Warm ups –

Stretching

5 shakes w/a “Huzzah!”

Word association

Phrase association

Phrase association w/once removed (you say the second thing that comes to mind)

Passing a tone

Horse lips

Hot Spot

Every day, one day, as a result of this . . .

Freeze tag

Scene work –

Two-person scenes – living in the platform (every day reality scenes where nothing changes)

Two-person scenes – going from platform to exploring the tilt (every day reality scenes where something changes and pair explores “change”).

Helpful hints: When the tilt/change happens make it big. Tilt doesn’t always have to be an argument, explore positive tilts. There is a difference between exploring a change and inventing more changes. The best way to explore a change is to use the information that has come before versus “inventing” new information that further tilts the scene.

Drills-(Playing woman characters)

-Play five different female characters w/the same line of dialogue given (Jeannie’s second exercise from Sat.)

-Derivative of above, involved all three up and creating the five characters through focus on a specific body part (given by extra person) and then being given the line of dialogue.

Edits-

Talked about the edits in this form; cross edits, push and pull, directed edits and self edits.

Overall points –
In rehearsals, we’ll be working on specific platform, tilt, resolution skills, drill relationship and character exercises to help develop and enhance the relationship scenes, and then (with the skills down) begin to work them into the “Maude” form.

Don’t be afraid to try different characters that you may not have played before. Rehearsal is time to explore things and figure them out. If you get into a habit of doing things here, it’ll be easier to do them on stage and have fun as well.

So we’ll work a bit of review into next weeks rehearsal and hopefully explore the platform, tilt and get to resolution so we can try on some edits.

Warm ups –

Stretching

Boink boink

Word association

Phrase Association

Hot Spot

Every day, one day, as a result of this . . .

Scene work –

Two-person scenes – living in the platform (every day reality scenes where nothing changes)

Two-person scenes – going from platform to exploring the tilt (every day reality scenes where something changes and pair explores “change”). Helpful hints: when the tilt/change happens make it big.

Form stuff discussed –

The form is called “Maude”

Format:

· Monologue –“Armando” style

· Three 2-person scenes (one character comes back

· Group scene

· Three 2-person scenes

· Group scene

· Three two-person scenes (run)*

· Revisit Monologue from beginning of form or new monologue/monologist*

*These two parts are filler in case the tech time is not fulfilled.

Overall points –

– We shared our individual experiences that we’ve had with improv and other performance mediums.

– I talked a bit about the form that we’re doing having a very specific skill set (platform, tilt, resolution, tag-based scenes) which is not being taught extensively in Hawaii and because of that we’ll be learning the skill set, first, and then adding on the form as we gain the skills to do the pieces.

– My improv philosophy “dare to be boring” – working on strong character and relationship scenes (in my experience, the rest falls into place) – full buy-in by the group on what we’re doing as a whole.

– My hopes for rehearsal; coming in ready to rehearse, to start on time, everyone getting something out of this for themselves.

Are you too nice to be your character? – Saturday July 31st, 2010

Class Description
Have you ever started a scene with a strong character then immediately abandoned it for the sake of “yes anding” your scene partner? I used to do this all the time thinking I was helping the scene by constantly agreeing and doing what my scene partner wanted me to. Instead I found that I was actually hurting the scene by not sticking to my character’s wants and opinions. Sometimes as improvisors we forget how to play a scene. We’re all so nice and don’t want to step on any ones toes that we end up having a boring scene instead of one rich with perspective. My workshop does not advocate arguing but instead allows the improvisor to delve deep into how their character might “yes and” as opposed to how they personally would in real life. These valuable exercises will teach you to feel at ease and in control of who you are in each and every scene you do.

BIO
JEANNIE CAHILL has been professionally performing and teaching improv for years. Currently performing for The Second City aboard the Norwegian Pride of America in Hawaii.

Notes for Posterity –
We started off this class with a game of George with no elimination but to learn names. We then spent most of the class working on character development.
The first game we played was called 5 in the room. It was a character calvacade game where one person would be on stage and would become 5 different characters on the spot. Each time they were a new character the audience would count off.
The next game involved groups of four people but one person out the group at a time would be the “it” person. The “it” person would stand in the center and then one after another, the people in your group would come up and deliver one sentence of dialogue per person (preferably a declarative statement). They would repeat the sentence and the way of delivery each time without change three times. Each time they say the sentence the “it” person would have to become a new character. This happens with each person in the group until all four people have had an opportunity to be the “it” person and have the group give them their lines three times.
We then did an exercise where each person had one adjective and a “character” to portray. We would go on stage and do a scene with someone else that had their own character and adjective to work with and the audience would guess who they were.

Exercise Highlight –
I really enjoyed the two character games we played at the top. They were fun and we spent a good deal of time thinking about creating characters and making choices different from what our initial impulses were.

A week that started with a plethora of possibilities ended on a sad note today with the final nail in the coffin for two grant proposals (one federal and one from a private foundation). These proposal would have (over several years) put millions of dollars and much needed assistance for literacy learning into a school complex area that across the board has not met its NCLB standards (elementary to high school) during the 08-09 school year.
Why did this happen? Someone felt slighted and that person sat at the top of the complex area.
When should your own pride take a back burner to the education of over 5,600 children? First of all, I think your pride should never be the issue if you hold this type of position. But if that wasn’t enough, I’d probably say: when all the principals say yes to this help, organizations are coming together to assist your community, your community might benefit greatly from these possibilities, and two opportunities to funnel money into your complex area are handed to you on a silver platter. I’d give my blessing.
I wish someone could explain this to me and I think it’s a compelling argument to keep our government and school systems separate. There’s enough politics involved already.

I read the paper a lot in my office and for the past two years, I’ve been following the on-going onslaught of budget cuts that have come directly from the Governor’s office. I hope no one is really fooled into believing that more than one person is responsible for furlough fridays, because that is entirely untrue. The lead state negotiator in the union talks is the one and only governor and she has instituted some of the most manipulative tactics to push her agenda. Think twice when you read the paper because many times the news you read there comes directly from her publicity agent (yes, she has one) so it’s meant to show her in the best light in the most reprehensible situation.

I’ve heard that one of the most frustrating things that unions have had to deal with during negotiations with her are her negotiation strategies that include, leaking information to the press before bringing it to the table for discussion with the unions.
Right now, you may be thinking, “Isn’t that politics?” And yes, you are right, it is. We’ve seen it and fell for it countless of times, but please remember it isn’t the way it should be, especially when the cost is our children’s education. This will hurt everyone and, if we let her fool us into believing that she’s doing the right thing because it’s cost-effective, we’re beginning the descent into dumbing down the state for our future generations.

Our governor has done a bang up job for the last two years implementing the impossible situation for our state that we are currently in. I remember attending a town meeting and at it, they were talking about the governor needing our libraries and schools to estimate a decrease by 10%, 15%, and 20% budget revision for the following year. Later, the 20% decrease was put into effect and a few months after, furloughs were added to that.

I’ve read some chatter on this subject that deals with the fact that the DOE and BOE signed off on the furloughs, let me first say they signed off on a considerably smaller number than the original request from the governor, which was 36 days a year and a cut in salary for our teachers. I’m not always a fan of the way our educational system is, but I do know if we don’t put value on it, neither will the people that do that job. So we need to remember that this is a problem but the solution is not NOT funding education! It’s making sure that once we get all our kids back into schools on Fridays that we do our best to make sure that the good teachers are the ones that move ahead and the bad . . . well, it’s time to really make sure that the governor never gets an opportunity to make our children’s education a business decision again.

But don’t forget here that the person that caused the problems that we are currently dealing with in terms of our children’s education is the State Negotiator. I know it’s time to move on and to “do the right thing” but the only one who isn’t “doing the right thing” is the Governor. Too bad she just can’t admit that she made an awful decision and concede, instead, she is stubbornly trying to save face over a situation that, nationally, made her look justifiably reprehensible.

Session 5:

Running (Callbacks, Tangential information, Momentum, Memory)

Notes from Piero are in CAPS.

Memory-based. Any information you want to use this is the moment to use it. Normally anything goes in a run except new invention of material. Is something new is invented it must be followed up on. Momentum versus content becomes the most important element in a run.

Techniques to push momentum – energy of the scene should vary, recognize the distinction between scene energy and the run’s energy, and the use of edits.

Types of edits at use – ***TAGOUTS AND WALKONS ARE NOT ACTUALLY EDITS. EDITS, TAGOUTS AND WALKONS ARE BASICALLY THE THREE DIFFERENT INTENTIONS BEHIND A PLAYER WALKING ONSTAGE.

Edit – This edit changes the time, space, characters.

Tag-out – This edit changes the time and space, but the person that remained on stage from the last scene is still the same character.

Walk-ons – This edit changes nothing between the two people on stage but may add more to the space that already exists in the scene being entered.
SCENE PAINTING AND MOVIE TECHNIQUE ARE BOTH DEVICES THAT OFTEN SERVE TO INCREASE THE MOMENTUM OF A PIECE.

Scene Painting – Environment through description. This technique is different from narrative because it doesn’t make assumptions onto the scene but just provides technical information without bias. Is used to transition from one scene to another, involves the whole group jumping in fast, the person on stage should only describe one or at most two things. Think to add one piece of info and someone should be editing. (YES, IN SCENE PAINTING – AND AS I MENTIONED, I’M BEING REALLY PICKY HERE – I PERSONALLY PREFER TO FOCUS ON SHOWING INSTEAD OF TELLING. I THINK WE GET MORE OUT OF DESCRIBING A SCENE PREGNANT WITH MEANING INSTEAD OF NARRATING WHAT DEFINITELY HAPPENED. AS AN EXAMPLE, “ON THE FLOOR OF THIS HOTEL ROOM, WE SEE A TRAIL OF CLOTHING, LEADING TO THE BED, BY THE DOOR IS A MEN’S SPORTSCOAT AND A WOMAN’S BLOUSE, THEN A SHIRT AND TIE, THEN A SKIRT, THEN PANTS, AS WE APPROACH THE BED WE SEE A WHITE LACEY BRA AND PANTIES AND A PAIR OF BOXER BRIEFS. UNDER THE COVERS, WE MAKE OUT THE FORM OF TWO BODIES IN AN EMBRACE.” TO ME THIS IS MORE POWERFUL THAN “WE SEE A HOTEL ROOM WHERE TWO PEOPLE HAVE JUST HAD SEX.” IN NARRATING YOU ARE AN OMNISCIENT FORCE THAT IS GIVING INFORMATION WE MUST TAKE ON FAITH. IN SCENE PAINTING, YOU ARE DESCRIBING ONLY WHAT A VIEWER MIGHT OBSERVE ON THEIR OWN AND YOU ARE ALLOWING THEM TO COME TO THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS. BOTH ARE FINE, BUT I FEEL THAT SCENE PAINTING IS MORE SOPHISTICATED AND INTERESTING FOR AN AUDIENCE. HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE.)

Movie Technique – This should be of things that you cannot see but can only portray through description (camera shots), “You pull back and see . . .” again a group activity. If a character is being followed the character is still on stage miming the description being given.
Transformational – This is more symbolic in description. E.g., “you see a record spinning on a record playing, as it spins it turns into the wheel of a bus.”

Exercise –

YEP, ANYTHING YOU MIGHT OBSERVE DONE IN A MOVIE IS FAIR GAME IN MOVIE TECHNIQUE: CROSSFADES, SMASH CUTS, TRANSFORMATION, ETC.

Edits, tag-outs, and walk-ons.

Edits, tag-outs, and walk-ons with only eye contact and audio cues. To whom you make eye contact is the person that you are doing a scene with. Start the scene from the sides by initiating dialogue.
Scene painting and movie technique. (YES, WE CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN EDITS, TAGOUTS AND WALK ONS THROUGH THE USE OF EYE CONTACT. IF WE GET GOOD AT THIS, IT ADDS A REAL FINESSE TO OUR SHOW.)

Session 4:

Commentary Scenes (Premise-based scenes, Gameplay, Mapping, Frustrating Wants)

Note from Piero are in CAPS

Things at work in commentary scenes-

– Premise-based
– Behavior critical to theme
– Mapping
– Agree to deny
– Game-based

Like external and internal characteristics there are internal and external minds at work within one individual.

The internal mind is responsible for the thoughts we have as the character.
The external mind is the improvisers minds. The puppet and the puppet master.

Exercise –
Two person scene with four characters – something in the scene will frustrate one person, both people will escalate the frustration and then a 3rd person (played by one of the two people already in the scene) will appear and raise the frustration level and so will a fourth.
A matching energy will helps the characters doing the frustrating and for the person being frustrated an opposing energy will help.

There is an initiator and a responder. The initiator instigates a scene start with providing to the responder how they will react to the information that you are going to present. Responder will just react to the information that you give them and nothing more until they understand their role and then they can heighten.
Let the responder know what you need from them from your first line of dialogue.
A dance normally occurs with the initiator instigating a reaction and then pacifying the reaction.
The responder’s job is not to “and” until they understand what they need to do and then they help to heighten.

Mapping – putting one set of internal reactions onto the most inappropriate place.
This is the portion that requires the most thought.

YES, THE COMMENTARY SCENES ARE A CHANCE TO HIGHLIGHT BEHAVIOR THAT IS CRITICAL TO THE THEME OF THE PIECE. WE HIGHLIGHT THIS BEHAVIOR BY PLACING IT WHERE IT DOESN’T BELONG (I.E. WHERE IT WILL STAND OUT AS ODD). IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT, IN CHOOSING, WHAT SCENE TO MAP TO, THE BEHAVIOR, ITSELF, SHOULD STRIKE US AS ODD GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES – IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF FINDING A SILLY SCENE.

Session 3:

Thematic Scenes (Agreement and Heightening, Matching, Non-Premise Scenes, Yes And)

Notes from Piero are in CAPS.

Player one and player two normally have equal status.
Build one line at a time, get rid of premise, player 1 and 2 play equal roles (no status difference)

Of note – you can’t communicate your theme to another player but the theme can influence your own actions. So the theme is a behavior springboard for thematic scenes and inspires your actions and your actions only. These are “Yes And . . .” scenes. Theme is meant to influence your own choices (e.g., if the theme is familial love, think “makes me feel . . . “ and then use those feelings and let them influence your choices. Thematic scenes are normally internally influenced.

They are characterized by being – “yes, and . . . “ scenes and build one line at a time. There is no pre-planning done here. These are not premise scenes where one person is trying to push their own ideas on to another person. You agree and you add, the additions should heighten.

These type of scenes are inspired versus tied to any agenda.

Exercises –
Yes scenes
Yes, and scenes
Match emotion scenes
Absurd reality scenes – what will exist if this one absurd thing is true. Look to explore absurd reality and the repercussions of this world if this reality was true. (RIGHT, BOTH THEMATIC SCENES AND COMMENTARY SCENES MIGHT FIND THEMSELVES IN ABSURD REALITIES – THOUGH, IN THE THEMATIC SCENES, IT IS ABSOLUTELY FINE IF THEY DON’T – THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT IN THEMATIC SCENES, ALL PLAYERS AGREE TO THE ABSURD REALITY AND EXPLORE WHAT REPERCUSSIONS IT WOULD HAVE. IN THE COMMENTARY SCENES, USUALLY ONE PLAYER ACTS AS A STRAIGHT PERSON TO THE ABSURD REALITY AND CALLS IT OUT.)

Relinquish control in a scene by playing the scene and not a pre-conceived idea. Focus on your emotional response and reacting based on your point of view.

YEP, LISTEN AND RESPOND. ONE LINE AT A TIME AND BE INSPIRED BY THE THEME YOU CHOSE.

Session 2:

Source Scenes (Playing it real, Infusing scenes with as much information as possible, Categories of information, Playing longer scenes)

Notes from Piero are in CAPS.

The job of the two people in the source scene is to provide as much information as possible and remaining honest to the world created. This scene should be “serious,” which means grounded and as true to life as possible.
One is welcome to adopt a character if the character does not impede the performer (i.e., the performer is worried about aspects of playing that character versus being that character and portraying them as a real person.)
These scenes should feel like they are real scenes with real people in real relationships. Things that will help are slow scene starts and keeping them grounded.

Tools and information provided in Source scenes:
– time
– name
– specificity
– state of being
– emotion
– why they feel the emotion
– music/rhythm
– what your function is, modus operandi
– perspective or point of view
– anecdotal information (tell a story)
– temporal information (past, present, and future)

Information we have as a character, both of the below are needed in scenes, if either are lacking the scenes are incomplete:
– Internal information
Feelings
emotions
– External information – outside information
Overall
General

Exercise –
1) Mapping – (putting one set of internal circumstances onto the external details of another scene. E.g., the internal state of a couple getting a divorce onto a scene where an ice-skating student is quitting and telling his coach.)
2) Vulnerability – allowing yourself to be vulnerable in a scene versus invulnerable and not putting vulnerable characteristics on another. Vulnerable person is usually the person we get information from. Focus on your vulnerability and when it is your scene partners, letting them be vulnerable as well.
3) Focus of information – Don’t ping pong, focus on one and then another. Spend the time to explore each when it lands there. Important for there to be information from both in these scenes.
You
Scene partner
Environment
4) Relating – Everything your scene partner says is something that you can relate to. Specificity helps make those statements true.