be inclusive and encouraging while still being honest and giving constructive criticism that builds great players.
We need to get past getting everyone to “do the form”. We need to get the players to transcend form. We need to give individual feedback that will grow people as players. We need to put the teams needs above our own. We need to put the needs of the player above the needs of our teams. We need to put the needs of the audience and the show above that of the players.
We need to Improve Improv. The time is now. We are in the right time and place and need the intention of creating a place where everyone wants to play, because the level of player is off the charts, the teams are smart, funny and talented. We will take improv to the next level this year. We need to make this a place where no one wants to miss a show because it will be great and it will be gone. The thing to remember and you had to be there, every show, every night. That is our charge.
Let’s Improve Improv!
Eric Farone
Artistic Director
Bovine Metropolis